Credit card rates
 

"The Gandering Gourmand®" > wrote in message
...
> The suggestion that even those of us with good credit could see our
> interest rates go way up hit home today. My Chase card, which has
> been at 5.99% fixed since 2004 is going up to prime + 8.xx% in
> November, effectively, 11.99%, almost exactly double. If I put a stop
> on new charges by Sept. 25th, I can pay the card off at the old rate,
> which is what I'll do, then never do business with Chase again.
>
> Has anyone else gotten one of those "change in terms" letters?
> Look closely, because just reading the envelope would have led me to
> believe that the only change was to "privacy policies." If you miss
> the deadline to inactivate your card, you could end up paying off a
> current balance at a significantly higher rate.
>
> Over the years my card company has made boatloads of money from
> merchant fees from my purchases, and a fair amount of interest as
> well. They'll no longer be getting those merchant fees. If you think
> you might have tossed an envelope announcing changes, or maybe even
> just anyway, call the card company(s) to see if there's a planned APR
> increase.
>

Yep, my 9.9% card is now 14.9. Never a missed payment in all the time I
have had it. No over limits either. Now I have the letter here which I
intend to frame. The reason given for the reduction was "too few accounts
open in a 24 month period." Yep, I did not get more credit cards for the
last 2 years, so they axed my credit limit. In addition they cut my
available credit limit by 4K. And my HSBC card cut my line of credit in
half as well even after I have paid off the balance two times in 3 years..

Paul