Posted: 5/7/2006 6:09:59 PM EDT
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I was sifting through my bills for the month. I've got a bunch of credit cards (how many? Too many...) and I've got 'em all on lock, paying more than the minimum a month and I'm gradually whittling them down. One in particular though, is right at the limit, and a few months back I made one late payment on it, but I did double up on that payment which was only a day late. I look at this month's statement, and my interest has gone up to 26%. That's right. Twenty fucking six percent. WTF? Two months ago, that card was only like 18% (which is still high, I know), but where in the hell do they get off charging me 26%? I plan on calling them tomorrow and asking WTF. Problem is I've never actually called to request lowering the interest on any of my cards. Does it work? Are they gonna tell me to piss up a rope? While this card has always had a high balance, aside from that one time aforementioned, all the payments have been on time and have been more than the minimum. With interest like that, though, over two thirds of the minimum payment is interest now, which ain't gonna work. |
| This is why CC cards piss me off to no end. If you have a late payment, they can, and lots of times do raise your rates. I'm in the same position as you, too much CC debt. Once they are gone, no more CC cards for us, besides emergency purchases (and I will make sure the wife doesn't buy anything on them....so help me). |
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Yep. Some credit card companies will wait for you to be a day late / a dollar over and then jack up your interest rates. Read the fine print on your acceptance. You might tell them that you want them to match the interest rate on another card you have been offered or otherwise you are going to transfer the entire balance and then cancel their card. They might do it. If not, find a way to transfer it to a cheaper rate and get rid of those bozos. Make sure they understand why. |
He didn't necessarily screw up. Discover Card jacked my rates up, the reason they gave me was the balance of my other cards were too high. WTF, I wasn't late on my other cards, I wasn't late on Discover, I was managing all my debt just fine and under the terms agreed to. But Discover didn't care and jacked my rates up to 24% because of the balance on other cards. I told them to close my account. For the orginal poster, you are most likely out of luck. If your credit lines are fairly full the credit card company knows you have no other options so they will screw you. When Discover screwed me they told me to call back in 6 months and maybe they would look at lowering my rate. You best bet is it try to get a loan, home equity or otherwise to pay the card off and lock in a half way decent interest rate. Another option is getting yet another credit card and transfering the balance and closing out the orginal card. But that method usually leads to more credit card debt not less. |
I got an awful lot of accounts open, but damn, the only thing I can think of was that one late payment. It's funny, I got a Sears card too that's just about paid off, and it's at 9%. |
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They might have got me like that. I pay everything else well on time, but unfortunately I've got two (including the 26'er) that are right at the max limit, and that combined with one frickin' late payment prolly got me popped. Fuck it, I'm getting a personal loan to ditch as many of these cards as I can. I thought I was doing good until I read this month's statement. |
Pay it down as soon as possible. After a few months of paying early I would try contacting them about lowering your interest rate. |
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I just recently got an offer for a new card with 0% APR for balance transfers for one year --looked like a good deal till I read the fine print and the terms under which they can void that offer and jack the rates up--- Pronto! The co I work for has several finacing options for those who cant afford to do the work they need to have done(usually an emergency situation) most can get some kind of loan from thier own bank if need be--some cant and have lousy credit already those get turened over to our "last resort " financier whom will approve almost anyone with a pulse ---at rates which in my mind equate to legalized rape. And extremely predatory collection and lein practices. I try to steer customers away from them but .......some have no other options. |
| About three years ago, I had planned on getting a personal loan from my credit union to make all my credit cards go away, and I got shot down at the time for the amount I needed. 26% is unacceptable, and I can't really see the sense in transferring it to another card, since I really ain't solving anything long term wise. I'm gonna reapply for that loan later next week for whatever amount they can give me, just to get that high interest bitch gone. At the time back then, they'd finance the loan at 8%, which is better than any of my cards. |
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Sounds like you are in kind of a tight spot. But yes, you can negotiate the rates on your cards. We have a couple of times now. And negotiated a "cash back" on one also. You've got to have some leverage though. Money, available credit and clean credit. We did so on our cards by simply telling them that if they didn't we would cancel. We NEVER carry a balance FWIW and that was one of the reasons they gave us for not wanting to negotiate. They said they weren't making any money on us. LOL. We pay 9% on one and the rate floats on the ohter but it doesn't matter as we never carry a balance and we get 5% back on it. CCs are the work of the devil.  Don't get sucked in. Best advice I could give anyone. |
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I've got one card left to pay. The only thing that sucks is I don't have a full time job yet... its only got 1K on it right now (which isn't bad at all compared to ALOT of people) but I have to shitty paying part time jobs. I have a few cards and I did a credit check not to long ago and my rating was 709. I understand that isn't bad. One of them, a police officer for a small village, which only pays once a month, and the other one is at a department store that pays every two weeks, but I might get 10 hours a week there. I work the police job as much as I can. I'm putting a $700 payment on that card tomorrow and another month it will be paid off, hopefully. Only having one good check a month sucks because I end up using the card more. But at the end of the year I'll be a 21 y/o college graduate with a criminal justice degree and a year of experience on the streets. I think it looks good on paper anyway. |
Ehh, I agree that people should be responsible but CC Cos are a bunch of thieves trying to screw you everyway they can sometimes. I've had no problems because I never let them get me over a barrel but they take advantage of plenty of people. I have no sympathy for either side. |
they're not theives, they're conducting business! they reward good customers and punish the bad. very easy rules to follow to become a valued customer.. what we have a is a nation of irresponsible people. i was taught early in life to value every penny  and treat money as a tool, nothing more. any tool can hurt you, either physically or financially.
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And doling out credit to people who shouldn't have it is their problem also. Like you said, they're conducting business. Maybe they should do a better job of it. As I said, I have no sympathy for either side. |