Aparently, B of A is changing personality. Just got a letter, that my promotional rate was going up as high possibly as 27%. And that I needed to call the number, and tell them to reject the rate increase.
I did so. But, since when is it my reponsibility to tell them to keep their word?
Credit Card?
Back in the 90s I watched a show on PBS like this one:
From the time you signed the original application and accepted any amendments thereto it stated terms were changeable per the issuer's notifying of same...
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Dump them. There are better banks with better rates, unless you got to have the marble counters and high ceilings. You got lucky on this one, the choices are great unlike medical insurance companies.
They are? Far as I can tell banks are pretty much all the same, esp. when it comes to credit cards. I've gotten similar letters from all issuers of my credit cards. My credit is excellent, the only negative that I can think of is that I bought a house a few years back so I have more debt than I used to (but I also pay off my cards every month and have money in savings and pay all my bills on time.)
Jacking up the interest rates like this just encourages me to not use credit, at least anything other than just as a convenience that is essentially treated like a checking account and is paid off every month. I'll be damned if I'll pay more than 10% interest on anything.
nate
They are? Far as I can tell banks are pretty much all the same, esp. when it comes to credit cards. I've gotten similar letters from all issuers of my credit cards. My credit is excellent, the only negative that I can think of is that I bought a house a few years back so I have more debt than I used to (but I also pay off my cards every month and have money in savings and pay all my bills on time.)
Jacking up the interest rates like this just encourages me to not use credit, at least anything other than just as a convenience that is essentially treated like a checking account and is paid off every month. I'll be damned if I'll pay more than 10% interest on anything.
nate
++++++10%??? ---the prime is at 3.25%. Double that and you get 6.5%. Anything over that is bullshit. For that matter any interest is bs.
i got an identical letter from chase in my last bill.
No need to complain about interest rates. Just arrange for an automatic deduction of the statement balance from your bank account every month. This will give you the convenience of credit cards (no need to carry cash) plus
30 days grace in paying bills, plus getting a 1% to 3%rebate on all charges. If you cannot pay your balance every month, you should not have a credit card.I'll have to do some looking. Good advice.
Makes me wonder what's going on.
new laws were passed that kick in soon, so they have to make all these changes before the effective date so that the changes would be grandfathered in, or some changes are necessary because of these new laws (increased minimum payments, etc).
Where have you been????
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It's getting close to year end and the bewitching hour approaches...
Hand a credit card company, that acts on behalf of any scum with a merchant account, a stack of presigned blank checks to have their way with my money at their leisure? I think not. No payment until I see the statement of account, and I don't care to screw with attempting to read it online. What if I am out of town the week the statement gets posted? Fixing errors is easier if they DON'T have the money yet. Once it is paid, you are mostly screwed.
I mostly could not care less about the interest rate, since I pay it off every month. But any card that tries to re-impose an annual fee will be going bye-bye. I've been strong considering dumping my green Amex for that very reason, since I seldom travel any more. But after almost 30 years, I'd feel sort of naked without it. And since I only have one other non-store card (other than the one my employer issued me.) I do need a backup.
-- aem sends...
Only 27%? They must like you. I have/had a $42,000 limit on mine with a zero balance. I got a letter raising my interest rates to 37%.
I closed my account last week, you can too.
How do I close my account? We are sorry to hear that you want to close your account. We are constantly looking for ways to make banking work for you in ways it never has before and would like to know how we can make this happen for you. Please call us at 1.800.622.8731 or send us an e-mail if we can assist you in any way.
To close your account, please submit your request in writing to Account Closure, FL1-300-02-07, 4109 Gandy Blvd Tampa Fl 33611-3401. Be sure to have all account owners sign the letter and tell us how you would like to receive your balance.
They got that last sentence right.
They never scr...ed us so well.
Find a good credit union. I have been with the same one since 1958. Use a debit card. If I don't have the money to cover what I want I do without. It's a combination check or debit card and I have never been charged for anything with them. WW
I hope you demanded a cashers check for 0.00 to be sent certified?
There was a c/c, which I can't think of the name right now. It was for commercial accounts only. My brother had them with a $25,000 limit. He got a similar letter earlier this year, he didn't have a balance. When he inquired, he was told it was because people couldn't pay their c/c's. An oxymoron reply at it's best. If someone can't pay when the rates were
7-3/4%, how would they pay @ close to 30%?He recently told me the c/c company went under. Maybe someone here knows which one it was.
Then you get it when you get back, just like the paper ones. Heck I can find one that is 6-9 months old a lot easier on line than in that rat's nest I laughingly call a file cabinet.
So, you take care of it just like always BEFORE you pay. My CCs all get the statement available at the same time, I look it over and dispute anything there is.
Someone wrote .................................
Don't blame you; one has to be very careful with any loan arrangement including, or particularly, credit cards! And if CC are a nuisance cut them up and do everything possible on cash basis.
But there can be a role for 'careful/thioughtful' consumer use of a CC.
The best way to use a credit card IMHO is to set up automatic payment of the 'total' amount due monthly. The CC company takes the balance owing from bank account on the same billing date each month.
The result: a) No interest charges (Haven't paid any for CC interest since we got the cards, about 7 years). b) Provides a 21 to 25 day interval before payment is due, thus one is effectively using somebody else's money for that period of time. It ain't much but anything that defers payment without additional cost and is part of the system can be done on principle!
For example I bought gasoline tonight, using CC. Payment for that will not be due until the mid October statement.
But be careful; the moment the moment the CC balance is not not paid off, annual interest charges of anywhere from 9%, 19% or even 29% can occur. So even for one month on an amount as low as $500 interest for one month can be a significant (around $8 on say $500 owing at 19% etc.) for example. So frequent checks to make sure arrangements are working are in order. Although one usually has an overall mental recollection of where, financially, things are.
And watch the fine print like a hawk. And NEVER take cash off a credit card it incurs interest IMMEDIATELY!
Municipal taxes for can be paid off over the year, without extra cost and also allow use of CC it is possible at end of March (the deadline) to set up an authorization for one ninth of the amount due to be taken automatically, each month, from bank account. There is no extra charge for this and there are no CC interest charges.
Another 'use' we have found for a CC is to buy safely via the internet. We have one presently unused line of credit (it presently owes us $2.21!) linked to credit card at a relatively low rate of interest, which is held in reserve for a potential emergency expenditure.
Also find that a CC in good standing ensures smooth purchasing.
Do not like that CC company has 'upped' credit limit on our card even though not requested (or needed) and also even though our expenditures had never ever approached the limit. This usually under the guise of "You are such a creditworthy customer and we value your business etc.!!!!) Appeared to be a very crude attempt to get one to borrow more? And 'draw' one into debt and the payment of 'yuk' interest charges!
Long ago, financially naive and innocent I bought my first car. All I knew was that it would cost $61 per month. I had no idea how much interest I was paying etc. etc. It wasn't long before I had figured out that anything bought 'on credit' cost MORE!. And the higher the interest ate and other charges the more it cost, over the ticket price.
But how to compare different course of action?
Then I went on an engineering economy course, with Bell Telephone, and the concept of time-money dawned on me and has been used here ever since on all decisions.
Sorry to rant on; but put forward this cheap and dirty interest calculator.
Suppose you borrow $10,000 and agree to pay it off monthly over 5 years at say 10% (ten percent just make it easy to figure). At the start you owe 10,000 and at the end of 5 years you owe zero. OK? So on average you owe half of it or 5,000 (I said this was cheap and dirty!).
So 'on average' you owe 5,000 at an interest rate of 10%, that's $500 per year for each of the five years. Five years at $500 = $2500. Adding the 2,500 to the 10,000; wow that's a quarter more than I borrowed! Is $12,500.
Divide the $12,500 by the number of months 12,500/60 = $208 per month. So roughly your payment will be around $210 - $215 per month for five years.
Have just put the above amounts into a 'proper' amortization calculator programme' and the actual monthly amount comes out at $212 per month! So cheap and dirty works quite well for smaller amounts and shorter periods; but don't try using it for a 30 year $100,000 mortgage!
BTW watch out for financial tricks such as no payments for three months, meanwhile the seller is totting up interest on the whole amount owing for another quarter of a year! In the above example that could be another $125 or so. Another 1.25%!
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