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We have been Washington Mutual customers for MANY years (15+). They were recently acquired by JP Morgan Chase (this ruined Wamu). We have a visa card that we use pretty regularly. We charge it up and pay it off several times a year. Never a late payment, we always pay way more than the minumum due.
Previously we had an interest rate of about 8%, then about 3 months ago it went up to 14%. It bothered me, but I didn't do anything about the increase. So then we just got our bill for this month - and the interest rate went up to 30.9%.. We have excellent credit, no late payments to anyone!
I called them and they told us "tough luck" there is nothing we can do. They had no reason for the increase, and just kept telling us they were sorry. Sorry is right! We're going to pay off the balance and cancel our account.
They are not going to make a single penny more off of us!
Are you sure that Chase also picked up WaMu's credit card services? That may not have been included in the assets that Chase acquired. Or Chase may have acquired the card services initially but then sold that to a third entity.
I believe that whenever a bank/credit card company changes its rate structure, they're required by law to send you something in the mail at least 30 days prior to when the change takes effect, to give you the opportunity to "get out". We pay our balance in full each month but we still get such mailings any time any of our credit card company's terms change (and that does include the cards issued by Chase, which my SO has two of, a Visa and a Mastercard).
But if you have a variable rate credit card, as the other poster asked about, then perhaps the company is not required to give any notice and can do whatever they want. (Why would anyone want a variable rate credit card though? It sounds like a budget accident waiting to happen!)
I don't owe on any credit cards but if they did that to me I'd just stop paying... And I have always paid all of my debts off and on time. But sometimes you have to hit back even if it hurts you. Credit cards are the scum of the earth!
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
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Don't cancel the account. It hurts your credit score. Pay it off and stick it in a shoe box. Whip it out every 3 months and buy a soda at the gas station. Pay off the soda. Or you can just not use it at all and they will eventually cancel you. This is better than you cancelling them.
Your credit score is an amalgamation of your credit history. If you've had the card 5 years and been an excellent payer and cancel then *BAM* - you just lost 5 years of good credit history.
Just get another card.
How do I know this? Because I had 3 cards with a $34,000 line of credit - and when I paid them off, I cancelled them. I had a few missed payements, too. Even with that, my score was like 710. When I cancelled them all...it dropped to 630. The only card I could get was a secured card ($500) from my credit union and one from Orchard bank....$300 dollar limit.
I now have a $9,000 one with BoA and a $10,000 one from Chase Amazon. That Chase amazon one is the bomb. I got like $500 bucks worth of free crap from Amazon last year. I use it instead of cash for everything. https://www.chase.com/ccp/index.jsp?...enefits_amazon
Thanks for the info and advice everyone. Good idea about not cancelling the card... We just wont use it anymore. We have a $24000 credit limit on that card and I hate to give it up, but they are jerks!
We use Amex all the time, and pay off that every month. But sometimes you just want to float something a little longer... We do have some other cards, and we'll just use one of them.
Yeah, get another...Chase always has terrible cards. My favorite has been Amex, but Capital One treated me well for a long time before.
WAMU has always been weird to me, we tried to switch to them from Wells Fargo and they delayed my paycheck deposits at the opening of the account. After 2 I pulled my money out and told them if my paycheck direct deposit is delayed for a week and a half each time, there is no possible way I'm their customer. They of course said "Well, that shouldn't have happened"...it's like here are all the records of my calls asking what is going on and demanding it be fixed, and there was no fix during it was going on...should and shouldn't is irrelivent what is happening.
Don't cancel the account. It hurts your credit score. Pay it off and stick it in a shoe box. Whip it out every 3 months and buy a soda at the gas station. Pay off the soda. Or you can just not use it at all and they will eventually cancel you. This is better than you cancelling them.
Your credit score is an amalgamation of your credit history. If you've had the card 5 years and been an excellent payer and cancel then *BAM* - you just lost 5 years of good credit history.
Just get another card.
How do I know this? Because I had 3 cards with a $34,000 line of credit - and when I paid them off, I cancelled them. I had a few missed payements, too. Even with that, my score was like 710. When I cancelled them all...it dropped to 630. The only card I could get was a secured card ($500) from my credit union and one from Orchard bank....$300 dollar limit.
I now have a $9,000 one with BoA and a $10,000 one from Chase Amazon. That Chase amazon one is the bomb. I got like $500 bucks worth of free crap from Amazon last year. I use it instead of cash for everything. https://www.chase.com/ccp/index.jsp?...enefits_amazon
No, cancelling cards does not hurt a credit score. You said you had some dings. That is what hurt your credit score. Read - I had missed a few payments too. The new agency merely reviewed your history and realized you missed payments - and lowered your credit score.
That chase Amazon card seems pretty neat. I mainly use Amex but I'd much rather get my rewards in a form of a Amazon gift certificate.
Anyhow, if they increased your limit this much its because they don't want you as a customer anymore for whatever reason.
Credit card companies look at far more than your credit score, they have a variety of scores based on where you shop, what sort of buying behavior you have etc. It ends up that certain behaviors (or even shopping primarily at particular shores) is high correlated with default.
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
10,471 posts, read 15,776,842 times
Reputation: 6435
Quote:
Originally Posted by movin'on
No, cancelling cards does not hurt a credit score. You said you had some dings. That is what hurt your credit score. Read - I had missed a few payments too. The new agency merely reviewed your history and realized you missed payments - and lowered your credit score.
...canceling that card could result in a double whammy to your credit score, "because each card is scored individually, and then all your cards are scored together. (If) you've just canceled the card with a zero balance, (you've) lost a great individual score."
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