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I keep hearing about cc companies changing terms and doing crazy things to people and have wondered why we didnt see anything. I just assumed these people didnt have top fico scores. Well............
we just got a letter from Citi! my dh has been with them for about 20 yrs. both of us have excellent fico's. and of course what they dont like is that we very rarely have a balance.
anyway they are increasing our rate to 20.99% and to top it off because we are such "valued customers", they are being kind enough to offer us a top notch special rate of only 12.99% if we tranfer 5k in debt! HA
for one whole year. I am honored that they are being so kind.
I am so mad I cant see straight!
has anyone else gotten these letters?
You are lucky, most people except for the most creditworthy of people are getting 30% rates and no option to lower it (not that I call going $5000 into debt unless you absolutely have to anyway an "option").
We got a similar letter awhile back, and that was the end of our relationship with the card company. Your credit score doesn't matter; you're a deadbeat if you don't carry a balance. We now use cash, a debit card, or EFT for all of our transactions. I like it much better this way. Sorry to hear you're frustrated, but you might find that it's the best thing that ever happened to you. There is life after credit cards.
We still have a couple of other cards, but that was our 2nd favorite. We only use them for stuff like gas and short term "emergencies". dont keep a balance for more than a couple of months. I have been a little stressed lately thinking we might need to use one do to tons of testing and evals on my son.
all I can do is thank my lucky stars that we are not one of the people that have gotten the 30% letters with balances! yikes
I received that special letter yesterday from Citi. It doesn't really matter to me anyway, since we never carry a balance. I still don't like it, but I'm not going to throw away a 10 year history with a credit card because an issue that isn't relevant to me (not to mention the 1-3% cash back we get on transactions).
While I don't like these notices, they are a direct consequence of the "Reform" act passed by Congress this year. If there's another round of "Reform" in the next year or two, I see a return to the 1970s, when very few people could afford and were allowed credit cards. If cc companies can't make their money from charging a lot of interest from the few people who get in over their heads, they will take their pound of flesh from eveyone.
So, my advice is to keep a cool head, make sure you don't charge any balance that you can't pay off in a month, and be glad that you don't have $10-15K that would be subject to that new rate.
Am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that our economy is so wrapped up in the credit industry that one must be conscious of the consequences of canceling a credit card? It's like the Psycho movie: you can check in, but you can't check out.
Am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that our economy is so wrapped up in the credit industry that one must be conscious of the consequences of canceling a credit card? It's like the Psycho movie: you can check in, but you can't check out.
Good point, and one that deserves an explanation. Generally, I don't really care what my credit score is. For the most part, it only matters when you plan on opening a new type of credit. A credit score is largely like a house's value. You only need to know it if you're in the market to buy or sell.
However, why do I say I don't want to lose a 10 year active history? Because I might be entering the housing market for a purchase in the next 6 (preferably) to 18 (if I need to wait one more year) months. After that purchase, I wouldn't care if I felt the need to cancel that credit card. But for right now, yeah, I care about that active, open, long-term history.
Last edited by Mike From NIU; 11-10-2009 at 09:56 AM..
Reason: typo
It is very frustrating. Like everyone else, I have had accounts closed by the lender (presumably because I didn't use them regularly), rates raised, and limits lowered.
At the same time, I still get about a half dozen or more offers every month to open new accounts, and many of them have reasonably low rates (lower than some of the cards that were canceled). Why is this? Why is my business being solicited by some companies at the same time I'm being rebuffed by others?
Whenever I'm referred to as a valued customer, it usually makes me wonder...if this is how they treat their valued customers, how do they treat their non valued customers? Other times I'm thinking....If I'm such a 'valued customer', how come I feel like you don't give a sh*t about me.Valued customer has to be the most abused sales phrase ever invented!
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and to top it off because we are such "valued customers", they are being kind enough to offer us a top notch special rate of only 12.99% if we tranfer 5k in debt! HA
