Story Comments

My interest rate on my CitiMastercard rose from 7.24 to 24.99 last month. I called them and they said that they sent me a notice in Jan. and Feb. saying that I had the option to close my account and stay at the same interest rate, or have my interest rate increased and keep the account open. Well, I must have missed that letter, so I asked them to send me a copy of that letter. The offer ended in March, so now I am stuck with a 24.99 interest rate on a 10,000 balance. 200.00 a month in finance charges alone. I told them they must be stupid doing this to people, because the economy is already in the toilet and if you force people to close their accounts it will hurt their credit score and disable them to borrow more money to put back into the economy. Then the people who can pay these interest rate hikes will either default on their accounts, or file for bankruptcy. I was so pissed off. I told them that I will pay this 10,000 off within the next year, even if I have to get a personal lo...(Read more of this comment)an at 8% to do it. Then I will keep the card, but I will only make $99 purchases that can be paid off at 0% for 3 months or $299 purchases that can be paid off at 0% for 6 months. I'll do it just to keep the card active, but they will never receive another dime from me on interest after this is all over with. I use to use this credit card for vacations once or twice a year, because the interest rate was cheap. But, that won't happen any longer. They can kiss my ass for any future large purchases.(Show less of this comment)

CitiBank just reduced my Available credit from $15,000 to ---> $100!!!!
Unbelievable!! no advanced notice, no reason -- no nothing!!
The card is a "Dividends Reward" card -- approx 2 yrs old, always pay 100% every month. The rewards were fairly good -- 2% cash back on gas and 1% back on everything else, up to a max limit of $300/yr -- but I stopped using it as AMEX gave 3% back on gas AND wireless AND office supplies, and 1% on everything else, with NO ANNUAL MAX LIMIT on the cashbacks.
I immediately called them about it last night, and said they I could "apply to increase my credit limit", which did nothing.
The effect on me is a major ding to my credit score (less available credit). I am really pissed at them. They just totally alienated me. 1) what good is a gredit card with a $100 line of credit? 2) why would I give Citi any business??
In a recent news story it said that Citi was reducing interest rates for their mortgage customers who are 3 months behi...(Read more of this comment)nd on their payments. So -- the message is -- if your good about managing your credit, you get screwed; if your bad about managing your credit -- you get bailed. I guess I just wasn't profitable enough for them. Screw CitiBANK!! Probably going to start a website - www.screwCitiBank.com ---look for it!!(Show less of this comment)

Agreed, I had a similar situation to the lady mentioned in the story with Chase. It is so insane that the banks would be willing to lend to so many people with poor credit and now are punishing those with excellent credit histories and 'sensible' spenders. It's a capitalistic society. Those who are going bankrupt deserve to go bankrupt along with the banks that support such irrational spending. Loose credit is what got us into this mess and now we can't get credit when needed. It makes a person wonder about these people with Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg, Stanford, Sloan, etc. MBAs. Are they really that smart or just greedy? It doesn't take a Finance/Economics PhD to see that it is greed that is killing the economy. Understood that is not a solution, but don't hurt those that could help the economy. Let those who are failing fail so that the strong survive. Isn't this Darwin's theory? Ugh..it makes me sick to my stomach.

All we are to the credit card companies is a stinking FICO score. And you can see in this article that even being responsible does not protect you from having your FICO score lowered for no good reason. You have a balance, pay your bills on time and your FICO score drops simply because some credit card issuer lowers your limit or closes your account. Then, since your FICO score dropped, your interest rate jumps on all of your cards that have a balance. What a bunch on VULTURES! Congress should halt this practice and put heavy fines on lenders that do this. Once the shoe is on the other foot, these lenders will see what is feels like to get screwed.

I recently had a credit card issuer jack my interest rate from 12.99% to 25.08% because i have a somewhat high ratio, an average credit score and length of history. I pay my bills on time and always pay more than the minimum. Well i finally got a call into a gentleman with the authority to to change it back. I told him i would pay a certain amount of money for a certain amount of time and if he would lower my rate back to where it was if i followed through on my word. He did lower it back and told me as long as a continued to pay down my debt without using my card that it would stay there. This is a small regional bank which i believe is the way to go. Most of the small regional banks had nothing to do with sub-prime mortgages or securitized debt so some of you should look into these "community banks". Remember the credit card companies want to make money so you have to negotiate with them and stay calm. Don't get angry at who you are talking to cause this will not get you where you wa...(Read more of this comment)nt to be. Integrity still is important and if you do what you say and say what you mean you are more likely to get what you want. The big banks are doing this stuff because they are trying to head off what is coming. I am an optimist but this downturn is long from being over. Just do the right thing on your end and hopefully when the economy picks up you will be where you want to be. (Show less of this comment)

I had a few credit cards most of them with small balances & limits. Salute Visa was one of them. One week I recieved a letter stating they had upped my credit limit & the next week recieved notice they cancelled my card. When I called they really seem to care less. I told them that since I did not ask for card to be cancelled & they did this mess on their own I was not paying finance cjarges, monthly or yearly fees & if they try to force me I will just consilidate all my bills and file with a debt solution company or file bankrupsy/ Will ahve to wait to see what happens. They bite.n

I have been paying my bills in full every month (average of 5K/month) to American Express. When they found out that I had a credit card that was late by 120 days (in reality I had a 13 cents credit that the other companies software inadvertinetly reported as being late) they dropped all of my credit cards limits to almost nothing. When I called to explain the situation I was told that they did not care if there was a problem, they did not want me as a customer.

I use to like AmEx, now I do not plan on ever using them again!!!!

GG

I rotate my credit cards (change every 3-4 months) to keep them active. But there's another insidious practice happening - dramatic increase in interest rate, despite high FICO, perfect payment record. One bank (not named to preserve my privacy) just hiked my interest rate from 7.9% to 17.9% "because of how long you've had the card, and how long the previous interest rate was in effect." Calls that went up the management chain got nothing but "that's what it is, live with it or close the account." I pay my bills off completely every month, so the credit card issuers make no money off me, which is why I suspect they made the change, wanting to push me to close the account. Of course closing the account would have the drastic downward effect on my FICO that the article describes. The new Catch 22 is that if I don't "charge enough" they may close it on me anyway.