Layla asked:
Last month I made the terrible mistake of paying my credit card bill a day early. Now my interest rate is almost 29%. How can they justify this.
Last month I made the terrible mistake of paying my credit card bill a day early. Now my interest rate is almost 29%. How can they justify this.
PS I already called and complained, they did nothing.
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#1 by Fabstanio - September 15th, 2009 at 09:13
If you carry a balance and did not pay the full amount on the card including enough to cover the next billing cycle, you technically did not make your payment for a full billing cycle over one month. You have been screwed on a technicality. To make things worse, you may also get dinged by what is known as the “Universal Default Clause”. This means that if you have other cards, once this goes on your credit report, they can raise your rate to the maximum legal limit as well.
You may need to seek legal council on this as you could get seriously screwed across the board. DO NOT LET THIS SLIDE. Ask for supervisors. Ask for legal department contact if need be. Get the name or operator number of every single person you make contact with and log the times you spoke with them. Get this information up front during the call. Also remember to be polite to the person on the other end of the line, they can make or break you, they probably think its crap too, they just can’t say it.
#2 by Dan B - September 17th, 2009 at 23:24
If you read the fine print, you’ll find they have a ‘we can do anything we want and you can’t do anything about it’ clause. It’s the Universal Default Clause. Banks are in trouble. They need money to cover the mortgage losses. Your 29% is a good source. They can and will increase interest rates for late mail (they don’t care when you sent the check), nearly late payments, high balance vs max allowable balance, credit score, any damn reason they can think of. That’s why I don’t have a credit card (since 1988). Hasn’t hurt my credit. Save’s me money.
Check your fine print. You may be able to opt out of the high interest rate (rage?) by not using your card at all (but you’ll have to notify them).