Posts Tagged "credit cards"
Giving credit when credit’s due…but not to me
So remember how Bank of America wanted to raise my rate? Well I finally was able to track someone down and was pretty much told that the best they can do is that 5% point increase, which is about 0.75% less then what the letter told me it would be. They reason because I rarely carry a balance and have been way super responsible with my credit the increase shouldn’t affect me too much.
And because I rarely carry a balance and have been way super responsible with my credit I pretty much have no recourse outside of closing my account, which I really don’t want to do because 1] it’s gonna negatively affect my credit score which is too fantastic to risk and 2] I searched around on Tuesday and really didn’t find too much in terms of options. There were a couple of banks but I’m not too familiar with them and just couldn’t pull the trigger on a switch. But most of them were offering those joke introductory low rates before raising them to whatever it they felt was a reasonable variable rate. I’m not interested in that.
In the end it came down to accept it or lose my card and because the APR on my other rewards card is an astronomical 14% [which I tried, unsuccessfully, to have reduced – but was told this was standard for rewards cards] I needed a second, lower-rate card for my bigger purchases in the event that I’d need to carry a balance. And that other card has tenure because it was my very first credit card that established my credit history and I can’t kill that. That’ll hurt me more than anything by shortening my history.
The credit jerks.
So I’m stuck with my credit card. Best believe that I’ll be back on the phone in a few months for another attempt at reducing the APR. Until then I’ll be watching my balance very closely.
Oh, so it’ll be just like every other month.
Nothing new here folks, keep it moving.
Read MoreYou will take it and like it
I came home last night to some surprising news. Apparently Bank of America wants to increase the APR on my credit card. I currently enjoy a low, single-digit FIXED APR but the notice I received said that they were increasing it to a double-digit VARIABLE APR.
Excuse me what now?
Granted, it’s only a 5% point increase but that’s still insane considering that I have never been late on a payment or gone over my credit limit [they kept increasing my limit faster than I can spend – then again, I don’t spend that much either]. And according to the girl I spoke with last night, those things don’t even matter. Oh really? So Bank of America pretty much woke up sometime last week or so and decided that they were going to increase my APR just because it was, oh I don’t know, a Tuesday.
So here were the options she was able to provide me: a fixed rate that’s approximately 3% points higher than my current one [and still a double-digit] or a slightly lower [but still high] variable rate. Or! And this is my favorite part, or I can reject the increase all together BUT I CAN NO LONGER USE MY CARD, EVER AGAIN. Because once I do, it’ll be considered an acceptance of the new terms and then I’ll be charged at the higher rate.
These are “options?” Use it or lose it? How utterly fantastic! Way to stick it to your customers, Bank of America. Granted she said I could possibly work something out with the customer assistance department, who I plan on calling soon, but what kind of options are those? I know they don’t make a square red penny off my account, as I usually charge only what I can afford to pay in full at the end of every month [the only time I carried a balance on this particular card was when I bought my computer…and that was only for a month or two] so it’s not like they’re making any money from finance charges or anything.
But, I’m also a customer that pays their bill on time every month, so the chances of my account going into collections and risking my not paying are practically nil! There’s very low risk in this situation so why are they increasing my rate?
Here’s the rub for me, of course. If I can’t renegotiate my rate, because let’s be honest here, that increase is ridiculous no matter how you slice it, the only thing I could do is try to open another account through them, but what’s the point if I run the risk of having that rate increased? Because I’m not messing with a variable rate for anything in this world. Jesus couldn’t tell me to get a variable rate. I’m not falling into that trap and my credit is good enough that I don’t need to. I don’t want to close the account because my credit score will take a hit from it but I don’t want to keep it active if I’m not using it. That and if I keep it open and then open another line of credit, I run the risk of having TOO much credit [there is such a thing]. My utilization level would be ridiculously low but why have all that credit just available?
So I’ve pretty much been strapped across the barrel in this game. Thanks for nothing, Bank of America.
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