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…
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.
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…
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.
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.
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!
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. )
