Credit card APRs skyrocketing?

[jefa]

Increase from Citi as well, but there is an option to opt-out. Even if I opt-out do you think they can / will raise the rate anyway?

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: jefa
Increase from Citi as well, but there is an option to opt-out. Even if I opt-out do you think they can / will raise the rate anyway?

I'm sure it's still possible for them to do it. I just think they were trying to catch people who don't look at their statements.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: ja1484
My credit line sure as hell won't be changing though. Pay the card off every month, to the penny, well before deadline. Banks used to hate people like me for not paying any interest or fees, which is where their profits come from on CCs, but now they're just thankful I'm not destroying their bottom line like most of suburban America.

Don't be so sure. Many people are finding their credit lines reduced (or cancelled altogether) and/or their APRs raised, and they have never been late or carried a balance. Right now AmEx, Citi and Chase are leading the way.

Always good to have a credit union card in your pocket as they don't appear to be doing this.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Special K
If you pay your balance in full each month, who cares what the APR is?

This.

 

[ja1484]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: ja1484
My credit line sure as hell won't be changing though. Pay the card off every month, to the penny, well before deadline. Banks used to hate people like me for not paying any interest or fees, which is where their profits come from on CCs, but now they're just thankful I'm not destroying their bottom line like most of suburban America.

Don't be so sure. Many people are finding their credit lines reduced (or cancelled altogether) and/or their APRs raised, and they have never been late or carried a balance. Right now AmEx, Citi and Chase are leading the way.

Always good to have a credit union card in your pocket as they don't appear to be doing this.

Yeah, but most of these folks have debt obligations or marred credit history elsewhere. Mine's pristine.

Both my cards are through Truliant, which wasn't involved in the subprime ordeal.

I know what I'm doing 😉

 

[Gibson486]

Amex just sent me a letter saying that they will be highering my APR. Didn't really pay attention to it though since I am still on the 0% promo transfer balance period.

 

[FeuerFrei]

my personal Chase card just lowered the APR half a percentage point to 8.49%

It's pegged to the LIBOR which is nice and low for now.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: ja1484

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: ja1484
My credit line sure as hell won't be changing though. Pay the card off every month, to the penny, well before deadline. Banks used to hate people like me for not paying any interest or fees, which is where their profits come from on CCs, but now they're just thankful I'm not destroying their bottom line like most of suburban America.

Don't be so sure. Many people are finding their credit lines reduced (or cancelled altogether) and/or their APRs raised, and they have never been late or carried a balance. Right now AmEx, Citi and Chase are leading the way.

Always good to have a credit union card in your pocket as they don't appear to be doing this.

Yeah, but most of these folks have debt obligations or marred credit history elsewhere. Mine's pristine.

Both my cards are through Truliant, which wasn't involved in the subprime ordeal.

I know what I'm doing 😉

Like I said, it's good to have a credit union card! 🙂

 

[moparacer]

If you pay your balance in full each month, who cares what the APR is?

Thats what I have always done with credit cards and my Citibusiness card is 15.49 percent and my Diamond prefered rewards card is 13.99.....:shocked:

Wow hey Citi thanks for the great APRs lol.....

Really pays to have a spotless credit history doesnt it....:roll:

 

[Thorny]

I just got a letter about my wife's Citi card in the mail yesterday. They are raising her rate from 9.99 to 24.99 effective Jan if she does not opt out. Funny thing is we had just made a phone call to them in the last month and they had lowered her rate .5 over the phone. They could not provide any explanation over the phone for the increase, the CSR just said that everyone was getting them. I had the rep check my Citi card and sure enough, they were raising it from 9.49 to 16.99 with no reason or explanation. I canceled both accounts immediately and my rate will remain unchanged on current balances and I can still use my card until it's expiration date.

Amex has been screwing with my credit limit for several months now. They have been "balance chasing", which is lowering my available credit each time I make a significant payment on the card. My rate has stayed the same, but the whole balance is on a locked promotional rate that would not be effected anyway.

For the record, my credit is above average in the mid 700's and I have nothing deragatory on my credit. I have however recently moved and been 1 day late on both Citi cards due to my mail not being forwarded properly (hence the call to Citi within the last month where they LOWERED my apr and waived the late fee to the account.) Both Citi and Amex are the highest rate cards I have, but I use them at work (self-employed) for the promotional rates and high limits. I don't NEED the credit right now, but it sucks having a $35,000 saftey net yanked away.

 

[Wnh5001]

Hmmm, i haven't seen any rate increases from my Citi cards, but i expect they'll be reflected on my next statements and Chase has decided to increase my limit a 1000.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: jefa
Increase from Citi as well, but there is an option to opt-out. Even if I opt-out do you think they can / will raise the rate anyway?

My citi went from 8.99% to 24.99% (per the letter) by my online statement still says 8.99%. It does say I can opt out but that the card will be closed on the expiration date of the card.

edit: it says it will change on December 3.

 

[JS80]

Check this post out:

If you?ve got a good credit score, good payment history, and one of those horrid letters from Citibank, READ THIS. It just may make your day, and it will serve you well in dealing with billing departments everywhere.

I have three (3) credit card accounts from Citigroup, ALL of which sent me change in terms letters.

Card 1: 9.99% to 14.99% (this is a ridiculously large limit card which I carry about a 35% debt load on)
Card 2: 9.99% to 16.99% (used only for paying school and xmas shopping, typically small balances)
Card 3: 14.49% to 17.99% (zero balance)

I called their customer service department and was given, unsurprisingly, the hard line about how ?the bank? decided that due to ?the financial climate? that they had to increase rates ?for everyone.? She suggested that my options were only one of two things:

1.) Opt out and have my account(s) closed.
2.) Accept the higher rate and keep my card.

I?ve practically grown up in call centers, so I knew that this lady wasn?t the end of the line. I got off the phone with her so she could close the call out with notes that I said I?d think about it and call back.

I called back half an hour later and spoke to another representative. This one was less friendly (to be fair, I was a bit curt in describing my issues with the letters). After saying my piece politely but curtly, and pointing out some inconsistencies on Citi?s part (promising to Congress that they wouldn?t pull this kind of gag anymore, specifically a year before pulling this gag), she again gave me the ?You have two options? ultimatum. I told her that it was clear that she wasn?t going to be of any help to me. She said she was sorry, but the bank says that these are my two options.

Nuts to that. ?Can I please speak to a supervisor?? ?Sure, I can get you to an account supervisor, but just so you know, they won?t be able to help you with this.? ?That?s not a problem, please just transfer me over.? ?I can do that for you. Please hold.?

*three minutes of holding later?*

?Scott?? ?Yes?? ?I have an account supervisor on the line for you now, she will take care of you from here on.? ?Thank you!?

I proceeded to explain as politely as possible that while I understood that Citigroup was in a bind, so were all of us; I feel some of the pain, because my 401(k) contains some Citi stock [who knows if I do or not, but it sounds good]. I signed an honorable agreement between two supposedly honorable parties, myself and Citibank, and I don?t feel that having my APRs raised by 50% (9.99% to 14.99%) or more per account is a reasonable or honorable thing to do.

I peppered the one-sided conversation with reminders that I was not upset with her personally, nor was I upset with her employee that just shut me down [after all, that?s her job], but that I was upset at how I was being treated as a customer with a very high credit score and nearly a decade of account history who has never made a single late payment on any account with Citibank, and I made what I felt was a VERY reasonable offer on my part: I?ll pay off my existing balances at the agreed-upon rate prior to this change, and will accept the terms of the rate change for all future purchases. She said that she didn?t have any way to make that happen, but to give her a moment and she?d see what she could do.

Here?s what she came up with, very quickly, while thanking me for being such a good customer:
Account #1: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #2: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #3: 14.49% to 14.54% APR

It took a grand total of eight minutes of talking and three minutes of hold music to go from a 5%, 7%, and 3.5% increase in APR to 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.05%(this one amused me) increases.

Did they still win? Sure, a little bit. Am I happy with that? Darn tootin?, that phone call saved me probably $2,000 in interest over the next three years.

The moral of the story:
Request a supervisor after stating your case to the first person you speak to if they don?t give you what you want, and be SUPER NICE to that supervisor. They are generally given the power to bend rules to make the customer happy, and if you get them on your side, they?ll do what they can for you, because many of their escalated calls involve screaming and cursing.

Take it from someone who?s worked in the industry for a very, very long time and has watched tens of thousands of dollars of money get simply handed out or written off to people who just bothered to ask for it or were so relentless that it became cheaper to pay them what they wanted than to waste time (time is money!) talking to them over and over.

Cliffs:

Here?s what she came up with, very quickly, while thanking me for being such a good customer:
Account #1: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #2: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #3: 14.49% to 14.54% APR

It took a grand total of eight minutes of talking and three minutes of hold music to go from a 5%, 7%, and 3.5% increase in APR to 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.05%(this one amused me) increases.

 

[ja1484]

Originally posted by: JS80
Check this post out:

If you?ve got a good credit score, good payment history, and one of those horrid letters from Citibank, READ THIS. It just may make your day, and it will serve you well in dealing with billing departments everywhere.

I have three (3) credit card accounts from Citigroup, ALL of which sent me change in terms letters.

Card 1: 9.99% to 14.99% (this is a ridiculously large limit card which I carry about a 35% debt load on)
Card 2: 9.99% to 16.99% (used only for paying school and xmas shopping, typically small balances)
Card 3: 14.49% to 17.99% (zero balance)

I called their customer service department and was given, unsurprisingly, the hard line about how ?the bank? decided that due to ?the financial climate? that they had to increase rates ?for everyone.? She suggested that my options were only one of two things:

1.) Opt out and have my account(s) closed.
2.) Accept the higher rate and keep my card.

I?ve practically grown up in call centers, so I knew that this lady wasn?t the end of the line. I got off the phone with her so she could close the call out with notes that I said I?d think about it and call back.

I called back half an hour later and spoke to another representative. This one was less friendly (to be fair, I was a bit curt in describing my issues with the letters). After saying my piece politely but curtly, and pointing out some inconsistencies on Citi?s part (promising to Congress that they wouldn?t pull this kind of gag anymore, specifically a year before pulling this gag), she again gave me the ?You have two options? ultimatum. I told her that it was clear that she wasn?t going to be of any help to me. She said she was sorry, but the bank says that these are my two options.

Nuts to that. ?Can I please speak to a supervisor?? ?Sure, I can get you to an account supervisor, but just so you know, they won?t be able to help you with this.? ?That?s not a problem, please just transfer me over.? ?I can do that for you. Please hold.?

*three minutes of holding later?*

?Scott?? ?Yes?? ?I have an account supervisor on the line for you now, she will take care of you from here on.? ?Thank you!?

I proceeded to explain as politely as possible that while I understood that Citigroup was in a bind, so were all of us; I feel some of the pain, because my 401(k) contains some Citi stock [who knows if I do or not, but it sounds good]. I signed an honorable agreement between two supposedly honorable parties, myself and Citibank, and I don?t feel that having my APRs raised by 50% (9.99% to 14.99%) or more per account is a reasonable or honorable thing to do.

I peppered the one-sided conversation with reminders that I was not upset with her personally, nor was I upset with her employee that just shut me down [after all, that?s her job], but that I was upset at how I was being treated as a customer with a very high credit score and nearly a decade of account history who has never made a single late payment on any account with Citibank, and I made what I felt was a VERY reasonable offer on my part: I?ll pay off my existing balances at the agreed-upon rate prior to this change, and will accept the terms of the rate change for all future purchases. She said that she didn?t have any way to make that happen, but to give her a moment and she?d see what she could do.

Here?s what she came up with, very quickly, while thanking me for being such a good customer:
Account #1: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #2: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #3: 14.49% to 14.54% APR

It took a grand total of eight minutes of talking and three minutes of hold music to go from a 5%, 7%, and 3.5% increase in APR to 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.05%(this one amused me) increases.

Did they still win? Sure, a little bit. Am I happy with that? Darn tootin?, that phone call saved me probably $2,000 in interest over the next three years.

The moral of the story:
Request a supervisor after stating your case to the first person you speak to if they don?t give you what you want, and be SUPER NICE to that supervisor. They are generally given the power to bend rules to make the customer happy, and if you get them on your side, they?ll do what they can for you, because many of their escalated calls involve screaming and cursing.

Take it from someone who?s worked in the industry for a very, very long time and has watched tens of thousands of dollars of money get simply handed out or written off to people who just bothered to ask for it or were so relentless that it became cheaper to pay them what they wanted than to waste time (time is money!) talking to them over and over.

Cliffs:

Here?s what she came up with, very quickly, while thanking me for being such a good customer:
Account #1: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #2: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #3: 14.49% to 14.54% APR

It took a grand total of eight minutes of talking and three minutes of hold music to go from a 5%, 7%, and 3.5% increase in APR to 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.05%(this one amused me) increases.

Who the hell pays interest on CCs?

 

[pontifex]

my cabelas visa was lowered by about 1%...haven't received any changes to my other 2 cards.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

My USAA Platinum VISA is holding steady at 4% (prime plus 0%) - USAA is the best!

Not sure why my rate is lower than other USAA customers here - maybe because I've been a customer for a long time and have many USAA products (home and car insurance, Roth and regular IRAs, mortgage, CDs, savings/checking). I don't really care about the interest on my credit cards - I never pay it - but it's nice to feel appreciated . . .

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: ja1484

Originally posted by: JS80
Check this post out:

If you?ve got a good credit score, good payment history, and one of those horrid letters from Citibank, READ THIS. It just may make your day, and it will serve you well in dealing with billing departments everywhere.

I have three (3) credit card accounts from Citigroup, ALL of which sent me change in terms letters.

Card 1: 9.99% to 14.99% (this is a ridiculously large limit card which I carry about a 35% debt load on)
Card 2: 9.99% to 16.99% (used only for paying school and xmas shopping, typically small balances)
Card 3: 14.49% to 17.99% (zero balance)

I called their customer service department and was given, unsurprisingly, the hard line about how ?the bank? decided that due to ?the financial climate? that they had to increase rates ?for everyone.? She suggested that my options were only one of two things:

1.) Opt out and have my account(s) closed.
2.) Accept the higher rate and keep my card.

I?ve practically grown up in call centers, so I knew that this lady wasn?t the end of the line. I got off the phone with her so she could close the call out with notes that I said I?d think about it and call back.

I called back half an hour later and spoke to another representative. This one was less friendly (to be fair, I was a bit curt in describing my issues with the letters). After saying my piece politely but curtly, and pointing out some inconsistencies on Citi?s part (promising to Congress that they wouldn?t pull this kind of gag anymore, specifically a year before pulling this gag), she again gave me the ?You have two options? ultimatum. I told her that it was clear that she wasn?t going to be of any help to me. She said she was sorry, but the bank says that these are my two options.

Nuts to that. ?Can I please speak to a supervisor?? ?Sure, I can get you to an account supervisor, but just so you know, they won?t be able to help you with this.? ?That?s not a problem, please just transfer me over.? ?I can do that for you. Please hold.?

*three minutes of holding later?*

?Scott?? ?Yes?? ?I have an account supervisor on the line for you now, she will take care of you from here on.? ?Thank you!?

I proceeded to explain as politely as possible that while I understood that Citigroup was in a bind, so were all of us; I feel some of the pain, because my 401(k) contains some Citi stock [who knows if I do or not, but it sounds good]. I signed an honorable agreement between two supposedly honorable parties, myself and Citibank, and I don?t feel that having my APRs raised by 50% (9.99% to 14.99%) or more per account is a reasonable or honorable thing to do.

I peppered the one-sided conversation with reminders that I was not upset with her personally, nor was I upset with her employee that just shut me down [after all, that?s her job], but that I was upset at how I was being treated as a customer with a very high credit score and nearly a decade of account history who has never made a single late payment on any account with Citibank, and I made what I felt was a VERY reasonable offer on my part: I?ll pay off my existing balances at the agreed-upon rate prior to this change, and will accept the terms of the rate change for all future purchases. She said that she didn?t have any way to make that happen, but to give her a moment and she?d see what she could do.

Here?s what she came up with, very quickly, while thanking me for being such a good customer:
Account #1: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #2: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #3: 14.49% to 14.54% APR

It took a grand total of eight minutes of talking and three minutes of hold music to go from a 5%, 7%, and 3.5% increase in APR to 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.05%(this one amused me) increases.

Did they still win? Sure, a little bit. Am I happy with that? Darn tootin?, that phone call saved me probably $2,000 in interest over the next three years.

The moral of the story:
Request a supervisor after stating your case to the first person you speak to if they don?t give you what you want, and be SUPER NICE to that supervisor. They are generally given the power to bend rules to make the customer happy, and if you get them on your side, they?ll do what they can for you, because many of their escalated calls involve screaming and cursing.

Take it from someone who?s worked in the industry for a very, very long time and has watched tens of thousands of dollars of money get simply handed out or written off to people who just bothered to ask for it or were so relentless that it became cheaper to pay them what they wanted than to waste time (time is money!) talking to them over and over.

Cliffs:

Here?s what she came up with, very quickly, while thanking me for being such a good customer:
Account #1: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #2: 9.99% to 10.49% APR
Account #3: 14.49% to 14.54% APR

It took a grand total of eight minutes of talking and three minutes of hold music to go from a 5%, 7%, and 3.5% increase in APR to 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.05%(this one amused me) increases.

Who the hell pays interest on CCs?

the vast majority of people who have CCs, people who pay off the balance every month arnt common place

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Anubis
the vast majority of people who have CCs, people who pay off the balance every month arnt common place

Um, you are incorrect. The majority of Americans have no CC debt. Of those who have credit cards, 30% pay it off in full each and every month (one of many links) and about another 25% pay it off in full on most months (sorry, I didn't take time to search for that link). So, it is a MINORITY (~45% of CC holders) that pay interest. Of those 45%, even they often don't pay interest every month, and when they do, their median balance is only a few thosand dollars. Of course, there are those rare people with many tens of thousands of dollars of CC debt that throw off the average numbers.

 

[Lithium381]

i actually don't know what my rate is, or if it's ever been increased or lowered...?? Only ever carried a balance once or twice: i paid about 90% of the bill, simply because i forgot the exact amount and used online billpay. , never missed a payment on anything,yay for 770+ credit score!

 

[BlueWeasel]

I'm just going to opt out.

If you opt out, the current account terms remain until the end of the current membership year or the expiration date on the card, whichever is later. Since my card doesn't expire until 9/2010, I'll probably hang with Citibank until then.

Doesn't really matter, as I keep very little on the card and pay in full each month. I mainly got it for the rewards, but they suck now. 🙁

 

[ponyo]

I'm curious about direct mail credit card offers. Are you guys seeing drop off on junk mail credit card offers? Especially like 0% balance transfer, etc? I froze my credit so I don't get any credit based junk mails anymore so I just want to get a pulse on what's happening out there.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: Naustica
I'm curious about direct mail credit card offers. Are you guys seeing drop off on junk mail credit card offers? Especially like 0% balance transfer, etc? I froze my credit so I don't get any credit based junk mails anymore so I just want to get a pulse on what's happening out there.

I've noticed that a bit. I only get them regularly from three or four companies. And of those, I already have cards from two of them (seriously, Discover and Amex are insane).

 

[Oyeve]

A few of my cards went up a few months ago, but I froze them before they went into effect (you can do that, but you specifically have to mention it to the banks) and BOA has, so far, kept me at 7.99. They are all doing it, long ago. But I stay on top of this and in a few months I will call the frozen banks and see whats up.

 

[NFS4]

I've had this card (Capital One) since 2001, and currently have a balance of about $700 on it ($4,500 limit).

They're jacking the rate from 7.9% to 17.9% effective April 17. WTH? I've paid on time, never been late, never gone over my limit and have a pretty decent credit score (around 740).

 

[RU482]

I would be very curious to see if there is a correlation between credit card rates being jacked and card holders residence in the "high risk" states