APR increase on DISNEY VISA

[momx2]

I recently got the notice too - - - - going from 10.15% to Prime + 9.99% "which as of May 17, 2009 would be 13.24%" (that's what my notice stated). Glad we don't have a balance. And we won't be using that card anymore just on principle!

That's what mine says also. We don't carry a balance, but it really *issed me off. I might cancel, but I want my rewards.

 

[dclfun]

The bolded is flawed thinking. A CC is a tool that is used to not have to carry large amount of cash around when you are making a purchase. It should only be used to buy an item that you have the money in the bank to pay it off with. If you did that every month then the day you lose your job you would not have a balance and you would not use it to buy more stuff you did not need.

Just making payments is NOT living within your means. A loan is needed for a home but nothing else. One should save to buy a car and then buy it. If you need a car, but the best one you can for the money you have saved. Buy clothes when you have the money and on and on.

If you are laid-off and your unemployment and savings is not enough to make your monthly payments, then you need to reconsider the debt you are carrying and/or save more for the emergency.

Some people have NO CHOICE but to use a CC for an emergency. These are people who live within their means but make very little income and have a card expressly for an emergency only such as a home repair, car repair, or medical bill, etc. While most people can save "something" each month to build an emergency fund I know people who really can't, not without going without food or necessities. So I don't blame those people for what they've done merely to survive. There are lots of people that are a few paychecks away from being homeless, literally and if a job is lost, then they may not have recourse. It's easy to judge people for what could be thought of as a poor choice but we're not in their shoes. My husband died and I became severely disabled all in the same month- trust me we didn't plan on that contingency. He had no life insurance as he was a childhood diabetic and couldn't qualify. I dug us back out of the trenches, but at the time I had CC debt and had no way around it as myself and my four kids had to survive. I think what the CC companies are doing is unconscionable for everyone- the people who have more debt than they should ( and who now will take longer to pay off their debt) and those who pay their bill every month but have still found their limits lowered for no good reason. "The economy" and minimizing their losses when they still make enormous profits isn't a good excuse for hurting people, esp. those who are in a bad situation through no fault of their own---Kathy

 

[pixie921]

I just read on another message board that Chase sent the poster a notice that the minimum payments would be increasing from 2% to 5%. Has anyone else heard that this might be happening?

ETA: This increase is happening to people on creditboards.com, too, but it doesn't seem clear yet if it will affect all accounts across the board.

 

[jennifer293]

We had a business account with Advanta Bank Corp for quite a while now, always paid it off every month and had a fairly decent interest rate with them. Well last month we got a letter stating that the company that they contracted their business accounts with had decided to close all of their accounts. Within 1 1/2 weeks our card no longer worked and it was the only card we carried. We have since gone to cash and life is much easier for me, but it is about to kill DH not being able to charge charge charge!!!