Credit Card, new ?'s

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Don't know what happened, but somehow my intrest went form 17% to 26.7?? It reached its limit, so now it seems when I get it below the min., and then without any purchases, it jumps about the min. again. I spent darn near $1,000 in 4 months just to only have it hight than it was 4 months ago.<br /><br />I thought about consolidation, but I really don't want to do that. This is the only card that this has happened to. <br /><br />A question I have is which is the best way to get this thing paid down. Would sending a weekly payment or bi-monthly work? Paying double on the min due amount doesn't seem to work anymore since the intrest has skyrocketed in to hard to manage loan. Any help at this time would be appreaciated big time. I want to be able to pay my seasonal dock fees this year. If I can't get a hand on this card, I won't be able to. Thanks

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Call them and ask them to lower it, sometimes that works.<br /><br />Also, if one card has raised theirs, expect all of them to raise too. They can raise it for any reason. Called "Universal default" click here: http://www.usairwaysfcu.org/FinancialCounseling7.aspx <br /><br />The squeeze play is on, been there, done that.<br /><br />Ken

 

[sangerwaker]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

GET A NEW CARD! There are so many companies out there that want your biz it's scary. Many offer a 0% intro rate. Just be sure to check what their normal rate is. Save yourself some serious $$ and get the interest rate down, and then make payments as if you still had your current card. It will be paid off in no time. I've done that with 2 of our cards and they are now paid off completely.

 

[ae708]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

I had a credit card that went that way on me too. I called about lowering the credit and got nowhere. So I called Debt Management Credit Corp. and they immediately got it lowered down to 9%. I finally could see some of my money going to the principal. I paid it off in 2 years... cost me a little bit to the company but it was well worth it to me.

 

[Mr.Ladyfish]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

I have 3 credit cards. They all did the same thing to me. I called each and they all said there was no reason and they then lowered the rate back to the original. Discover card lowered it an additional 5% and then told me to call every 3 months as they run specials from time to time which may lower it even more.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

SS. The first thing I would try is calling the credit card company and threaten to transfer your balance if they don't lower the rate. As long as there are no late payments or past due fees, this almost always works. If they refuse to budge, follow through with your threat and switch to one of the cards sangerwaker speaks of. 0% interest for so many months. Eventually that will go up too, but it gives you time to make a plan.<br /><br />Be VERY leary about going with a credit counselor. Yes, they can sometimes get your rate lowered, but they also require you close the account. This is definitely a red flag on your credit. Some credit card companies will also list this on your credit as a "settled" account depending on how it's negotiated and that is on your credit for 7 years. Another big red flag.<br /><br />Once you either lower your rate or switch cards, start making extra payments on the card before anything else. Don't put money in savings, don't put money in a 401K, or money market. Put every extra cent you have in the credit card. Even if you get it back down to 17%, you'll save more by paying that off first rather than putting money into savings. Remember, every penny you pay over the min. amount due is money you won't pay 17% interest on next month and so on. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Thanks for the info. My biggest problem is that I entrusted my wonderful wife to take care of the bills. She has done very well except for this. In the past 5 statements, she was late 3 times by 2 or 3 days!. But that is all it takes.<br /><br />I just got off the phone with them. They won't lower the intrest until 6 consecutive payments are made without going over the limit and on time. Then I asked him what my intrest would be then, he said 17%. Not great, but better than a Bookie Bobs intrest rate.<br /><br />I asked him if there was any benefit to making weekly payements, he said it wouldn't matter that it all gets calculated on the due date.<br /><br />Hubba hubba hubba, good news is if things go right, will get my slip this year with electric! I just had to tell my buddy that was taking payments on a big block for me that I needed my cash back. He returned it with no problem and told me that he would still get a good engine for me. I have helped him out bunches of times with his boat and property. He figured that he can at least get me an engine for nothing! Thats whats great about good friends.

 

[KRS]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

The prime rate went up.

 

[Calessa]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

You have to watch this! <br /> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/

 

[Link]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Originally posted by Mr.Ladyfish:<br /> I have 3 credit cards. They all did the same thing to me. I called each and they all said there was no reason and they then lowered the rate back to the original. Discover card lowered it an additional 5% and then told me to call every 3 months as they run specials from time to time which may lower it even more.

Good post SS Mayfloat<br /><br />Mr.LadyFish<br />Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees!<br /><br />I won't hijack SS post with details but in 98 we went from almost debt free (only house payment) to oweing right at 100 K in unsecured debt. <br /><br />Mrs.Link took over and set up several accounts, lines of credit and credit cards. She has been playing the "transfer to us the balance and only pay 4 to 8 % intrest" for 7 years and the highest intrest we have paid is 8% on the 100K<br />But like SS Mayfloat said about every three months she changes each account! <br /><br />Just printed your post Mr.LadyFish to show her. Could it have been that easy? NOT<br /><br />Bright side is that since she kept the intrest down to 8% or less we will be back to only the house payment in 2006!

 

[ae708]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

When I used the credit counseling company they didn't require that I close the account, just stop using it while they were managing it. It didn't reflect on my credit in any way. My credit report showed it as an active account with the payments being made properly. All in all it was a pretty good experience. Was my first time using one of these.... and my last hopefully.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

I'm enrolled in Debt Management credit corp..... It sucks, but they do get all your rates down to about 9%, ... plus their $40 a month administration, but in the end, it still saves a boat of $.<br /><br />....unfortunatly, while you are enrolled, your credit sucks. We can't get approved for anything right now, just gotta get that stuff paid down.<br /><br />Good luck to ya SS... use DMCC as a last resort, but dont' be afraid to if you have too much out there.

 

[flashback]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Hello SS, do you ever get offers from other card companies to transfer the debt? I get them quite often, they will pay off your existing card and often just charge 3 or 4 percent to do so...

 

[dhammann]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Credit cards ARE NOT regulated, they can legaly rob you. They constantly monitor your credit score and can raise your interest or charge a penalty if you are late on ANY OTHER loan (house mortage,utility, car payment, medical, etc,etc.<br />They can also do this if your gross income is less than the previous year!!!<br />p.s. Especially stay clear of cards that come out of Maryland....that state legistated these laws.

 

[SoulWinner]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Same thing happened to me. I called the company and told them cancel the card. They asked why and I told the interest rate went up, and I didn't like it. So they lowered the rate back down and increased the limit.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Had a surprise today, they guy I was talking to yesterday his supervisor called me. I wasn't home but my wife was. He went over things explaining things to her. He said they just got our late payment and that it just put it under the limit. Wife told him that we have more that we can pay on it but affraid if we do it won't count as March's payment. He said he would waive the $10 electronic balance transfer and put it in as March's payment.<br /><br />He did say that up until last August we had never been late on any payments and have had a good payment history. However policy is policy and he as the supevisor can't even make changes to the intrest. He did say that when we do get our intrest back to our regular rate that after 3 months he maybe able to give us a special intrest rate for a period of time.<br /><br />I have noticed lately that we haven't been getting the amount of credit card offers as we have in the past. Could be because of the late payments. <br /><br />I hope once we are back on track and the junk mail starts coming again. Then I will look at transferring the balance to another card.<br /><br />Thanks for the help and suggestions.

 

[dhammann]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Credit card companies target people with poor credit!! It is a fact. Poor credit allows them to add unregulated intrest and fees

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

I agree with ya 100% Big Dee. My wife a couple of years ago got her first (and last ) credit card. Something she kept secret from me. It only had a 300 limit. Of course she went over that and late. That 300 cost us over 2400 to get that account closed. I thought she had learned her lesson. She thinks I'm mad at her (tad bit maybe) but I told her that she did a good job because if it was my ex, things would have been getting shut off. I said "Honey you kept them from calling home/work, you kept things on, and you just spent alot of money to do it. Now lets get back where we can pay this stuff off and have more money to spend on ourselves intead of the Loan Sharks. She accepted that and realized maybe she didn't do that bad after all.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Sorry to hear your plight SS......<br /><br />Credit Card Co.s Target Everybody........<br />If I had a woodstove in here, I could heat the house with their junkmail.............<br /><br />What I see as the downfall to credit cards is the Minimun Due........<br />If you call that your payment, you're digging a hole that's hard to crawl out of...... Reguardless of the Interest rate........<br />I Always write a check for 2, to 10 times the minimun payment..... Every nickle I can lay My hands on, Till it's Payed.........<br />When I sit down to pay the bills, the credit cards get payed 1st.....<br />Then Cable,...... So I can hang out here with you Guys...................

 

[Sea Six]

Re: Credit Card, new ?'s

Thanks for sharing this story. I'm glad to see you working so hard to pay your debt. The loads in my family just declared bankruptcy. What bothers me is it hasn't affected their ability to get loans and go right back into debt.