My credit card company is changing the rules.

vash · vash's Garage

i got a letter that i assume everyone will get sooner or later. they are not reducing my credit limit, but they are increasing my interest rate by 50%. the killer part is any defaults results in a 29.9% interest rate!!! holy crap. i love the last part that states that i can dispute the changes. they listen, and then close my CC. funny. times are a changing!

i love my company (capital one) because they didnt charge any additional fees when i was running amok in another country. i am going to stash that card away.

do you guys start shopping for a new credit card? or will all the companies be doing the same thing anyways?

cliff

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Usually you can reject the new terms by sending them notice in writing that you do so. They will then close your account to new purchases and you go on paying as normal under the old terms. I've done this a number of times with a few different companies.

Eventually a competitor comes along with a new offer and a decent balance transfer rate, which you can use to "kill off" the old (now closed) account. Until the new company starts trying to "get cute" too, in which case you just repeat the process.

vash · vash's Garage

my balance is -$1. i overpaid somehow.

is there a good website to shop new cards?

legion · 02-23-2009, 09:53 AM

A lot of these banks are the same ones who followed each other into the subprime mess. They are sheep who follow each other around with no real direction. They just assume if their competitor does it, they should as well.

Looks for a bank that wasn't wildly throwing out credit the past few years, you should be able to find one that doesn't wildly swing in its policies.

mossguy · 02-23-2009, 09:56 AM

I have been using USAA Mastercard for some time. The interest is about 8%. I carry a large balance at the moment. ($17k). I know! I know! Every month I pay the new charges plus
1k on the balance. USAA does a rebate thing instead of miles, or whatever. Every month my rebate is larger than my service charge.

If you are eligible for USAA, you should look into it!

Best,
Tom

gprsh924 · 02-23-2009, 09:56 AM

Chase keeps trying to give me more credit and more cards with lower interest rates. I can't understand it completely for a few reasons: 1)no job and no income 2)I have never paid them a cent in interest

masraum · 02-23-2009, 10:19 AM

get a credit card through a credit union. you'll get much better rates.

jcunning · 02-23-2009, 10:21 AM

1st. I got a nice letter from USAirways that I wasn't using their card enough and they cancelled the account. Oh well, I didn't use the card because their "perks" were so limited it wasn't worth the hassel.

2nd. I got a letter from Citi saying they were raising my rate from 7.9 to 14.99. I then transferred the balance to a 1.9 limited time card. I'm currently working on paying this bad boy off before the low interest expires. The Porsche project car really ate up a lot of money last year!

ruf-porsche · ruf-porsche's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by vash

my balance is -$1. i overpaid somehow.

is there a good website to shop new cards?

That is what I do to cc companies or stores that P!ss me off. I pay off my account but overpay by $2.00. They will send me a bill every month for the next 12 months telling me I have a $2.00 credit in my account. Afer a year, some will write me a check for $2.00 to zero out the account.

LOL

Christien · Christien's Garage

"Stashing" a card away might not be a good idea. Depending on your plans for credit in the next few years, it could negatively impact a credit application. If you've got, say, a $20K limit on the card with a zero balance and you apply for a mortgage, the lender will look at that 20K as a debt, because, potentially, you could run out tomorrow and max the card. If it's a small limit like $500, then who cares, but if it's a larger limit, and you might be looking for a mortgage, car loan, etc. in the future then you should consider closing it outright. Then sit tight and watch that cheque for $1 roll in!

pwd72s · 02-23-2009, 11:39 AM

with banks being nationalized, who knows what's going to happen within the entire industry...

74-911 · 02-23-2009, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mossguy

I have been using USAA Mastercard for some time. The interest is about 8%. I carry a large balance at the moment. ($17k). I know! I know! Every month I pay the new charges plus
1k on the balance. USAA does a rebate thing instead of miles, or whatever. Every month my rebate is larger than my service charge.

If you are eligible for USAA, you should look into it!

I believe anyone is eligible for US financial services. It's only the insurance that is limitied to the military..

masraum · 02-23-2009, 11:44 AM

Why don't more folks use Credit Unions? I've found that the benefits and/or lack of getting bent over to be huge compared to a bank.

Is there a downside to Credit Unions? The only thing that I can think of is that there's not usually a branch every other block like there is with some banks (Chase, for instance). But these days when so much is done electronically, I don't think that's as important.

the · 02-23-2009, 11:52 AM

Credit card companies are the next cards to fall in this economy. Credit card defaults are going to go through the roof soon and will last years.

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Capital One is the best and the worst. They raise and drop their rates at the drop of a hat. I got notice today that my 6.01% fixed is going to "prime + 12.65%" in Januarry 2010.

Guess I pissed them off by carrying a 0% promo rate on $7k for the last 18 months and not using the card for any new purchases. LOL

We used to have two Capital One cards and we dropped the other a few years ago when they raised the rate from 6.99 to 10.4. Now we will close or zero this account next year when this latest rate kicks in January 2010.

As for credit lines, the 3 visa cards in my wallet limit at $70,100 combined. Those limits just sneak up-wards when you have the same card for decades.

vash · vash's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by the

Credit card companies are the next cards to fall in this economy. Credit card defaults are going to go through the roof soon and will last years.

i think so too. with 30% for default rates..damn that is just setting people up to fail.

i did check my credit union. i am going to apply for a new card...with rewards and no fees.

masraum · 02-23-2009, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerryH

Capital One is the best and the worst. They raise and drop their rates at the drop of a hat. I got notice today that my 6.01% fixed is going to "prime + 12.65%" in Januarry 2010.

Guess I pissed them off by carrying a 0% promo rate on $7k for the last 18 months and not using the card for any new purchases. LOL

We had a 0% forever balance transfer on a citibank card that at one time was close to $25k. It's not quite paid off, but it's close. We actually had a payment come in late once and they still haven't raised the rate from 0%. We haven't charged anything else on it since the transfer. I'm still amazed that they haven't done something to the rate.

masraum · 02-23-2009, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerryH

Capital One is the best and the worst. They raise and drop their rates at the drop of a hat. I got notice today that my 6.01% fixed is going to "prime + 12.65%" in Januarry 2010.

Guess I pissed them off by carrying a 0% promo rate on $7k for the last 18 months and not using the card for any new purchases. LOL

We used to have two Capital One cards and we dropped the other a few years ago when they raised the rate from 6.99 to 10.4. Now we will close or zero this account next year when this latest rate kicks in January 2010.

As for credit lines, the 3 visa cards in my wallet limit at $70,100 combined. Those limits just sneak up-wards when you have the same card for decades.

Yeah, at one time we have several cards (I think 11 at the peak of our debt). Each of us had at least 1 with a very high limit (to me, probably in the $20-40k range) and the rest were fairly high (7500-15k). We got rid of all but 1 each. We've also requested the limit on the highest one to be lowered by 40%.

Unless you need that much credit, I'd close a card or two.

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

Yeah, at one time we have several cards (I think 11 at the peak of our debt). Each of us had at least 1 with a very high limit (to me, probably in the $20-40k range) and the rest were fairly high (7500-15k). We got rid of all but 1 each. We've also requested the limit on the highest one to be lowered by 40%.

Unless you need that much credit, I'd close a card or two.

We did about 30K of home upgrades in 2007 and our credit cards were cheaper than the best home equity lines when you have offers of 3.99 fixed and 0%.

I know having too much access to money via CC can be a red flag, but so can closing accounts.

Be nice to see a de facto list regarding FICO. Who the hell knows for sure what is worse, worser, and worsest!

dafischer · 02-23-2009, 06:11 PM

I got my hosing from Capital One today. The only one I carry a balance on. My rate is going from 6.9% to 15.9% as of April 1. Plus, it's now a variable rate.So long Capital One...

I did a balance transfer tonight on the offer I got from Wells Fargo@ 0% for transfers and purchases for 1 year. 8.5% thereafter. Sounds like a better deal to me.