WOW, i just discovered the rate on my BoA credit card went from 10% to 31%

[Matariki]

this, on an account i've never paid late. fortunately i can pay the whole thing off and never use it again. but when did loan sharking become legal?

it used to be a Fleet card which i never had trouble with, but Bank of America really sucks.

[electron_blue]

1. BOA's really going after every scrap of $ they can get from their clients

lately. I don't bank with them, but my mother and sister do. They both have had terrible experiences with them in the last year and have closed their accts with them.

[Matariki]

5. yeah, a long time ago i had my checking and savings with them

they made so many "mistakes" and nickle and diming that i closed the account. I was bummed out when they bought the Fleet account.

[freefall]

2. Bank of America is evil. I no longer have a credit card with them and will

never voluntarily do business with them again.

[leftofthedial]

3. loansharking became legal when the bush crime gang seized power

in the Coup of 2000

[pitohui]

37. not so, reagan legalized usury

you're off by 20 years, i don't ask you to take my word for it, i invite you to look it up for yourself

[leftofthedial]

47. the current large hike in credit card interest rates

and minimum payments

are artifacts of the king george era bankruptcy law and financial services deregulation.

[bullimiami]

4. NEW RULE. If you paid anything late, everyone can pile on.

Thank you repukes.

[Kookaburra]

6. Join a credit union

Rates are decent, and they don't jerk you around to pay for some bank they just acquired.

[Matariki]

11. good idea

actually, i just signed up for an Emigrant Direct account which someone on this board recommended for their %4.25 savings interest rate. They also have a credit card, I wonder what it's like.

I'm personally through with the credit thing. Fortunately I never let my debt get that high, so I can pay them all off and not use them anymore. I'll just keep one card for car rentals, etc.

[rox63]

15. My only credit card

is from my credit union. Good rates (below 10%), and they aren't part of some huge, faceless corporation.

[China_cat]

28. Not all of them are good

ours tried to soak us TWICE for a loan. We paid it off. A year later we get a letter from a collection agency saying they were going to garnish my husband's wages in order to pay off the loan. The credit union had sold a settled debt. We had to get a lawyer to fix it.

[Matariki]

31. Damn. What credit union was that?

[China_cat]

33. Seaport Federal

When we got the lawyer, we found out we weren't the only ones they had done it to.

They're still in business, though.

[Hoping4Change]

65. A Frontline episode covered this very thing. It gave lots of important

consumer information. Everyone should get a copy of it.

[Poppyseedman]

7. Yup, I found out last month my rate went t o 31% also

needless to say, I transferred my small balance and closed my account.

[hatrack]

8. Did you pay your light or gas bill late?

Because if you did, they can raise your CC interest rate.

[kevinbgoode]

9. OMG. .. I HAVE a Bank of America credit card

with...unfortunately, a high balance right now as well. . .I noticed my minimum payment had jumped, but I always pay much more than the minimum anyway. . .but I need to check that interest rate, especially since I'm supposed to have a "guaranteed" rate. . .

Thanks for the heads up!!!

[Coyote_Bandit]

10. They can also raise the interest rate

if you went over your limit on another card. Even if that was the result of a theft and fraudulent use of the card. I know somebody that happened to.

Edit for bad typing.

[Matariki]

14. that might be their excuse

i went over the limit on another card, which ironically *didn't* raise their rates.

i'd be really angry if i couldn't pay it off and close it quickly. What i am angry about though is the change in laws that allow this - and the combination of these new laws with the bankruptcy law. Especially changing the laws when there are so many people with high debt that they can't easily pay off. Like a deliberate trap. Right now all i can say is ARRRRGH.

[Coyote_Bandit]

18. I agree

Worse yet are the cash advance places.

White collar loan sharks. All of them.

[Greyhound]

50. The irony here is that this is not new, the universal default clause

has been in the card agreements since at least the mid-'90s. They just didn't dare use it until after the ne bankruptcy law went into effect.

[NVMojo]

12. good lord. i'd better check mine!

[Nightflurry]

13. Loan sharks

Those kind of rates should be usury.

But I totally agree with an above poster, get a credit cart through a credit union. I'm 19 and had NO credit, but I wanted to get a card so I could built a little up. I got one from the CU with no fees, 11% interest, and they're very nice about it.

I get about 5 offers from companies a week in the mail, more then that sometimes, the lowest rate any single one of them offered me was 16%. The sad thing is I know other people my age think that's actually a good rate. It might be the going one with the big companies, but you can always get a better interest rate if you look around.

[Uben]

16. Read the fine print

...you know the microscopic print! Usually, once you reach a balance of 25% of your credit line, they will raise your rate. I heard something like this on the news this morning.

[Matariki]

17. LOL - so it's a low interest rate until you actually *use* it.

that's funny

[distantearlywarning]

19. Last month I logged in to pay one of mine

And found that they had recorded a payment as late, charged me a late fee, and raised my interest rate to 27%. I never pay late, and in fact have paid 8X the minimum payment on this card for at least 6 months in a row. After further investigation, I discovered that they had moved my payment date to the 28th of each month without informing me. Since I always pay on the first when I get my first paycheck every month, this made my payment late by 3 days.

Yes, apparently they were attempting in a sneaky and underhanded way to get me, a regular and responsible customer, to pay late one month so they could raise my rate and charge me money. Nice, huh? Well, unfortunately for them, the month before I had actually paid twice for some reason, once on the first, and once on the 15th, which happened to fall within the previous month's time frame (the month they shortened by moving my pay date), and therefore it counted towards the payment they said was late.

When I called them to complain, the customer service guy was mystified as to why my date was moved, or why I was counted late. Um, maybe because they did this to a whole bunch of people who pay on or near the 1st (probably a very common pay date) and they were counting on me not having paid later in the month previous, much less having paid hundreds of dollars more than the minimum? And I love how they charged the fee and raised the rate without even looking to see if I had made a payment or not (just more proof that this was done to a bunch of random people in hopes that they would catch somebody with it).

The customer service guy was very nice and removed the late fee and my increased rate. But what a sneaky, underhanded, crappy thing for the CC company to do! It's sad that you have to watch these people all the time like that.

[Matariki]

22. Moving due dates, yep.

My first credit cart was with Bank of America - i had the same problem. The card started out always being due on the same day, then all of a sudden they started moving the date around, which took me a while to notice. The last straw was when they misplaced one of my car payments - applied it to my credit card, then deducted it, then charged me over the limit and late fees (i wasn't paying attention to the credit card because the balance had been $0 for months). That's when i closed that account. I was upset when they acquired my Fleet account because I knew how shitty they are.

[jbnow]

67. I just wrote to BOA

to complain about the shifting date. It use to be around the 14th, then went to alternating between the 7th and 10th. I told them how inconvenient it was.

They wrote back and said they'd "updated your due date to be on or around the 20th of each month.
This date may change monthly as payment is due 20 or 25 days after your
billing date."

That is convenient for me, but what is with the 20 OR 25 days after billing date. Why not one or the other (unless it is to catch us off guard)

[Matariki]

68. well, even at 25 days that's going to be about 5 days earlier each month

[mtnester]

78. That sneak attack was tried by our company too

moved the due date up by one week...no notification

Har har to them..I was WATCHING for this devious trick

And guess what? I owe them NOTHING now...nada...zip

I was so pissed I sent the entire amount due in for BOTH our cards ( we never keep a high balance anyway).

So, now credit cards are for trips and emergencies ONLY.

Suckers....bet lots of other folks are going to do the same as soon as they can. If I cannot pay cash for it (other than trips and emergencies) I WON'T be buying it...do you hear me retailers? Better get ready for even MORE dismal sales.

As a matter of fact, now that I wrote this, I think I will shop for another credit card, cause I am more pissed than when I started writing. Off I go.

[FlaGranny]

26. That very same thing happend to me

recently.

[dogday]

20. You know those tiny little words that you can't understand

on your credit application? Essentially they say we can fuck you whenever we want.:sarcasm: Welcome to Bush's world. Where are the debtor's prisons when you need them?:sarcasm:

[Matariki]

23. I'm sure those are coming soon

probably what that Halliburton contract for 'detention centers' is actually for.

[dogday]

24. I thought that as well............ nt

[davekriss]

43. Haliburton detention centers...

...the 21st century debtors' prison. Come one, come all; forget the house, the bank now owns; forget the job, yer' on the new chain gang. What a country, huh?

[dogday]

58. I saw a commercial last night

This commercial was for the Government and Banks who have seized houses and are wanting to sell for little or no payment down.
This gave me an idea of how many houses they have seized. It also seems like they might be setting up the poor to get a house they will not be able to afford if the note balloons like a lot of these loans do....

[Greyhound]

21. Like so much of the foundational work, it was raygun that, for all

practical purposes, repealed prohibition of usury.

[Matariki]

29. and cuts in education, and raping the environment,

and cuts in social programs, and taxing the poor, and defense contract overspending, and ad nauseum. And all with a doddering, grandfatherly facade. I hated that fucker.

I was in my last year of college when he came into power and I saw many people have to drop out of their last year or so of college because one of the first things that bastard did was cut financial aid to low income students.

[Greyhound]

44. Yep, I remember it all. I'm a little younger but what he did once he got

in was the first time I realized that it really was all going away. The last 26 years have been one long silent scream for me.

[Art_from_Ark]

74. Yeah, Reagan really sucked

all with that doddering, "grandfatherly" facade.

And here I had thought there was no difference between him and Carter, so I voted for Anderson, a former (?) Republican who did an end run around Carter to siphon off some of the liberal vote :banghead:

[China_cat]

25. when did loan sharking become legal?

January, 2001

[rman]

27. You'd almost think they want to bankrupt people

Once people are bankrupt many will find they can't file for bankruptcy.
We can only speculate what happens then. heaven forbid the govt steps in to "help" these people...

[Matariki]

30. yep. it DOES seem premeditated.

[Matariki]

32. it occurs to me that they probably want to create an indentured ARMY

to further their world domination plan. No draft, just utter desperation.

[rman]

34. which would be more of the same as what they're doing now.

perhaps much more.

[Sadie5]

35. This should be a top priority

When the Dems take over in 08. Change the banking laws.

[PassingFair]

63. Better hope they don't put Biden in charge. ......... n/t

[distantearlywarning]

38. I think that they do, actually

A populace that is working 3 jobs and saddled with debt is not likely to be a populace that pays a lot of attention to what it's government is doing or who will protest or get upset.

Somebody yesterday posted an excerpt from a book about what it was like to live in Nazi Germany prior to the war. ( http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=190088 )ALthough the whole article was frightening in relation to what's happening in our country right now, this part struck me especially:

"And on top of that were the demands in the community, the things in which one had to, was ‘expected to’ participate that had not been there or had not been important before. It was all rigmarole, of course, but it consumed all one’s energies, coming on top of the work one really wanted to do. You can see how easy it was, then, not to think about fundamental things. One had no time."

"Those," I said, "are the words of my friend the baker. ‘One had no time to think. There was so much going on.’"

I doubt that they could introduce time consuming community patriotic activities in the US right now and get away with it. But there are other things happening that are "consuming all our energies". There's no doubt that crippling debt and the fear that goes with it are a fabulous way to keep the public too busy to think or act. Pretty scary, huh? That's why I'm busy paying mine off. I don't want to be part of the mass of sheeple. I want to have at least a little freedom to act, even if it's to leave the country with a plane ticket purchased on a clear and free credit card...

[pitohui]

36. loan sharking legalized under the reagan administration

so they have over 20 yrs of precedent now, i'm sorry and think it should have remained illegal, but no one asked pitohui's opinion, others have been hit by such rates even back in the 80s

the rate at check-cashing places is often higher than the rate charged by the old-time loan sharks, just as the chance of winning at the old illegal "numbers" games was better than the chance of winning at legal state lottery

legalization is not always our friend, i guess, the mob at least felt it had to make friends w. the communities it served, the gov't and the credit card folk simply do not care because they are not really a part of the community

[rman]

39. PBS Frontline - Secret history of the credit card

{there's a lot of usefull info in there for credit card holders}


More then 100 million Americans have a credit card debt and use credit cards "to make ends meet". The average US family has 8 credit cards and $8000 debt.
Monthly payments used to be 5% of the debt balance. At some point it was lowered to 2% to make it more attractive for consumers to use a credit card.

PBS Frontline: Secret history of the credit card
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/

======

"The House of Representatives approves an overhaul of the nation's bankruptcy laws Wednesday, in a vote of 302 to 126. The bill, which passed in the Senate last month, will make it more difficult to get rid of debts by filing for bankruptcy, forcing tens of thousand of people to work out repayment plans instead.
President Bush is expected to sign the bill, which opponents say will hurt the economically vulnerable."

NPR
Congress Overhauls Bankruptcy Laws
by Brian Naylor
April 14, 2005
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4600645

======

"Within the next month, Bank of America, MBNA and Citigroup will raise minimum monthly payments on their cards from 2 percent of the balance to up to 4 percent, not including interest. Other card issuers are expected to make similar changes by the end of the year."

"On the good side of that, they will get out of debt faster, but on the down side, it's gonna be a squeeze," Greg Burgess, of Compass of Carolina, told WYFF News 4's Tim Waller.

Yahoo News
Minimum Credit Card Payments to double in next few months
Mon Jul 18, 5:47 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=401&e=2&u=/wyff/20050718/lo_wyff/2831815

ABC News
Credit Card Minimum Payments Set to Rise
July 20, 2005
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MellodyHobson/story?id=954593&page=1

[Art_from_Ark]

75. The average US household has 8 credit cards and $8000 debt

I can't imagine maintaining such a high credit card debt, except under the most extenuating of circumstances.

[cindyw]

40. That same f'in thing happened to me. 4% to 29%. I have never paid on

time since. It was a fixed rate by Providian and then was bought by Chase. They said ti changed to variable. I was livid.

[NoodleyAppendage]

41. CANCEL THE CARD IMMEDIATELY...it's likely to lock the lower rate

Chase (blood-sucking scum) Bank tried the same thing with me by "adjusting" my fixed APR from 14% to a variable 27% rate. I read their super small fine print "adjustment" insert sent with the bill and it noted that I had the option to cancel the account, in which case the remaining balance would be frozen at the lower fixed APR.

If everyone did this cancel/fix rate solution, these assholes would stop the predatory lending and loan sharking real quick.

BTW - here's a copy of the text that I used when requesting in writing that Chase (blood-sucking scum) Bank should cancel my account. Feel free to template or use this for your BoA cancellation letter (if you go that route):

-----------------------------------

Cardmember Services
P.O. Box 15098
Wilmington, DE. 19850-5098

Re: cancellation of Chase Visa credit card

To Whom It May Concern:

As a Chase Visa card member since 1991, I find it sad and morally reprehensible that your corporation has chosen to penalize my account by moving the interest rate from a fixed 14% APR to an obscenely high 27.99% variable APR.

Let me be very clear that your corporation’s decision was not based upon irresponsible behavior on my part, as my account is always paid early and at least twice the minimum payment is made each month. Your corporation’s decision can only be taken as pure, unmitigated greed and poor business practice.

Accordingly, I wish to sever my relationship with your company and ask for my account to be cancelled immediately. It is my understanding that this effectively freezes my account at a fixed 14% APR for the remaining balance of my account. My account number is as follows: X

Once my card amount is paid off in full, please be aware that I will never return to using Chase corporate services for the remainder of my life and will actively discourage any and all of my friends and family from ever using your corporation’s services.

Just as unwise credit card use has it’s consequences for the card holder, so does the flagrant effort by your corporation to “put the thumbscrews” on responsible users paying down their balances. I realize that the loss of my business is just a drop in the bucket and inconsequential in the grand scheme of your corporation’s bottom line. However, my discouragement of many, many others from ever using your services will have an adverse impact that I hope will instruct your company on the consequences of poor business practices and implementation of interest rates that would make a mobster blush.

Please feel free to contact me for any additional information, if needed. I can be reached via email at X or by phone at X.

Sincerely,

---------------------------------------

JB

[Matariki]

42. Excellent letter.

I'll make sure Bank of (bankrupting) America knows why I'm closing my account as well.

I like your name change for Chase - it needs a tm

[MadHound]

45. Pay your card(s) off people, cut them up, and don't get another

I see people here whining and moaning about what CC companies are doing to themselves and others and how they wish for a change. Well the only way you're going to get a change out of these corporations is to hit them in the bottom line. Cut up your card, and never, ever look back. If you don't want to carry cash on you, then carry either a check book or debit card(though I suspect that they're going to be showering that with fees here soon). Cut the bastards off at the knees.

I've lived my whole life without a credit card, and haven't suffered or been inconvienenced by it. In fact my credit rating is great, I don't have that extra bill and worry hanging over my head, and I don't have to put up with bullshit from a CC company. If wasn't that long ago that CCs were a rarity, but now they have spread everywhere in our society. People are now charging their morning coffee:wtf: Cut them all up, and throw them away. In the long run it will be better for you personally, and for us as a society.

[Matariki]

49. I agree with you completely.

I wasn't trying to defer the personal responsibility for my debt to the cc company, just shocked that they are allowed to A)raise the rate from what they originally sold me on and B)legally charge such outrageous rates. I mean come on - 31%?!?

The new laws are predatory, and especially at a time when people's debt is high. Definite bait and switch tactic. Or maybe more like a mouse trap?

[Gormy Cuss]

51. Or at the very least, stop using CC if you can't pay in full.

You are absolutely right -- if consumers don't fight back in a way that affects their profits, CC companies have no incentive to change. I remember when VISA and Mastercard banks began charging annual fees. For a while it appeared that this would become the norm, then a few companies saw the opportunity and seized it. The movement was reversed within a few years - now there are many cards without annual fees.

If consumers balk at the interest rate changes based on behavior on other accounts, and tell banks that is why, perhaps this truly odious practice will go away too. The consumers who have the most clout are the large balance, large payments made on time folks and the pay-in-full cadre because both groups can and do shut accounts and move on.

[earth mom]

60. Good post.

The only card I have is a debit card with a VISA logo. It's all a big rip off. More often than not, Dh and I pay for everything in cash.

I also want to add that I have no doubt that they are trying to turn the US into a completely cash free society, where every dollar spent has some kind of hidden fee attached-which of course is just another way to tax us. :grr:

As well, these cards can be considered a way to track us or as even a form of micro chipping. Look at all the info they can gather about any of us. The books we buy, the movies we watch, the places we go...YIKES! :grr:

No Thank You!

[Matariki]

64. I reserved a rental car with Hertz

at the time of the reservation they allowed visa debit cards for a deposit when you picked up the car. When I showed up though, they had changed the rule to only allow credit cards - because of (you guessed it) "security reasons". Luckily I had room on my credit card or I would have been stranded in an unfamiliar city. This crap just makes me crazy...

[Justice Is Comin]

70. No, even better than that

use it for whatever you would otherwise pay cash for if you didn't have the card. Then pay the balance off in full. They don't get a penny interest from you. You have all the convenience. Any you're using their money for 25 days.

Plus, they have to keep reporting you as as never late to the credit bureaus as well, which keeps your FICO score climbing.

They absolutely despise that.

[MadHound]

71. Trouble with that is

They can still charge you annual fees, and you help them keep a revenue stream open via advertising. All those fine advertising circulars that come with your bill is additional money for the CC companies. In addition, every time you swipe something, the CC companies get a fee from the retailer. More money.

Just cut the damn things up and toss them.

[against all enemies]

46. Did both the Democrats AND Republicans sell out to the banks?

[Greyhound]

48. It's called universal default and it was in the card agreement. If you're

late or miss a payment on any loans or CC, even if the reported information is wrong they can all raise your interest to whatever they want, and there's not one thing you can do about it. Just don't forget to thank the traitor dems for this in November.

[NoodleyAppendage]

53. They can also raise the rate if there's a "change" in your debt ratio.

Essentially, the credit card companies can jack up the rate whenever they want.

If your debt ratio changes for the worse, they can raise the rate.

If there's a lot of recent inquiries on your credit history, they can raise the rate.

Neither of the above reasons has ANYTHING to do with one's ability to be a responsible account holder.

JB

[Matariki]

56. and i bet they never lower it once your debt ratio lowers

[NoodleyAppendage]

59. That's a pretty safe bet. n/t

JB

[Greyhound]

62. Nope, never.

[Cleita]

52. Loan sharking or usuary, which was listed as a sin in

my catechism, has been in effect now for more than twenty years, since our good ole boy Reagan.

I never use credit cards anymore except for an emergency.

[Matariki]

54. Ironic isn't it?

I always wonder when the fundamental christians are going to start protesting banks and financial institutions, rather than picketing funerals and health clinics.

[rman]

72. pre-dates the birth of Christ:

"The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason: it makes a profit from currency itself, instead of making it from the process which currency was meant to serve. Their common characteristic is obviously their sordid avarice."
- Aristotle, ~350BC

[leftchick]

55. It is the New Way of life in the USA, The Loansharks are protected

by the BFEE! Fuck the poor, elderly, disabled and sick. The new AmeriKa.

[Matariki]

57. Yep, the Mafia pretty much took the US over in a coup

now, what are we going to do about it?

[leftchick]

61. I am not doing anything but plan an escape for my family

as I posted a few weeks ago this country is too far gone. It is going to get worse what with 4 out of 5 voters this fall voting on Repuke owned paperless touchscreen machines. The US is toast. At least as far as freedom and democracy go. I am getting the hell out of here.

[rman]

73. Just to point out that "it's the mafia, but not as we know it"

This is not about the Al Capone mafia - this transnational. And it goes back to before anyone coined the term "mafia".

[Matariki]

66. Just Found this Article on Co-op America about Responsible Credit Cards

http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/realmoney/articles/creditcards.cfm

Every debt I have, including my mortgage, is on their 'worst performers for ethics and social controversies'. *Sigh*. Time to make some big changes.

[liberaltrucker]

69. Thank God we declared bankruptcy before

the repuke law went into effect. We're breathing easy
and have enough disposable income that a Visa check card
is all we need. Just a buck a month.

[question everything]

76. Have you changed job?

Whenever I can, the bank that gets our direct deposit checks is different from the bank that holds the mortgage and is different from the bank that issues our credit cards.

Does not help when they buy each other but so far, this holds. Perhaps we are a bit paranoid since we've gone through so many job losses.

This way, when a direct deposit paycheck stops coming, but unemployment payments start, we do not have to worry about a sudden rise in interest rates on credit cards - which do get used more and are not paid off - or about extra fees on our mortgage.

[fortyfeetunder]

77. Call them up and tell them to cut it out.

They will back off if you ask them to do that. And in some cases, return your interest payments.

[Nutmegger]

79. This happened to me to but it wasn't BoA

Were you late on another card perhaps? Then "universal default" kicks in sadly. Check out Frontline's secret history of the credit card.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/