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Who wants to hear from Discover? I think their addition to this party is for publicity purposes only.
Who wants to hear from Discover? I think their addition to this party is for publicity purposes only.
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Wow...This thing has been going on for a half-hour, and my disdain for CCs has increased three-fold. I didn't even know having too *low* of a balance can lower your FICO...
It's as if there's no sweet spot or benefit to even being a cardholder.
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woah this post is like reverse coffee
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this is real interesting actually. Seeing as the CC business has been pretty much unregulated since they really started taking off in the '70's, I think it's great that our gov't in finally going after them.
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FRY: Do you take Visa? CLERK: That card hasn't existed for 500 years.
FRY: American Express? CLERK: 600 years.
FRY: Discover Card? CLERK: Mmm, sorry. We don't take Discover.
it's about time they did something about the credit card companies. As far as i'm concerned, if you are making payments on time and more than the minimum then your interest rate should not be increased AT ALL!!! Who cares if your credit score dropped. If you pay then that's all they should care about.
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Almost done paying off a bunch of credit cards..and everything I read here confirms that I need to chop these little bastards up.
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I had one of them also send 'the letter', wanting to bring me from ~8% to ~21% unless I opted out (and could continue to keep the card OPEN even). I opted out, US mail, with return receipt required.
But I consider just the attempt to be very slimy behavior. Take a person with good credit and try to jack them up to 21% if they aren't paying attention. NIIICCCEEEEE....
@ditchell:
Hell yeah... I had a card with Wachovia for YEARS. It was the first card I'd ever gotten, back in college. One day I was looking at the bill and was shocked to see my rate had gone from a long time 8% to about 20%. I called and they stated something about my debt to income ration was too high (although I have never missed a payment on anything in my entire life). I said thanks for the info...transferred my owed amount to another card and called to cancel my account. NOW suddenly a much lower interest rate was available, and even airline tickets to so and so. I was adamant, and cancelled. So...they tried to take me for a ride and completely lost my business forever. Good job.
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Haven't missed a payment in years. Only carry a balance on balance transfer only accounts. Somehow those low rate transfer cards keep jacking up the rate--even though they get paid on time.
Once they are all paid off(looks like it's happening this year) I am never ever going to carry a balance on these little fuckers again.
If you're fortunate enough to be able to pay the full balance every month none of this matters. Be aware, though, that the CC industry has its own internal term for people like that: Deadbeats. Honest.
Anybody need more evidence that these guys aren't really focused on serving the customer?
11:13 \"If any of us are wrong, the market will tell us.\"
Son of a...
I had similar stuff happen to me. I have two Bank America cards (on used to be MBNA until they were bought out), one with $15,000 in credit and the other with $12,000 in credit. Both have sat unused essentially for two years because they jacked my interest rate from 9% to 22%. I called to see why, since I have had no late payments on any card and no real change in my borrowing habits (I did however take out a Kohls credit card.) They refused to lower the amount, but if I cancel those two cards, my credit score will tank, so I let them sit.
@FunPaul: Yeah... what I love is when they magically \"lose\" a payment and your rate jumps from 4% to 30%... even if you have proof they are wrong, they won't fix the issue. Had to cancel my American Express for this very reason.
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Just substitute a few words to better understand these hearings.
Company = Predator
Interest = Juice
Purchase = Loan
Know who you are dealing with. These companies prey on uninformed people (I used to be one of them). Now I understand the game.
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Credit cards are dangerous. Use with extreme caution! You just don't know what will happen next billing cycle. I got caught in the interest rate trap and ended up with a 31% interest rate from 0%!
Solution was to take out an equity loan, pay off the card and NEVER EVER leave a balance on my card. I set up automatic payments (pushed from my bank). So far, so good. But I expect even with my due diligence, the card company will come up with some scheme to make me pay eventually when my guard is down.
I hate them all!
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\"We have a responsibility to the safety and soundness of the institution.\"
Translation: we care more about your money than you.
Well, thanks for clearing that up, Bank of America.
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Hm. I know putting a lot of money on your card (and paying it in full every month) is good for your credit and all, but I just can't seem to buy in to that. I keep a little BOA card (which is got upped to 20% overnight) that has almost no balance. I doubt I'd ever put anything on the card, but I know its better to keep it open. I really can't fathom putting more than a couple hundred bucks on the card, even in emergencies. I keep a savings acct for emergencies- so the bank pays me. hah!
I had a Washington mutual card a few years ago. I had gotten maybe 200$ within my limit. Washington Mutual decided to lower my credit limit thus putting me over my limit and causing an \"over limit fee\". I received no warning. I called and asked why they did that and they said because I was near my limit they considered me a credit risk even though I paid my bill on time and always over the minimum. I then told them that I would pay off the card and close the account. The lady then asked me if I would like to close the account right now? I told her sure, I can transfer the amount to another card with a much lower interest rate. This lady in no way cared to keep me as a customer. Yes I pay it off and closed it.
\"Not using a cardholders behavior on other accounts is like taking the battery out of the smoke detector.\"
Wow! A super-unintelligent way to try to justify the universal default. It should be more accurately worded as \"Not using a cardholders behavior on other accounts is like taking the battery out of the smoke detector, we would prefer to add gasoline to that fire.\" Smoke detectors are meant to warn you in case of a fire, not cause one.
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@Mayor McRib: yeah, uh, I still don't get the simile here. Who's on fire? Is it the pants of the credit card companies?
@jrdnjstn78: You have to be careful about closing accounts with balances as well. They can put you into a higher \"default\" type interest rate immediately and then milk you until they are completely paid off.
Side note- on my Discover card I had a balance for a coupe of month and paid it off. Because of their way of billing, I wound up with interest after I paid in full on the last statement. I still have the card, but don't use that one either.
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Wow, the Discover guy is especially slimy, I'm glad Costco stopped taking their cards.
I can't wait until I pay off my credit card, then I can demand a lower rate.
@goller321: Yeah, just get a couple cards, put 50 bucks on them and pay immediately after your purchase post to your credit cards. It takes a lot of willpower, which the average Joe doesn't have, but is totally worth it in the end.
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@Saboth: Allstate did the same thing when I changed car insurers. My response: \"Gee, you have this lower rate available? Why didn't you offer it to me in the first place? Then I wouldn't have had an incentive to switch! You basically just admitted you've been ripping me off. My switchover takes effect on day (x). 'Bye!\"
@FlownOver: So I'm a deadbeat if I don't pay my bills, and a deadbeat if I do? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Re notices. Change of terms notices are a) ridiculously thick with text and b) notoriously vague and inspecific. In fact, they don't even actually have your name or account number on them. They are just one of a various selection of leaflets indicating certain term changes. They have the appearance of something every other customer got at the same time; but of course, that's not true. I have two Sears cards -- a store card and a branded Mastercard -- and I remember getting a change of terms notice from Sears. The notice was simply an envelope addressed to me, with Sears in the return address, and containing one of those mass-produced leaflets. I realized that I had no idea which of my two Sears cards it applied to. There was no indication.
My favorite bad-creditor story is the one from a few years back where a bank cancelled 12,000 branded Mastercards because the customers had been too good at paying off their balances.
Remember, being responsible with credit makes you a poor investment for the credit card companies. They make money off interest and late fees.
@krom: Amen to that! If they don't take on people with questionable credit, there wouldn't be massive profit. Its win-win for them. Best case scenario, they can keep someone paying interest on a heavy balance for years. Worst case, the card holder defaults, and then the bank can still reap profits from the gov't. The inflation of interest rates is designed to push everyone in to the best case category- keep them paying as much interest as possible, therefore keeping them from paying the balance in a shorter period of time. All while throttling (to some extent) their card purchases and preventing full default.
BTW- at GREAT watch is a Frontline episode- \"Secret History of the Credit Card.\"
here- [www.pbs.org]
it's a real eye opener...
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My husband has a card with Capital One that's been sitting empty for a while due to payoff. We recently received a notice in the mail that we had an overdue payment, so the interest rate had been increased, as well as an added late payment fee. He went online to check, and discovered the card had suddenly spawned an annual fee that it'd never had before. I've never heard of cards developing annual fees, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least.
If you're carrying a balance, you're doing it wrong. Either make more or spend less. They could jack my rates up to 25% or more and I wouldn't even notice. Now, if they drop my rewards from 5% to 2%, I'll call them, threaten to cancel, and get a promo offer for 12 months of back up to 5%.
First rule: you deal with a bank, all your money are belong to bank.
Any questions?