Wells Fargo raises credit card rates

[rmp yellow]

Source: Bloomberg News

Wells Fargo & Co. plans to raise interest rates on a majority of credit card customers by 3 percentage points before new rules limiting such increases take effect, a company executive said. “This is something we’ve been contemplating for quite a period of time,’’ Kevin Rhein, group head of card services, said yesterday.

Wells Fargo began advising customers this week that the change takes effect Nov. 30. That’s one day before the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, wants curbs on rates and fees under a new US credit card law to take effect. He plans a hearing today on moving up the date to Dec. 1, from February, to head off increases by card issuers.

Rhein did not comment on whether Frank’s bill had any bearing on Wells Fargo’s decision.

The bank is also eliminating over-limit fees, which are imposed when customers exceed their credit limits, he said.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/10/08/wells_fargo_raises_credit_card_rates/

[truebrit71]

1. Wow..bet no-one thought THAT would happen...

:eyes:

[joeycola]

2. And health insurers will have 3 plus years to raise premiums if

a bill gets passed.

[Union Yes]

3. Thievin fuckin bastards. Typical corporabanking robber baron tactic.

:mad:

[Uben]

5. The real thieves are.....

...our damned congress-critters that allow this shit. They make the laws, and they are the ones whose influence gets bought.

[Lugnut]

4. I'm shocked that they would do such a thing.

:sarcasm:

[Old Codger]

6. Insurance co's and banks

Have deep pockets thanks to the bailout, they are also very very large, needed in order to have room for all the pols they contain.

[ginnyinWI]

7. It's war.

It's a real war. A battle between the American people and the corporations--both financial and insurance corporations. And they don't care what kind of casualties they inflict.

[xchrom]

8. they're trying to drive a set number of predetermined people

into bankruptcy. -- all the credit card companies are.

it's the only thing i can of -- this is just getting brutal.

[Delphinus]

18. I thought

that, with the change in the bankruptcy laws so many years ago, credit card debt wasn't allowed to be erased.

[xchrom]

19. indeed -- and that is part of the problem.

when that law was passed -- mistakenly -- law makers thought the economy was always going to go sky high -- never thinking that what goes up must come down.

now -- we have tied millions into a kind of indentured servitude.

[NMMOM]

9. Screw them! Join your local credit union.

Yeah, We all knew this was gonna happen. I closed out my account with Wells Fargo 6 months ago.
They asked me why. So I told them. 1. I didn't like their CEO's taking trips with the tax payers bailout money. 2. Interest rates on credit cards too high. 3. Interest rates on savings too low. and..4. Every time I drive up to the window, the tellers are always trying to sell/push some product on me that I have no use for. I mean, isn't the drive up window supposed to be time saving?? Jeeeez..... The woman who closed out my accounts just looked at me with this Stepfordian blank stare.
:banghead:
Join your local credit union.

[Bette Noir]

11. I dumped Wells Fargo, too.

My reason was less abstract than yours-- they kept canceling my cards and changing my passwords without my permission, so I couldn't access my money. After the 6th incident in 5 months, I withdrew my money and went elsewhere. Of course, after I closed my checking and savings account, they charged me a late fee on a credit card for which they never billed me. Buncha crooks.

[pattmarty]

10. Well, FUCK Wells Fargo, then!!!!!

[neuvocat]

12. They want to send their business to BofA and credit unions?

[backtomn]

13. No one should be surprised

Where was any of this outrage when Wells Fargo bought the struggling Wachovia a while back. I don't know if they used government money to do it, but they have certainly received that money now. Nice TARP bailout.....but who pays??? Guess??

[high density]

14. So don't carry a balance or go over limit

The banks have been wanting to do this for a while now, and the recent legislation gives them a federal bogeyman to blame for their actions.

[progressivebydesign]

22. oh, okay. Why didn't I think of that?

Here that everyone? Stop carrying balances. Sell all those magic unicorns you have in your backyard to pay off your balances today. :shrug:

[Scout]

23. if i didn't need to carry a balance, i wouldn't need a credit card.

just started sign up process with a debt management service yesterday. Citi raised my rate already to 18.99% on what had been a zero interest balance transfer. Now they want to raise it to 25.99%! that card is the first one to go....

[TxRider]

24. I did, I actually cancelled my only two cards when they jacked the rate

I am credit card free.

[classysassy]

15. The banksters

strike again.(its difficult to tell the gangsters from the banksters)

[CreekDog]

16. They had no choice

They are clearly being bankrupted by the 0.18% interest they pay me on my High Performance Money Market account. :eyes:

[Xenotime]

17. We need a total financial system overhaul...too bad it won't happen under Obama.

Healthcare reform has been hard enough.

[progressivebydesign]

21. Love it!! :) n/t

[progressivebydesign]

20. And BofA just pledged not to. Screw them all...

I look forward to the day when I'm not beholden to these robber barons. One simple mistake on my part, one missed check by a client, caused me $600.00 in bank fees in less than ONE month. Within a year I will be a cash-only person. Fuck these bastards. Until the Congress returns the deduction for consumer interest that was taken away by Reagonomics, we will never be free of these guys.

[harvey007]

25. They doubled my interest rate for no reason

Wells Fargo doubled my interest rate for no reason. I've always paid on time and have a high credit rating. For the past few months I haven't carried a balance, so maybe that's why I'm being punished with a 23.99% interest rate on my credit card.

:wtf: