Check your Credit card interest rates!!

[Audiofn]

I just read an artical and it said that peoples rates are going up on their credit cards. I just checked mine and you guessed it they raised my rate almost 10%. I guess it is time to pay off the debt unless they bring it back down. I will call them later today and see why they raised it up. Just thought people may want to check their rates and make sure they are not getting hosed.

 

[MattBMiller]

Yikes That's quite a hike

 

[clayinaustin]

As I stated in this thread...

The Fed has set interest rates at basically zero, but bank are raising their interest rates in order to increase profitability and offset customer defaults. Any customers who are keeping current on their credit cards are facing lower credit limits and higher interest rates.

 

[Geronimo36]

that sucks! glad I don't carry CC debt!!!

 

[Sea-Dated]

Almost all of mine were hiked up to 29% for no reason at all. Never even a late payment or over limit charge. That is why they are all in the process of getting cut up except for one that is still at 9% and has been that way since we got it.

 

[Ratickle]

Almost all of mine were hiked up to 29% for no reason at all. Never even a late payment or over limit charge. That is why they are all in the process of getting cut up except for one that is still at 9% and has been that way since we got it.

Ours are the same. Just another example of the politicians making laws that screw things up for everyone.

We never carry a balance. One funny one a couple weeks ago. We got a notice they were raising our rates from 5.9 to 29.9 on one card, never carry a balance on any of ours, but the same day in a different notice they were offering credit card debt transfers at 2.9% for 12 months if we wanted, weird stuff.....

 

[clayinaustin]

Almost all of mine were hiked up to 29% for no reason at all.

29%!

That almost seems illegal!

 

[cigdaze]

They're all scrambling to raise the rates now while they still can. Here's why:

Thursday, May 21, 2009
The House yesterday gave final approval to a bill that will prohibit credit card companies from arbitrarily raising interest rates on existing balances and charging certain fees.

With a 361 to 64 vote, the House ensured that President Obama will be able to sign the bill into law by Memorial Day, as he requested.

The House had approved a more diluted credit card reform bill last month but chose to send a stronger Senate version to the president instead.

"These are important reforms to protect consumers and to bring some common-sense rationality into our financial system, and the president looks forward to signing it as quickly as possible," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

The legislation approved yesterday, authored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), will prohibit card companies from raising interest rates on existing balances unless the borrower is at least 60 days late paying a bill. If the cardholder pays on time for the following six months, the company would have to restore the original rate. On cards with more than one interest rate, issuers will have to apply payments first to the debts with the highest rates. Before increasing rates on future purchases, the card company would have to give cardholders 45 days' notice.

Card executives have said the changes would prevent them from properly distinguishing between risky and non-risky borrowers and force them to charge everyone higher rates and annual fees.

Once Obama signs the bill as expected, it will take nine months to go into effect. It provides much stronger protections than new credit card regulations passed by the Federal Reserve in December. Those go into effect in July 2010.

 

[OldSchool]

I just had to go check my credit unions website:

Interest Rate: 8.740%

I usually don't carry much of a balance, if any. But that seems pretty good to me.

 

[cigdaze]

Mine are all single digits. The day it becomes any more than that, is that day I'll be telling them to F'off. Hell, the only reason I even have the damn things is for travel and online shopping. It's hard to beat the security and consumer protection of a CC.

 

[Big Time]

Just checked mine...one is 10.24 the other is 6.24. Those two are visa and mastercard. I normally don't carry a balance but due to some unforseen expenses this summer I have a balance on the 6.24% card. I can't find the rate on my Amex, but I never carry a balance on that card so I guess it is ok.

 

[sellsman11]

I paid off my LAST credit card 3 weeks ago!! I kept one for emergencies. Zero balance....Zero interest!:03::03:

 

[VtSteve]

I had one that went from 8.99% to 19%. I didn't cancel it because the balance was zero. My Ex's card, one of three I have to pay off per the Div Order :beatdeadhorse5: the rates are all permanently low, but they keep lowering the credit line as I pay it off. Yes, it's Chase. None of my accounts have been impacted otherwise.

The banking lobby is huge, as is the healthcare lobby. Perhaps consumers will thank the big banks that have screwed them, by walking to their local banks and credit unions that have fair offers.

 

[Geronimo36]

FYI, cancelling cards are also a ding on your credit score.

It's like a catch-22.

 

[Ratickle]

FYI, cancelling cards are also a ding on your credit score.

It's like a catch-22.

Correct. I don't cancel them, just put them in the safe and pull them out to use once every couple months. Then pay it off....

 

[insanity]

My GM card is 29%, only reason I keep it is I have GM points on it...Although at this point I don't see myself buying another GM car at any point so I may as well cancel it now that I think about it...

 

[sledge]

FWIW, cancelling cards isn't an automatic ding and what little it might be isn't worth worrying about. Don't let a few points deter you from cancelling a crappy card. If you've got 10 store cards, 3 Visas, 2 Mastercards, a couple of AMEX's and a Discover Card....shutting a few down might actually help the score.

 

[sledge]

I can't find the rate on my Amex, but I never carry a balance on that card so I guess it is ok.

If it's an AMEX "charge" card (the usual green,gold,platinum,black), there is no rate because you're supposed to pay it off each month...unless you activate Sign & Travel/Extended Payment which allows some charges to be paid over time. If it's their Optima/Blue/Business/whatever that allows payment over time, then there's a rate.

 

[Shah Mat]

Canceling cards....

When checking your credit score do they use debt/available credit? I always thought having a few cards with little or no balance helps, as long as you don't have a zero balance for a long period of time.

 

[insanity]

I think the reason you get 'dinged' when you close a credit card is because you are lowering the amount of credit you have available. So if you close a card with 10K limit, and are carrying 5K on another card with a 10K limit, you go from having 15K of credit available to only 5K available so your credit score takes a hit. Or something along those lines, I'm sure somebody knows exactly what the reason is.