Credit Card Games -- make your move -- OPT OUT!

[thotzRthingz]

I have several credit cards. ALL of them carry a balance of ZERO (if I have used them during the preceding billing cycle, I simply PAY OFF the balance), and over the years I have paid ZERO interest on any of them. I just got a NOTICE OF CHANGE IN TERMS for my AT&T Universal Card ... it reads as follows:

Your Card Agreement is changing. The changes will be effective April 1, 2010. The changes will be effective whether or not you receive a billing statement.

* We are adding an Annual Membership Fee of $60.

This fee will appear on your billing statement annually beginning May 2010.

Beginning 2010, we will credit back the fee each year once the total new purchases posted to your account, less any returns, equal $2,400. If your account is open and current, the credit will appear on the billing statement that you receive after the eligible purchases have been posted to your account. For these purposes, the year begins April 1 and ends March 31.

<...snip...>

INSERT THEIR OPT OUT STUFF HERE (it basically says I must do so by CALLING or WRITING to them)

<...snip...>

We are replacing the "Changes to this Agreement" section of your Card Agreement with the following:

"We may change the rates, fees, and terms of this Agreement from time to time as permitted by law. The changes may add, replace, or remove provisions of this Agreement. We will give you advance written notice of the changes and a right to opt out to the extent required by law."

1. You can bet your ass that I will be OPTING OUT... there is NO WAY IN HELL that I am going to be extorted into charging $2400 (or more) each year to this credit card, just to avoid being charged $60!

2. I don't *need* their credit card... while I do use it on occasion (typically while on trips away from home), I have several other Credit Cards (and NATIONWIDE FEE-FREE access to my Credit Union checking & savings accounts).

3. If they expect this document to be LEGALLY BINDING NOTICE ... why wasn't it CERTIFIED MAIL (Return Receipt Requested)? Quite frankly; I do not consider this document to be a legally binding agreement, since they have no way of knowing whether or not I've seen it, and have agreed to its terms. At minimum, I suspect that LEGALLY their "April 1" deadline is not binding (perhaps I would have another 30 - 60 days of "grace period" if I were to protest saying that I never agreed to their terms--NOT having been notified of same)? I say this because while they did mail it to me via "USPS 1st Class Mail" ... I have, on more than one occasion over the years, NOT received USPS mailings of importance (for example, just in recent months, I never received one my COX COMMUNICATIONS billing statements -- yes, I paid the bill anyway... but they don't know what happened to it, insisting that it did get mailed out).

4. FUCK 'EM ... AT&T (HSBC or CITI owned, I presume) can bite my ass!

[zipplewrath]

1. I was wondering when

I've had that card for years. I got it way back when because the offered "no fee for life". It had a provision that you had to use it once a year at a minimum. It also had a "calling card" feature when I first got it. It still has some utility in that manner. They got sold by ATT to Citi. Some where in there it also switched from Visa to Mastercard. But I ain't gonna pay $60 for it. There are fee free cards out there. Heck, my investor account can get me one that's tied to my margin.

[thotzRthingz]

2. yeah, I've had it for decades too... and I've used it at least once each year...

Without looking (I'm too lazy to go look in my file cabinet), I couldn't recall off-hand whether it was HSBC or CITI that bought them... thanks for that addition!

[thotzRthingz]

4. P.S. wifey also has one of these, a totally separate account in her name...

She uses it more often than I use mine... she has not received this notification (not yet, anyway). It will be interesting to see whether or not she gets EXTORTED as well.

[dionysus]

8. me too.. fist card i ever got...

[high density]

3. Opt out means they're going to close your account

If you were carrying a balance the previous terms of the account would be frozen until you paid it off. They wouldn't allow you to charge new purchases.

[thotzRthingz]

5. ummm -- in this instance: OPT OUT means I have the option to CLOSE MY ACCOUNT... if I do not,

then they will access a $60/year membership fee... and they will credit that back, if and only when I have qualifying charges equal to or greater than $2,400 within the year (April 1 to March 31) in question.

At least that's my understanding... at any rate: I am calling them, and telling them to CLOSE MY ACCOUNT. My credit rating is excellent, and has been for decades.

Bottom-line? I do not need this kind of EXTORTED "credit"!

[high density]

16. OK. You always have the option to close your account

I was simply clarifying that "opt-out" is closing your account, and depending on the credit limit or amount of time it's been open that could be a tough decision for some people.

[unblock]

6. obnoxious as this is (an poor competitive practice, as there are other cards without annual fees)

it's no doubt legal and actually not much different monthly fees on ordinary savings or checking accounts, which may be similarly waived if you maintain a minimum balance.

a card company does lose money keeping a credit line and account open if it's not being used (they have the risk of you using the account and eventually defaulting but receive no interest or fees from either you or the merchant if you don't actually use the card.)


as i said, though, it's terrible customer service and a lousy idea business-wise because it will only encourage people to cancel their cards and switch to cards that don't have annual fees an minimum purchase requirements.

[thotzRthingz]

9. oh, I have no doubt that it is legal (to charge a "membership fee") ... but as you have observed

it is BAD business practice. Here's why I say that:

They are, in effect, EXTORTING PEOPLE (like me) to use *THEIR* credit card... in hopes that we might slip-up... then they can SLAM US with a 30% INTEREST RATE

If they do not like people (like me) having their card, and never paying them any interest... the simple solution is to CLOSE THE ACCOUNT! In fact I had that happen to me already, on another Credit Card account... I had not used that card in years, and one day I went to use it and found out that the Credit Card Company had CLOSED THAT ACCOUNT long ago (they never sent me notice... simply CLOSED IT).

[AllyCat]

11. If they read the notice.

A bank is different because that is MY money, not credit

[Paper Roses]

7. I just took my meager savings and paid off my BoA card. If I have

no balance, I wonder if they will stick this change on me? I'll cancel it altogether.
I did open a charge with my small local bank in case I really need to charge something.
I bet when I get my paid off statement, there will be interest charges from the prior balance even though I paid it off the day I got it. I also expect the 9.4% rate I have to now be raised to something like 19.4%.

My accountant gave me the lecture about why keep meager my funds in a savings account that paid a total of $1.23 interest for the past year when the money I paid B of A cost me $25.00 a month interest. I knew this was the case but somehow those few dollars were a bit of an emergency fund.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. AT&T Universal Cards were originally marketed with a guarantee of no annual fee for life.

I guess "life" was just redefined.


eta: call their bluff. Cancel the card. If enough people cancel the card this stupid fee scheme will go away.

[AllyCat]

12. Cash. It's a beautiful thing.

I've not had a credit card in a decade. I don't miss it.

[thotzRthingz]

14. I hear that... and I don't really need "credit" ... it is just a matter of convenience

I don't like carrying around a WAD OF CASH... I also don't like carrying around a CHECKBOOK... DEBIT CARDS would serve the same purpose, I suppose (???)

I've never had a DEBIT CARD ... but have had several Credit Cards for several decades. I use them at GAS PUMPS (rather than having to go inside and pre-pay). I use them in stores (when not carrying enough cash). I use them to make online purchases (after frugally shopping for the BEST PRICE, w/ free shipping and zero state tax)... that has saved me many hundreds (probably in the thousands) of dollars which I would have otherwise spent (had I just gone to the local store, paid their RETAIL price and added TAX on top of that).

But I have absolutely nothing against "cold hard cash"! B-)

[global1]

13. So Will Anyone Explain To Me How This Credit Card Bill That Was Passed Is Going To Benefit Me?....nt

[Faryn Balyncd]

15. When the AT&T Universal Card was originally offered, it was with a promise that there would NEVER be

...an annual fee, and NEVER would be any charge to those who paid on time.

[flamin lib]

17. I currently have no credit cards or other methods of deficit spending

unless it is a secured loan, i.e. car or something similar.

I declared bankruptcy five years ago and paid off the three year plan. I've paid off two cars as agreed and my mortgage is up to date with not one late payment. I still can't get a credit card.

Without some form of current loan or credit debt I can't restore the 820 credit rating I had for 20 years prior to my job going to China and my health to hell.

My wife has hip deterioration and I have bad knees. We live in a split level house, almost paid for. We can't get out of bed and pee without going up two steps.

Without restoring our credit we can't get a mortgage. Without a credit card from a major bank we can't restore our credit short of making a $20 purchase of a new car (new car purchases from a dealer with dealer/factory loan get big + on the credit report).

I'm coping very well with day to day living and no credit. I've squirreled away a six month living income here and there (some of it $20 bills stuffed in books and hidden in the pantry next to the food I horde---yeah, I got issues) so I can handle short term expenses. But I can't buy a house without a 20% mortgage.

This sucks and I don't know how to get past our one mistake--buying a split level house when we were young and healthy.