# Credit Card question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369 "2006-08-26T23:15:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/21 "2006-08-27T15:11:59Z")
Absolutely positively call both your banks and ask them to reduce your APR. If the rep says what you have is as low as they can go, politely ask to speak to a supervisor. Some banks let the rep lower the APR, some only give that flexibility to the supervisor. (That’s what happened to me on my two cards, BTW.) And definitely ask to have the monthly charge removed. Again, if the rep says they can’t politely ask for a supervisor. If you tell them you’ll cancel the account if they don’t do these things, they will work harder to keep your business. Unless they’re MBNA, who apparently doesn’t give a rat’s ass. But that’s another story… ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/22 "2006-08-27T16:21:09Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] It’s why I will never get an American Express card. I’m already paying interest, I will not pay a fee on top of that. [/QUOTE] Interesting I have 2 AmEx cards both have no fees. [QUOTE=niblet\_head] Unless they’re MBNA, who apparently doesn’t give a rat’s ass. But that’s another story… [/QUOTE] Don’t know about yoru story, but I have had very good luck w/ MBNA service, I guess YM(does)V ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/23 "2006-08-27T17:28:17Z")
[QUOTE=Caterpillar22] Then again, I’ve also been told that paying them off every month is a bad thing…grrrrrrr. [/QUOTE] Only in terms of your not being a desirable prospect for junk mail credit card offers. Paying off the debt makes you very desirable from a lender’s perspective re credit lines for larger purchases like cars & houses. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/24 "2006-08-27T18:24:30Z")
[QUOTE=kanicbird] Interesting I have 2 AmEx cards both have no fees. [/QUOTE] Every time I’ve gotten an offer in the mail, there’s an annual fee, usually around $75. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/25 "2006-08-27T19:23:57Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Every time I’ve gotten an offer in the mail, there’s an annual fee, usually around $75. [/QUOTE] The deal with AmEx is that there is a distinction between their _charge_ cards and their _credit_ cards. The charge cards (the standard green card, for example) have no (set) limits, but must be paid off every month and have an annual fee. The credit cards (such as AmEx Blue) have credit limits, but do not need to be paid off each month and typically do not have annual fees. Which reminds me: How do AmEx charge cards affect your credit score? They’re not actually a revolving credit account, so I assume they’re treated differently… ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/26 "2006-08-27T20:20:18Z")
[QUOTE=MilTan] The charge cards (the standard green card, for example) have no (set) limits, but must be paid off every month and have an annual fee. [/QUOTE] Well one of the 2 amex cards are the standard AMEX green, again having no anual fee. I really don’t use it however since I have the feeling that not all places accept AMEX and I want to carry one card (this is a simplification to get the point across), so I would rather make the card I use a Mastercard or Visa. I’m pretty sure it is the pay in full each month type as I do get mailings to add the feature of revolving credit to that card. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/27 "2006-08-27T21:00:57Z")
[QUOTE=kanicbird] Well one of the 2 amex cards are the standard AMEX green, again having no anual fee. I really don’t use it however since I have the feeling that not all places accept AMEX and I want to carry one card (this is a simplification to get the point across), so I would rather make the card I use a Mastercard or Visa. [/QUOTE] That’s odd… According to the AmEx website, the Green card carries a $110 annual fee. Maybe there was a special promotion when you got yours? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/28 "2006-08-28T05:51:23Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Capital One does this, if you don’t want to pay the annual fee, they spread it out over the months. When they told me they were going to implement this fee on my credit card with them (that had been previously fee-free) I dropped them and got one through my bank. It’s why I will never get an American Express card. I’m already paying interest, I will not pay a fee on top of that. [/QUOTE] The last time Capital One charged me (3 years ago) I phoned them and said I was going to cancel. They cancelled the charge and I’ve never been charged since. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/29 "2006-08-28T10:37:28Z")
Capital One is another name for Satan. I have never had a Capital One account, but with my very common name, they put me on their “call hourly and demand payment” list. It took me forever to finally convince them I was not the person they were looking for. They were relentless. Put me back on that damned list twice again. And after months of me being put on hold and verifying, once again, that I was not the person they were looking for, they actually had the balls to ask me if I wanted a credit card from them! I’d sooner borrow money from Louie the Icepick. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/30 "2006-08-28T14:41:49Z")
Regarding credit cards automatically increasing your limit: decide how much credit you can handle if your card is maxed out, and call your credit card company and ask them to limit it at that level. I did this with my VISA card decades ago, and they haven’t increased my limit since. Credit can be a good thing, and using credit very wisely can also be a good thing, but if I have one regret in life, it is getting as deeply into credit debt as my husband and I are. We are frantically trying to get out of the hole we’ve dug for ourselves, and it is a miserable experience. Once we get some things paid off, we’re cancelling them and to hell with what it might do to our credit scores. You need a little credit available in our modern world, but not enough to hang yourself. (The problem isn’t my VISA card, in case you’re wondering. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369/31 "2006-08-30T02:34:43Z")
FYI: A wiki article on [credit scores](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-question/370369.md?page=1)