Yes, they’re raising my rates, and yes, I’m pissed about it. I’ve had the card for nearly two decades, so I can’t cancel it without hurting my credit rating. I have one automatic charge to every month and one automatic payment to it every month, so I’m not paying finance charges, but there’s no reason I should get penalized for their incompetence.
Is your Chase card still usable however? There may have been something in the fine print about if you opt out, they close the account. OR - if you opt out, they say that any use after such-and-such date means you are OK with the new rates after all.
BofA’s verbiage is like that. When they sent the rate-increase letter, we had a large-ish balance (from orthodontia) at a promotional rate that we were paying off a hundred bucks or so at a time, and I opted us out. I just paid that off last week (promo rate was ending) via a transfer to a credit union card (no fees for that).
Good point! It’d be interesting to get a further breakdown from folks of why the increas-ees are keeping the card:
- Only card they own
- Rebates are worth it
- Pay it off monthly and so don’t care
- Age of account improves credit score
- Stuck with it, can’t get better rate elsewhere
- others?
Of those who have not gotten an increase lately, the balance is now slightly tipped in favor of keeping it. Probably for much the same reasons.
We’ll be keeping our cards (due to length of account / utilization percentages). Though I said “canceled” in the poll - I’m simply not going to use the card. I suppose my vote should have gone in the “keep” bucket then.
Interestingly, the card I transferred the balance to (at the credit union) has a relatively low limit compared with my old account, so its utilization is a bit over 50% right now. My total utilization is of course much lower, but for that one account, I wonder how that impacts my rating. Not an issue as I don’t plan on applying for credit any time soon…
These are mine, slight changes to quote in red. It isn’t so much that I can’t get a card with a better rate, as I can’t get a balance transfer with a rate that’s good for more than six months. I had bad credit habits in my 20s, and I’m gradually paying off a high balance. It was going great until my partner lost his job. I took on some of his debt (you’re welcome) because of my low rate. That has worked out well for us but in March when that great rate jumps from 4.9 to 18.9 percent, I’ll have to do something about it. (One reason for keeping the card was if I cancel, it definitely jumps, but if I kept the card, they said I might be able to extend the low rate. I’m not holding my breath, though.)
We mad a late payment recently and our card went from something like 7% to 29%, plus a late fee of $39.00. This was a first late pay in years. DH says he just somehow overlooked the bill during that round of bill paying.
I called and had the interest reduced to about half of the 29% and the late fee waived, and have since received a form letter to fill out to have the account reviewed in order to make these changes.
The form letter surprised me. I suppose if I don’t return it, the changes won’t take effect. Things sure are different right now.
Do not make changes to other poster’s statements. No official warning or infraction.
My apologies, especially to Mama Zappa.