I was an Account Manager with Capital One, and I can tell you this is pretty much non-negotiable. I've had people try to weasel out of this in every way you can name and three you can't, so lets just skip that and get to the point.

There are two options, accept, or decline. If you accept, it changes, if you decline, it doesn't but your account closes. That's it. sometimes there are offers for extending your current rate for a while (remember to ask, they wont always offer unless you threaten to close the account) sometime there aren't.

No, I can't just fix it in the computer, I don't want to get fired.

These decisions were made way above the heads of the people you talk to on the phone, they can't give you any new options.

Also, if you opt out, it's going to hit your credit for closed via consumer req.

Well, any questions?

@downwithmonstercable:

Please define "fair."

I don't think you get it, the companies are holding us hostage when really they should be thankful to get our business, even if we do not accrue interest they make a percentage off all our purchases. I do not feel sorry for the credit companies, they provide convenience and they make money off of our purchases.

It is unfair when a credit card company bullies someone who has done nothing wrong into accepting a rotten contract then if they just choose to go the other way their credit history is ruined because they would not succumb to the extortion tactics of these companies. This then lowered credit score can cost the consumer hundreds and thousands of dollars when that person chooses to make a contract or loan with a completely unrelated party because they refused to be extorted with their mafia like tactics.

Also, don't you think the more credit available you have the more you can go into debt? If you don't have credit cards with $20,000 limits and only one with say $5000 your actually at less of a risk for default.

I think you should read this article, having customers is a privilege, credit card companies in their arrogance have seemed to have forgotten that.

"Dream On, Credit Card Companies!
Charging your best customers just won't work."
[www.msnbc.msn.com]

I have excellent credit, have never had a late payment and always pay substantially more than the minimum -- and they're more than doubling my APR to 17.9%!

I carry a balance but it will be paid off over the next few months and then that's it for them. It really pisses me off that they are ramming these rate increases in before the new credit card laws go into effect.

Just checked my mail and my rate is going to 22.9% as of Jan 2011 but I don't carry a balance. I do use the card but I pay it off well before they can charge me any sort of intrest. I only accepted the card because it was intrest free for six months and I let them have one month of intrest. I felt I should give them a few dollars for the fun of it but paid it off the next month. I have a balance of just under 1000 dollars on the card at the moment but payment is not due to middle of June and I will pay it off before this month ends.

Raise my rate. I don't care. I will keep the card as it has a high limit, for now at least.

@Daniel Kipnis:

That's just not true. That's sort of like saying "if your new car has a top speed of 160, and your old one had a top speed of 130, you're going to speed more in your new car."

I have three cards with credit lines over $25k - I pay everything off monthly, and rarely have a bill over $4k.

*figuratively speaking, the government still is the only one able to print. The value of the dollar is no longer gold backed, its value is decided by a group of governors and (surprise) bankers.

although, BE WARNED!! i closed an account with discover back ~2000 - what a nightmare:
-2 months after they closed my account, they stopped sending me bills.
-a month later, my account "disappeared". that is, when i sent a check, it was cashed, but when i called in to discuss the account (& the lack of a bill), no one could find my account.
-6 months later, the account "reappeared" at a collection agency - & the balance had more than doubled (from ~$1000 to $2800).

man, i wish consumerist was around back then. i paid off the collection agency, but knowing what i know today (thanks in a large part to this site), i would've done things A LOT differently.

my suggestion? pay off the account before you close it.

No, not really, but I would think about it.

Of course, I'm never using it again so all of this is moot. I'm sure they'll slash my limit to like, $50, but who cares if I'm not using it? My utilization will still be 0.

I am expecting the same treatment of my V card through them soon as well...farkers...

@Easton21: I just got a notice, my 7.9% is jumping to 13.9%.

How is this fair?

My fiance also has a CO card so I was curious if I called using her number if it would let me opt out and sure enough it did. Funny thing was she didn't even receive a notice yet.

As for a credit rating drop.... I say bring it on.

@rellog321:

Problem is, less available credit = greater risk. It's not an evil conspiracy, it's just statistics.

@frank64: Actually, it will go down, since the amount of available credit is lowered.

@craptastico: I am by no means a credit consultant, but I had heard that with the recent change to credit scoring, not having balance at all on a single card could negatively impact your credit. Anyone know about this?

Also: Why not just say "fucking"? Everyone knows that's what you mean...

Eh. I've carried a small balance on mine for over a decade, and they're pulling this shit on me too. No skin off my back, bozos; ther check's in the mail.

@mac-phisto:

I also received a letter regarding cash advances. I read the notification with interest but since we don't use credit (except when we are renting a car) the changes in the agreement don't impact us.

I only have two general credit card accounts (the others are store cards), Citi and Chase. Citi I'm shutting down, and they've lowered my interest to 0% for a year to help me. All I did was call.

Chase I have yet to call, but I plan to next month. I'm not worried about the hit to my credit score. I really view that as just another measure the banks/cc use to curb unwanted consumer behavior (like closing accounts). So I don't let the Bank Man keep me down.

Some might say I'm ignoring reality, but honestly, so far it has no impacted my ability to get credit.

But it wouldn't bother me since I pay off both of my cards in full each month, and only use my Capital One when the place won't take Discover. I usually only have a $200 - $300 balance to pay off on my Cap1 card.

I wonder if they'll kill this. It's a great way if you can keep up with the math using spreadsheets of basically having an interest free credit card

I too am one of the ones receiving a rate hike; good thing I don't carry a balance.

if they're worried about their credit score they should just keep the account open, and not use the card. if they never use the card(or don't carry a balance) it doesnt matter what rate they're charging. the writer says he has other cards with rates below 9.9, just use those

A month later I noticed there was a fee added to my 'closed' account. So I called to ask wtf. I was told they have no way of knowing if my account is open or closed.

Think about that for a minute... this is a company whose business is the MANAGING OF ACCOUNTS. It's all they do. Yet, supposedly they have no way of knowing whether my account is open or closed. So rather than argue, I simply said, close the account now and then we'll both be sure it's closed. I was told, 'We cannot just close an account.'

So now, we don't know if it's open or closed, and it doesn't matter because they can't close an account anyway. Following this logic, the account is obviously still open, and why it was able to incur some random fee. Capital One really has the system beat.

Step 1. Never close an account.
Step 2. Add fees.
Step 3. Insure account stays open no matter what customer wishes.
Step 4. Profit.

Bank of America is running a close 2nd though. They called the other day and tried for 30 minutes to convince me that my 2nd mortgage is an unsecured loan. I'm still not sure why, or how this would benefit them, but they still insist it's unsecured even though my MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS state otherwise.

I think the banks are beginning to panic & the weirdness is rolling out.

When I was in college upper classman could get a $500 Citi Bank card that would report good credit as well as bad. Twenty years ago I dumped that for a credit union VISA card. No frills, no miles and no cash back but it is limited by Connecticut's usury rates.

If the big wild west banks want to play tough peole should look to see what alternatives there are.

So with all these new credit card rules, maybe Congress should have tackled credit scoring as well.... It is ridiculous that closing accounts can have such a profound effect on you credit score.

@iambeaker:

I got this one too. 8.9% to 24.9% I had to opt out by April 20th or something and they would close my card. I opted to keep it open and just pay off the balance (unfortunately I carry a balance on this card as I am focused on paying off another card first - Snowball baby!)before the January 2010 rate increase.

I am fine with letting them keep the card open and pay for it to be so. That is, until they institute an annual fee, like I'm sure most places are going to do.

They hiked mine, but I just use it for current charges and reoccurring bills. That was racking up the miles and I was just paying off the balance.

They wanted to take me from 7.9 to 17.9.

I sent the opt-out the same night.

Last week I got a "We're so sorry, we didn't mean to include YOUR account, we're not changing the interest rate and NOT closing the account.

I've already transferred all the billing to another card, so I haven't used it for three months now.

Which means they renew every single customer and rewrite their terms of their contracts to do what tehy were doing before.

I got a notice in the mail yesterday too, but the hike only applied to cash advances. Maybe I'm lucky. My normal interest rate is 11.99% and they made no mention of it going up, so it looks like different letters are being sent to different people.