credit cards rant

[smilee_54]

anyone have any issues with any credit card companys. I just got a new bill today and they jacked my rate two almost three times the rate. I called them and asked them why they jacked it even though I havn't ever been late with them. All they said is that something has changed in my credit history. I went and ordered a credit history and nothing has changed in a long time. I will admit that I was late on a few cards but brought them up to date when we realized that we forgot to pay them. The person said that they look at all my credit history and determine the rate. Is that Right???? can they do that? seems wrong to me. Called and talked to them. Did seem to get anywhere with them

[cold one sd]

Shred their card. If nothing else, it will make ya feel good.

[Powerstroke]

Depends on how late the payments were. If they were more than 30days late than that will end up on your credit report. Usually they are updated quarterly.

Even if they weren't more than 30 days late, they may have seen a pattern of several late fees at once and decided that was alarming. Unfortunatly there are many many reasons they could've messed with your rate.

I would request a written statement detailing the reason for changing your rate and when it became effective.

If you don't like it close the account. Look for a new card, maybe something with a 0% balance transfer and a good base rate once the offer expires. Pay the old card off and pay off the current balance as fast as you can.

[Bobby Bass]

There are cards out there that state in there fine print that they can default there card if you make late payments to other cards. By making a late payment you can trigger there clause. Needless to say you want to stay away from these cards and if you do have them make every effort to pay off the balance. This was a hot topic just a few months ago around christmas time with credit cards and shopping.

[trackerbrent]

Here is what you do, pay credit cards off every month and you will not have to worry about what the interest rate is. I have yet to pay a penny of interest or late fees in my 12 years of having cards, with putting myself through college. If you know you can not afford it when the bill arrives, do not buy it. Simple. Only things you should finance is houses and new vehicles, rates are cheap on new vehicles and you can deduct home interest. All toys in cash. Sorry, I am ranting also.

[McGurk]

With talk like that you'll be putting places like Citigroup out of business and ruining the American Dream! Can't afford it, charge it!

A recovering charge-aholic here, and have finally learned my lesson to not carry a balance. Feels pretty good when you get there; it's hard but it's worth it! Going on 2 years interest free and loving it.

[Whoaru99]

Yup, someone hit the nail on the head. Almost all credit cards now have fine print that says if you are late on any payment to anyone, not just them, they can raise your rate.

All this information is tied together so even things like your insurance policy rates, etc., can be set according to your credit history.

They used to cut some slack every now and then, but from what I've seen, more and more are really black and white "by the book" on payments, late fees, etc.

It almost seems to me that that credit card companies are retaliating on consumers each time the government tries to tighten up the legalities of their credit practices.

[Bassboy1645]

Ok related questions. I bank through tcf and I have a visa debit card. I thought transactions via electronics were supposed to be fast?? I do everthign in my power to keep tabs of what I got left in my checkings. Sometime i get down to about 30 or 40 doallars left and the next day I get informed that my card dosent work for simple purchases. Turns out an item I paid for three months ago "comes through" and over drafts my account. Any other problems like this???

[sparcebag]

I have 4-5 cards,If you read the fine print,it states any late payment,over credit charge,and some other mumbo jumbo,they have the right to charge a penilty fee and raise interest to there max!I pay it off monthly too avoid all the extra fine print rules.And its not 30 days late its after 5PM of the due date.I just last week made a payment on line cause I knew the mail may not be there in 3 days,I hate those pay dates close to the first I have only one all the others are midmonth so I forget that one,I try not to use it because of that. If you read all your cards they say late payment,overcharge,etc.on any card they have the right to charge and raise interest even if the other card has nothing to do with them.

[fisherdog19]

As a mortgage lender, a big part of my job is knowing how to read, and understand credit reports and their history. Unless you are over 30 days late on any account, your credit report will not show it. A credit card company has no way of knowing that you may have been 5 days late, and incurred a late charge on any other credit account but the one you hold with them. So, if you say you've never been late on that credit card account, and haven't had any 30+ day lates on any other credit or loan accounts, they probably just jacked your rate. I had the same issue with a Wells F. unsecured line of credit. I got a letter one day saying that they raised my rate by over 2% because of our "credit history", which was a bunch of talk. My wife and I still have immaculate credit. I closed the account the next day by paying it off with a line I got at another bank in which the rate was 3.5% lower. There is a huge problem in this country with credit accounts, how they are run, and how easily they are handed out. Until the Fed's step in and require some type of approval that requires documentation for credit card accounts, our country will remain one in which many of its citizens live on credit, and are in debt up to thier eyeballs.

[traveler]

Good stuff fisherdog. A couple things; I have one CC I use for almost everything, business, personal...and pay it off monthly, NO MATTER WHAT, even if I had to take money out of the credit union to do it. I earn tons of free airmiles, and have an itemized record of everything at years end for taxes. Works great, and because I own my own small business, I funnel enough money thru it that they treat me really well, even tho' they can easily see I never pay them a dime of interest. I've been close to my due date a couple times and simply called and asked for a few days and each time they've said OK, waived any penalty and pushed my due date back a week. Great customer service, but you have to communicate. I do have a couple other cards; Cabelas, etc...which I use infrequently for purchases I'm not sure will be paid off immediatly. I even have 2 car "loans" on cc's, at 2.9 % life of the loan. The great thing about those, apart from the interest rate, is they allow me flexibility in the amount I pay each month, according to the changes in income us self employed folks often experience. I can't recommend doing that unless you have other assets, in case something happened that you couldn't make the payments...they would jack those rates (according to the fine print) waaaay up if payments were missed, so it's important to have backup. The whole credit thing is great if you learn how to use it, keep abreast of whats on your credit report, and communicate with the companies. Otherwise, stay away...

[slipperybob]

Thing is that financial institutions may raise rates and all they end up doing is sending you a letter saying that they've raised the interest rates on your card. The other thing I hate is that sponsorship may change too. I had a Gander Mountain's MC and then two months later, no more Gander Sponsorship. There goes all my Gander points. another thing with Cabela's Card. I haven't used it in about two years. They haven't had something that I wanted, so they up and closed my account. There goes all those Cabela points too. What do they do? Send me a letter in the mail. On top of everything, recently CC across the board have all up their rates. So how do I go from 7.9 to 9.9 to finally 12.9 now over the years? And that's their best rate given to me. It's silly that I'll have to open a new account or make a balance transfer to get a promotional rate. Why do I need to play that game?

[ZapBranigan]

For sure, Sounds more like an introductory rate just ended but who knows. You guys who think that just paying a card on time every month will sheild you from any interest will get arude awakening soon. CC are going to a Averge Daily Rate. Ive seen this already being used. They can calculate an avg interest for everyday you owe them mony and they can weight it heavier in the front of the monthly cycle. So you will not get free money borrowing much longer. So watch your rules and read all the junk they send you in between. And be prepared to switch cards when they tilt the rules too heavy.

[McGurk]

Can't be any worse than the inactivity fee that will be applied on "emergency cards." Front side, Back side, Side side, they get you one way or the other.

[luckey]

I also pay off any CC bills monthly. Last month I use a Sears CC to pay for a zero turn radius mower. They had a deal going for either 0 down, 0 intrest untill Jan 08 or 5% rebate. I took the 5% ($150.00). I checked the rate on the card. Get this, 32.5%! Yes, that's 32.5% on the CC at Sears. I have never had any credit related issues.

[slipperybob]

Quote:

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For sure, Sounds more like an introductory rate just ended but who knows. You guys who think that just paying a card on time every month will sheild you from any interest will get arude awakening soon. CC are going to a Averge Daily Rate. Ive seen this already being used. They can calculate an avg interest for everyday you owe them mony and they can weight it heavier in the front of the monthly cycle. So you will not get free money borrowing much longer. So watch your rules and read all the junk they send you in between. And be prepared to switch cards when they tilt the rules too heavy.

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It's not anything to do with introductory rates. These are rate adjustments (hikes) after like 7-8 years of opening the account. Most introductory rates have the sell point on cash advancements or balance transfers. Many financial institutions are already using an average daily balance on your CC accounts. The average daily rate is nothing new to them. It's the same as daily compounded interest, only you're the one being charged the interest. In most instances when they change rules of how they charge interest or fees or whatever, they also send it out mail as required by law now about annual priviacy policy. It's there if you take the time to read the changes made to an existing account.