I didn’t get a rate bump notice, but I too got a notice that they were lowering my credit limit. I actually agree with them – my limit was something like $23,000 and I didn’t need it. The highest I think my balance ever was was maybe $8000 when we were doing some remodeling, and that was in lieu of getting a cashier’s check from the bank. I then moved some money electronically and paid it off in full. I never carry a balance and pay it off in full every month, so they never get a nickel of interest out of me. I think my credit limit is now about $15,000. I don’t need it, and if I did, I’d call them up and tell them why and they’d probably raise it.
I got mine a month or so ago. As I had just paid it off, I called them up and canceled the card. It was a fixed 9.9%, no annual fee card. They did nothing to try to keep me as a cardholder, which I thought was odd, as I’ve had the card for years and always paid on time.
Anyway, too bad for them. Wells Fargo had just given me a 9.9% fixed rate, no annual fee card, and I really didn’t need the Chase account any more.
Just to add, I never accept variable rate cards. If they can’t offer me fixed rate, forget it. My credit is good enough to pull it off.
Word. ANY interest is too much interest. We pay in full every month. And I don’t think I got a notice. We have an AARP card. Maybe they’re cuttin’ the geezers some slack?
This prompted me to check the figures on our Chase card (it’s an Amazon-branded card). Oddly, still 10 and a fraction percent. And with a truly obscene credit limit (we could buy a new car with the limit). Neither have been touched, that I know of. I don’t know what factors go into decision-making for rate hikes etc. but this is a card we routinely run 3-4 thousand a month through (pretty much all our expenses except the mortgage), and we’ve never carried a balance.
I tried to check our other Chase card - a Toys R Us branded card, which is still listed as active even though we haven’t used it in 2+ years (we got pissed that TRU alla sudden changed it from a Visa to a Mastercard, screwing up all of our stuff that was automatically billed to it, so we quit using it). But there are no online statements.
Bank of America has nailed our household. They lowered Typo Knig’s credit limit (which was fine - it was also new-car-able and he maybe runs through 500 a year on the card - and they tried to raise my interest rate. I opted out, and will have my daughter’s orthodontia paid off before the rate hike would be an issue anyway.
Not an AARP member here, but a Chase cardholder (and stockholder); otherwise seconded. Remember, Chase not long ago absorbed what used to be Bank One (sometimes “BancOne”), which lost cardholders by the boatload when it tried to pile on ginormous late fees and jack up its interest rates a few years back. They’re always looking for a new way to make a buck. A word to the wise.
Our limit has never been raised and we’re never late with our payments. What is the criteria for a limit bump? Do they just choose random cardholders?
I’m not complaining, as we never go above the limit anyway. Just curious.
Oh - and I did want to comment on raising rates: I actually have no objection to them raising (or attempting to) rates on future purchases. That’s their prerogative, and if it’s more than the market will bear, we can vote with our feet.
Where I do have a problem, is them raising rates on existing balances. My thinking is that I borrowed the money under X terms, and now they’re trying to unilaterally change to Y terms (more favorable to them). As I don’t have the same option (to force them to change to Z terms), that’s a violation of trust. It’d be exactly the same as if my mortgage company announced “nope, that 5% fixed on your mortgage? not profitable enough. How about 7%?”.