Comments on: Credit Card Companies – Can They Do That?

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:14:31 +0000

had a 3 year account in good standing with dell. never missed a payment. never late. on february 22nd of this year they reduced my credit limit to 47 dollars over my balance. a reduction of $900 in credit. when i asked why my account had been slashed i was told that because of my overall credit history, it was decided that my account available credit would be cut. they did not check my credit because i have a monitoring service and my credit was not run. for a law that is supposed to help consumers, the banks seem to have the last laugh. now with an account close to its max it with significantly reduce my rating unless i make a substantial payment prior to its reporting time

By: Todd Strobel

Todd Strobel — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:32:13 +0000

Your message here…

I have acredit card with a decent rate (7.9). I owed about $800 on a $5000 limit. The card company announced they were going out of business and no more purchases could be made. I decided to pay the mininum payment each month and continue to payoff.

I received a copy of my credit report and they lower my credit limit each month to the amount outstanding (currently $670). This makes it look like I am at the max amount and my credit score has too high balances in relationship to available credit.

Not a huge issue but unfairly penalizing me.

By: Sharron

Sharron — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:48:57 +0000

Recently I learned that several friends and colleagues were able to get reduced interest rates due to recently late payments or no payments at all. However as a good standing consumer who paid my bills on time and more than the required monthly amount, when I called to ask to have my interest rates lowered I was given the same statement, “Thank you for being a valued customer but unfortunately we do not have any lower interest rates to offer at this time”. I have interest rates ranging from 18% to 29% and there is no liable reason for the high rates. I feel consumers that are in good standing are being penalized from a lot of the government bailout incentives for hard economic times. Where the credit card companies are forced to lower interest rates or provide plan repayment options on consumers that are in distressed times;consumers not so distressed are enduring the extra fees and expenses that are caused by other consumer write-off balances or decresed payments.

Recently I received a letter from my Barclay’s visa card indicating that my APR rate will be increasing as of 01/01/2010 from 25% to 30% due to an over the credit limit balance by $5.00. What happen to the days when credit card companies would decline usage if your current charge put you over the limit. Now they are allowing you to charge above and beyond but charge over the credit limit fees, as well as use it as an excuse to increase interest rates.

There is a lot of non-dislosed activities that lie beyond the surfaces of credit card and financial institutes. I am truly an irritated and disappointed consumer.

By: Rod

Rod — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:53:32 +0000

Your message here…

Thank you for this opportunity. How is it that Bank of America can take away your line of credit for no apparent reason? I have an account with Bank of America and my credit line was $13,000.00. I have not been late with my monthly payments. I have had the account for approximately ten years, my monthly payment is $163.00, I rarely send less than twice that amount for my monthly payments, I have a balance of approximately $750.00, and they have “reduced” my line of credit to $900.00. I called and complaine and no results. Some higher-up was supposed to call me but never did. The persons that I did speak with said that it was a “banking decision”. This, I do not understand. I thought that I was an excellent customer and that my history with Bank of America should reflect that.

Thank you for your time,
Rod

By: hassan

hassan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:20:48 +0000

Your message here…
well its back three months ago since i recive my visa and i thought its allready contain more than 4000 cridet on it but its not what i thought it is it was 650 only in the same time i had friends whom recived the same visa card and it contain more than 2000 euro per month and they have the same work conract like me and even more less as an official income
then i called u early in septemper so went throw another cridet card starting with numper 5 witch means its master card so if it was the same as i think it is so i got tow cridet cards contain few thousands i could manege with so i can have my own financial freedom and it is handy if am in open practical economy so i can cover my own expenses and pay back my depts
but i found my self going into circels and cant get out of it the income is low the expenses are high and to achive a finacial targets in short time are impossiable leigaly
leave all that behiend
even insurance
i got my car smached in october last year and instead of nearly 5000 euro is the price of my car and the phisical dameges
i got only 1400 euro and if i dont take them i may go out empty hands
i depended of those 5000 to be even a start to some investments and changing appartment but it alweys dosent work
and there is a lot of stories to tell under this financial sitiuation on earth witch getting us in circls around with finance
hassan reda

By: Felicia T

Felicia T — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:41:34 +0000

We have a Citi Mastercard. We have been loyal customers for over 10 years and have NEVER missed a payment. Lst month they went up on the interest rate from 13% to 29%. When we called they said oh you over the limit a few times. What!! We over the limit because of the fees they charge at if it’s over it’s only for a few days until they receive the payment. They are the worst I guess they prefer customers that don’t pay on time or miss payments. I’m soooo angry!!!! STAY AWAY FROM CITIBANK

By: Susan W.

Susan W. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:28:20 +0000

Your message here…Three months ago,I had gotten approved for a Sears/Citibank Mastercard. It had a high credit limit and was to have the $1000 cash withdrawal option. This was done in order to increase my credit score. I called to check on how one would get the cash withdrawal: the associate told me that Citibank, as a cost-cutting measure,had lowered the limit to $50. The company was losing money because borrowers weren’t repaying the withdrawals taken. The state of the “National Economy” was also cited as a reason for the reduced cash limit. It would have been A BETTER BUSINESS PRACTICE TO HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED BY CITIBANK(Computer-generated E-mail/letter) TO THE LIMIT CHANGE INSTEAD OF FINDING OUT ON MY OWN WITH A “BY-CHANCE” PHONE CALL. If the “National Economy” is that bad off, keep a secretary working by letting her key-up a Mail Merge/Database standard letter or compose the E-mail!!! SW

By: Barry Wellborn

Barry Wellborn — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:34:40 +0000

Your message here…Larry Hubbard at Countrywide said; I can do a loan for you for 1 year an intrest only & after that 1 year we can convert it to a fixed rate. More than a year later I called and the answer was I did not say that. Plain and simple Loan companies will say anything to get yer money.

By: Nathaniel

Nathaniel — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:00:35 +0000

Have you had your credit card interest rates go up? YES

Have you been treated unfairly by your credit card companies or banks? YES

Are you willing to tell your story? YES If so you can help!

I’m heading back to Washington to lobby our elected leaders and I need as many stories as possible so we can make a difference.

Let’s face it. The LAWS are not fair, and they need to be changed!

Tell me your worst story about your bank or your credit card company.

What happened? Credit card interest rate increasing for no apparent reason.

What did they tell you? Received a letter from Citibank stating that they have decided to increase my interest rate from 13.8% to 29.9% due to begin with November ‘09 billing period due to current economical climate. What kind of justification is that!?? I haven’t been late with any payments for at least 2 years and my balance is approximately 70% of my available credit.

Why wasn’t it fair? This is absolutely NOT FAIR! It’s ridiculous, we the consumer are at their mercy. Do you realize how much more my minimum payment just increased. Now I will have more than 2 times the amount due minimum per month. I have to come up with twice as much money just to keep the account current let alone pay down the principle. Now they are allowed to do whatever they please and if we try to fight it then they give the option to close the account and provide a payoff plan.

Thank you for your efforts Philip. As for now I’m following your guidance from your book and getting these credit cards payed down ASAP. Looks like it will take me about 1 year to be credit card debt free. I’m looking forward to that additional money to be used how I want.

By: Richard E Murray

Richard E Murray — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:43:21 +0000

Until a few months ago,we always paid our Citi Corp credit card account in full every month and had a credit score of 729. We had an unusual expense and made a large charge. We suddenly, without warning, received a letter that our interest rate was increasing significantly, to 19.9% if I remember correctly. We could opt out with the old interest rate until balance was paid up, but we would lose the use of our cards. We did choose to opt out and continued to pay our payments until one was a day or two late. Without warning, although the opt out agreement told us, Citi Corp raised our interest o 29.99%. Now we can barely pay the interest charge. We went to a debt reduction/settlement program and our credit score has gone to hell in a hand basket. In a period of 4 or 5 months, it has plunged from 729 to 555. We do have 4 credit cards in trouble, but that seems a bit extreme. It seems criminal that credit card companies can walk all over us like this.