Posted on 05/03/2005 2:10:04 PM PDT by pabianice
Just got one of those tiny print Credit Card Agreement Amendments from MBNA in the mail. Here's a show-stopper:
"Your account is now subject to Default Pricing. Unless you reject tbis charge as described below(1), if in the future your amount is late or you exceed your credit limit, we may increase your APR to 24.99% without giving you notice. The new rates will apply as of the first day of the billing cycle..."
(1)"If you choose to reject this change, we reserve the right to immediately revoke your card."
It's BS. I was ONE HOUR late (not one day-one HOUR) and they jacked my rate from 6.89 to 23.99%.
There is also some talk about a fee for those customers who pay in full each month.
Thwart them - pay it off. Then continue to use the card but pay it in full every month. They'll hate you because you are not paying them any fees.
then cut it up and cancel it. there are too many card choices out there to put up with that.
Many CCs have done that for years. Some also slip in a cancellation charge any more if you try to cancel your card.
I keep waiting for my main Visa CC to cancel me, since I've carried $0 balance and pay off all charges every month. In the last 3 years, I've paid maybe $1.50 total in interest charges. [I'm one of those customers they prefer not to have. lol]
I did just that. Paid off a $4000 balance...they were then within a month sending me "0% balance transfer" offers.
So, if you can, move all of your balances to Discover, they tend not to jerk you around as much.
They do fine on customers who pay the card balance each month because of the percentage fee to vendors.
what happened to usury laws?
Cut mine up years ago. I will never forget the emotional hell these collection scumbags put me through while I was going through a divorce, broke, trying to get access to my kids while fighting off child support and my exes POS lawyer.
When I got out form that mess I promised myself "Never Again".
I call their collection department from time to time to tell them I am paid up, I have cut up my card, and and glad I will never be at the mercy of those blood-suckers again. I am just returning all those nice phone calls they made to me.
Don't forget, these wonderful credit card companies just got a huge windfall in the Bankruptcy Bill. I'm almost done paying off my cards and will happily pay any cancellation fees to be rid of them.
www.financialpeace.com
They are doing it because of the bankruptcy bill that just got signed into law. They figure they've got you either way.
Last month, MBNA cancelled my card, since I hadn't used it in more than a year.
Mark
Instead of passing a bankruptcy bill, Congress should have past an anti-usury bill. Loan sharks would blush at charging the interest rates these disgusting companies charge.
Thankfully, I learned my lesson in time.
Have you threatened to transfer the balance (if any) to another bank? I've been successful in getting the original rate restored when threatening to do that and telling them which lender and what the interest rate will be.
Discover was indeed the best in our experience. We had an MBNA card that I had used to pay my son's out of state college tuition and I called them and asked for an interest rate reduction (this was about four years ago and the rates were falling on everything). They refused and when I transferred the balance to Discover, MBNA sent me a new card with a lower rate. I never activated it.
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