Is it just me or are credit card companies just crazy lately??

[LovinPooh]

So in the past month both of our gas cards were close. I had a mobil, and DH had a shell. Had the mobil for 5 years and the shell for 6. Always on time and never hit limits. Both are owned by Citi go figure. Well if that wasnt enough to get under my skin. I open my visa bill today to see that I will now be charged a $15/month maintanence fee!!
I mean really?? A $180/year just to have the card? Have had it for 6 years, same thing, never late. I called them up, ripped them a new one. Told them crapping all over good loyal customers is not the way to go. And they might make a few dollars off me for a couple months til I pay it off. But onces its paid, its closed! Then they make nothing!! I cant imagine I am the only one doing this!

Is it just me or does it seem like these companies are shooting themselves in the foot???

 

[pixie921]

Wow! That is crazy!!

Can I ask what company your Visa is issued by?

 

[LovinPooh]

Its Applied Bank. I got the card years ago to rebuild my credit after being a dumb 18 year old lol. But from going from no fees to that?!?? Insane lol!!
I guess its always good to have less cards these days lol.

 

[Serling126]

Ohhh that makes me nervous... we have a balance on a card that we are diligently paying down, will be fully paid off in about a year but idk what we will do if the CC company starts pulling this silliness... I suppose we will have to pinch pennies and scrape up enough cash to pay it off quick, but I feel for those people who can't do that.

 

[LovinPooh]

I do too. Luckily for us the balances arent too high. I think that is half the problem. If you dont make late payments and all that then they arent making money. Just sad. Citi couldnt give me a reason for either card. So I came up with that one lol.
What really aggravated me is that my DH used the Shell card for work, and they never sent a letter, just closed it. I think they should atleast have the decency to let people know so they dont get declined at the pump for crying out loud.

I am just waiting now... which one is next??? lol

 

[cm8]

So in the past month both of our gas cards were close. I had a mobil, and DH had a shell. Had the mobil for 5 years and the shell for 6. Always on time and never hit limits. Both are owned by Citi go figure. Well if that wasnt enough to get under my skin. I open my visa bill today to see that I will now be charged a $15/month maintanence fee!!
I mean really?? A $180/year just to have the card? Have had it for 6 years, same thing, never late. I called them up, ripped them a new one. Told them crapping all over good loyal customers is not the way to go. And they might make a few dollars off me for a couple months til I pay it off. But onces its paid, its closed! Then they make nothing!! I cant imagine I am the only one doing this!

Is it just me or does it seem like these companies are shooting themselves in the foot???

These companies don't care about us "good credit" people, they KNOW that you will continue to pay whatever they want as you want your credit to remain in perfect standards. The other customers they don't matter since they "know" that they will leave them with a balance and they won't see a dime from them. I am so sick of being taken advantage off by people/ companies these days. It has got to stop. I wonder how long before one of Dav Ramsey's fan comes in here to tell us "it is our fault for using the cc and what happens to us is our fault" (you get the picture). Credit cards that screw me will get "screwed" in the end, it will be a matter of time.

 

[Nancy F]

We were told after having an AmEx for 30 years and a Platinum card for 20 of them that we now have to pay in full every month. We have very good credit and always paid more than the minimum. I was so glad that I had just gotten two new Visa cards. One Disney and one Airtran. So bye bye AmEx.

Nancy

 

[pyrxtc]

Can you cancel the card and pay it off monthly as planned ? I thought that was in the new rules somewhere if you didn't agree to the changes on your card ?

http://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerinfo/wyntk_creditcardrules.htm

The Federal Reserve's new rules for credit card companies mean new credit card protections for you. Here are some key changes you should expect from your credit card company beginning on February 22, 2010.

What your credit card company has to tell you

When they plan to increase your rate or other fees. Your credit card company must send you a notice 45 days before they can
increase your interest rate;
change certain fees (such as annual fees, cash advance fees, and late fees) that apply to your account; or
make other significant changes to the terms of your card.
If your credit card company is going to make changes to the terms of your card, it must give you the option to cancel the card before certain fee increases take effect. If you take that option, however, your credit card company may close your account and increase your monthly payment, subject to certain limitations.

For example, they can require you to pay the balance off in five years, or they can double the percentage of your balance used to calculate your minimum payment (which will result in faster repayment than under the terms of your account).

Good Luck !

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

Chase Disney - really stinks now! They lowered our credit limit AGAIN for no reason at all!!! Don't know why, our credit is fine, but this is the second time in a year they did it.WTH??

 

[iwrbnd]

This makes me nervous because I LOVE my Disney Visa and if they did this I would absolutely close it! It would be sad to give up my rewards, though.

I called about everybody getting their limits lowered and they went through the reasons they would do that and told me it wasn't going to happen to me. Maybe people that are having their limits lowered should call them and ask why.

 

[Colleen27]

I feel for all of you who are dealing with this personally, but in a big picture sense I'm hoping this will help roll back the increasingly intrusive and irrelevent uses of credit scoring as more and more people get fed up with the card issuers. Probably a naive hope, but still...

 

[2manypets]

I recently got hit by Chase also. They lowered my $17,000 card to $500. Chase decrees the limit by that much and then waited two weeks to notify me. The letter said that if I was over the new limit, I'd have 45 days to pay it down or they'd start charging me an over the limit fee. I didn't charge to that card, but it's the principal of it. Chase also increase my Disney card!?! I'm anxious to find out how much my FICO score is effected by this.

 

[pixie921]

I recently got hit by Chase also. They lowered my $17,000 card to $500. Chase decrees the limit by that much and then waited two weeks to notify me. The letter said that if I was over the new limit, I'd have 45 days to pay it down or they'd start charging me an over the limit fee.

What!? That's terrible! And how is that even legal?? I thought the new laws were supposed to keep things like that from happening!

 

[eliza61]

I feel for all of you who are dealing with this personally, but in a big picture sense I'm hoping this will help roll back the increasingly intrusive and irrelevent uses of credit scoring as more and more people get fed up with the card issuers. Probably a naive hope, but still...

What!? That's terrible! And how is that even legal?? I thought the new laws were supposed to keep things like that from happening!

Hey Colleen, not a naive hope at all. I encourage everyone to change banks, write your banks and your congressmen every time this happens. As a volunteer for my local congressman last year believe me they keep track of how many constitutes complain.


Pixie,
The new laws don't totally prevent things the banks from doing it, they just help the consumer have a bit of control. for example they can raise your rate but they must give you notice and give you 30 days to opt out (I think it's 30 days) and if you pay your bill on time for a few months (6 I think) they must lower the rate back down.

I encourage everyone to start using your local community banks or credit union where the abuse tends not to be as rampant as with the big company cards like Disney and Chase.

 

[mhsjax]

Credit card companies are crazy, pretty much have been for years. I worked for Am Ex. This is why I don't use them anymore. My dad never did, he hated them with a passion and I am following in his footsteps. All that being said, lease don't call and rip them a new one unless you are talking to someone in a decision making dept. Those poor customer service people (that was me) don't make the decisions and are only on the receiving end of all of the hate calls. The idiots that make the decisions never have to deal with the public.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

So in the past month both of our gas cards were close. I had a mobil, and DH had a shell. Had the mobil for 5 years and the shell for 6. Always on time and never hit limits. Both are owned by Citi go figure. Well if that wasnt enough to get under my skin. I open my visa bill today to see that I will now be charged a $15/month maintanence fee!!
I mean really?? A $180/year just to have the card? Have had it for 6 years, same thing, never late. I called them up, ripped them a new one. Told them crapping all over good loyal customers is not the way to go. And they might make a few dollars off me for a couple months til I pay it off. But onces its paid, its closed! Then they make nothing!! I cant imagine I am the only one doing this!

Is it just me or does it seem like these companies are shooting themselves in the foot???

I would definitely opt out of the changes to your agreement and close the card now. They won't be able to charge you the $15/month and you can still pay down the existing balance under your pre-change terms. As the below quoted poster had mentioned, the CC company would be within their rights to increase your minimum payment but if it's low enough that you feel you would be able to pay it off within a few months from now, this opt-out and cancel method may be doable for you.

Can you cancel the card and pay it off monthly as planned ? I thought that was in the new rules somewhere if you didn't agree to the changes on your card ?

http://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerinfo/wyntk_creditcardrules.htm

The Federal Reserve's new rules for credit card companies mean new credit card protections for you. Here are some key changes you should expect from your credit card company beginning on February 22, 2010.

What your credit card company has to tell you

When they plan to increase your rate or other fees. Your credit card company must send you a notice 45 days before they can
increase your interest rate;
change certain fees (such as annual fees, cash advance fees, and late fees) that apply to your account; or
make other significant changes to the terms of your card.
If your credit card company is going to make changes to the terms of your card, it must give you the option to cancel the card before certain fee increases take effect. If you take that option, however, your credit card company may close your account and increase your monthly payment, subject to certain limitations.

For example, they can require you to pay the balance off in five years, or they can double the percentage of your balance used to calculate your minimum payment (which will result in faster repayment than under the terms of your account).

Good Luck !

As for the CC limits being dropped? Yeah, they did that to me, too. I had 3 Disney VISA cards from Chase - 2 @ $7,000 and 1 @ $3,000. Chase dropped the $3k down to $500, one of the $7k down to $600 and the other $7k down to $2,300 ($500 over the balance on the card at the time they dropped the limit). I called Chase and, biting my tongue, calmly requested the one card ($600 limit) be increased back up as I am planning a Disney trip. I had to go through the spiel of giving them my monthly income figures and she pulled my credit report... she actually asked me where I got the money from for the "large" payment of $400 some dollars that I had paid the week before against the card with the $500 limit! Me: "Ummm, my savings account. I used my Disney VISA to pay my semi-annual car insurance payment just to get the Disney Dollars. Then I took the money from my savings account to pay that charge off." WTH?!?!?! She did finally increase my limit - to $4k, not back to the $7k where it had been for years before they dropped it!!

 

[Planogirl]

I thought that the companies weren't supposed to drop your limit below what you owed and then charge you over limit fees?! Ugh, that's just not right!

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

Yeah..our limit was $5000 (dropped from $7000), now they dropped it to $1900!!! I am going to call tomorrow and see what is going on.

 

[Becky2005]

Basically it boils down to even with the new laws -- credit cards can do whatever they want to you anytime they want. It's all in the fine print. They can still do whatever they want to you anytime they want, now they just need to give you more warning and they have to use some justification -- which they can EASILY make themselves.

Hmmm...lower your credit limit and now your credit score is decrease, you are now a credit risk so we are going to raise your rates. Even though you didn't change a THING...the only thing that changed was THEM lowering your credit limit.

I've had them play so many games with me for things (cards I've had for 15 years, etc.... started playing games with HEY, we will lower your limit and now that we have done that we will raise your rates AND double your minimum payment on you too!) that I try to do as much as I can with cash and we aren't in a position to pay off our balances but I can tell you once we are -- most of the cards are going away because the companies were being out to squeeze it to you anyway they could -- so fine, they can squeeze and when the economy changes (and it will), we will push right back.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Basically it boils down to even with the new laws -- credit cards can do whatever they want to you anytime they want. It's all in the fine print. They can still do whatever they want to you anytime they want, now they just need to give you more warning and they have to use some justification -- which they can EASILY make themselves.

Hmmm...lower your credit limit and now your credit score is decrease, you are now a credit risk so we are going to raise your rates. Even though you didn't change a THING...the only thing that changed was THEM lowering your credit limit.

I've had them play so many games with me for things (cards I've had for 15 years, etc.... started playing games with HEY, we will lower your limit and now that we have done that we will raise your rates AND double your minimum payment on you too!) that I try to do as much as I can with cash and we aren't in a position to pay off our balances but I can tell you once we are -- most of the cards are going away because the companies were being out to squeeze it to you anyway they could -- so fine, they can squeeze and when the economy changes (and it will), we will push right back.

This is EXACTLY what happened to me. I had a score of over 750. Then Citi closed a card I hadn't used in over a year. Then AmEx did, too. Then came the avalanche of closed accounts and lowered limits. Then, since I now have a high balance to available limit ratio, raising rates to 29.99% from 6.99%. I wound up getting a home equity loan (I thought long and hard about that for months but finally came to the conclusion that was the better route for me). By that time, my score was 670. Ironically, Chase was the last to mess with my accounts (dropping the limits AFTER I got the HE and paid all but $1,700 - at 2.99% until paid off) but when they did, they did big time.