Discover, Chase, Citi al raise apr.

I better treat my Cap1s, Providian's and DMBs better... they have me at 12.9 to 16.9.. I always give them a hard time... hahah

 

I know it is bizarre... but a lot of people I know with good credit scores, also carry a pretty hefty debt load, so Chase and these others know they can make more money since these people carry balances.. the individuals get stuck with the APR and no way out. A lot of people here advocate having the extra card on hand to BT to if someone jacks your rates.. this is a good plan, but 99% of the people who are not creditnetters, obviously do not think about things like this.

This is also one of those things about 'prime cards' beng better, blah blah blah... personally I do not think any credit card is good, we have to have a few to get scores up to buy homes, we also need them for reserving hotels, or buying something online... but to carry a balance on a credit card that doesnt have a low promo rate is asking for trouble. You are losing money each month in interest, and then they are jacking the APRs.

Let's pay off those credit cards each month!!!

 

There is a better way. Deal from strength, have as many cards as necessary to always be able to BT. I have 18 with total lines close to 150,000 my rates are never over 10%. Right now I have 2 chase cards at 0% APR. and numerous other great offers from Cap 1, BofA, 1st USA, Citi, AT&T Universal, Fleet, Firstbank, etc. all at less than 10%

www.creditsense.com

 

Folks, there's a little bit of misunderstanding combined with overreacting going on here.

1) CHASE

The APRs are __not__ going "sub-prime" as was indicated here. READ carefully - the "non-preferred" pricing, that is the rate you pay if you are in default, miss a payment, or go overlimit, is what's being increased to PR+14.99% (not lower than 19.8%). That's actually a pretty good "penalty" rate, compared to Fleet and FirstUSA!

Normal "preferred" rates are:

Platinum MasterCard/Visa: PR+4.49% >= $2,500, or PR+6.49% < $2,500 (9.24%/11.24% today)
Standard MasterCard/Visa Classic: PR+ 8.49% for all balances (13.24% today)
Alternate Pricing/Visa Classic PR+13.49% (18.24% today)
Shell MC rates: PR+6.49 >=2500, PR+8.49 <$2500 (11.24% / 13.24% today)
Continental Platinum: PR+9.4%, 14.65% today

2) Citi

Citi has always had a high rate published on the web site, with a "rate is subject to change based on your credit worthiness" ... basically, it's adjustable based on your score/debt load/etc.

The key to Citi is to negotiate the best rate, and demonstrate you are a profitable customer. If you don't like the rate, xfer your balances away from Citi.

3) Discover

...has never been a competitive product for peope who revolve a balance (after intro periods). The "best" rate used to be 12.99 .. .then it went to 14.99 (although I got it down to 13.99) ... now it's going up to 16.99.

Smart folks here use Discover to get either the cash-back or good xfer rates - then bounce the balances somewhere else when the good rates cease. We call that the "sock drawer" treatment.

As for the rest of it all - it's UP TO YOU to shop around. If you aren't getting a rate you think is good - move on.

A good strategy would be to have several cards "ready & available" that you can use to xfer balances to. If Citi jacks your rate up and won't budge - move it.

Another good strategy is to have lines of credit - unsecured at your bank, home equity, etc - available for the same purpose.

There isn't a law saying that gas will never cost more than $1.25 a gallon - the market sets the price, and in the credit world, your risk profile is a big factor in that pricing. If you're maxed out and/or pay late, you should pay more than someone who only uses 30% of their credit and always pays more than is due.

-mj

 

I received in the mail a single sheet of paper taped together informing me of the increase. It also stated that the hike was based on information contained in my consumer report from Equifax. I thought it was just me. Hmmmmmm!

 

CITIBANK has on-line payments...as soon as the new statement is available...make the minimum payment that day...then wait till 3 or 4 days before the due date to make any extra you want...

NEVER LATE...

 

Absolutely! Any indication that you are not taking your obligations seriously alarms them. No wonder, LOL. So far, they've given me a lot of credit - I take it seriously.

 

I have a few questions about Citi. I have a 11.5K limit with them, I currently haveabout $6-8k used on it, about $3K of that is BT's. I got the card in December, does this look bad? They are my lowest rate card 9.65 fixed. The DAY my statement is available I pay triple the "amount due", then at the end of the month anything extra has been going to them. Am I a risk to them. They pull AR's on EQU all the time, they were pulling them on TU, but stopped about a month ago, now it's almost twice a day on EQU. (Nothing bad on EQU)

 

Twice a day? Do you have other big balances?

 

I have nothing but good to say about most credit card compaines because the only way that anyone can enjoy their low rates that they have to offer is to play by the card issuers rules,and everyone should know what that is,just follow your TOA with your card issuer then you will be doing alright.I am paying no more then 6% interest on my credit card loans,and credit cards are really bank loans wether you know it or not because the high credit lines that comes with most cards.Also everyone should keep in mind when it comes to credit cards is that most card accounts are unsecured loans, so i can understand why credit card compaines are very tuff with their rules.Here is another rule that anyone should know as far with debt to income ratio,and that is not to have no more then 35% of income being commited to all credit obligations including mortgages if anyone is paying more then that then that person is gambling for an rate increase because most card compaines would declare this to be a greator risk to them therefore by upping a persons rate just as if they are going into default because chances are it is most likely to happen,and any creditors internal credit scoring model would sound an alarm on a some persons credit behavior by indicating that this person may be overextended with credit obligations altogether.I have a total of $1150.00 a month to pay toward my credit obligations which is less then 35% of income,and so far not one rate hike has happen to date.Risk is the name of the game when it comes to credit card interest rates.It has been well over 6 years since any rate hike has happened due to being overextended never been late or anykind of defautl at all,and because i have really got some good credit education,and also know how to budget out things therefore i can have true financial security knowing that i am very responsible with credit,and reap the rewards that is has to offer such as cheap interest rates,and rebates on non revolving card accounts.Being smart with credit usage is they key to have the best relationship with any creditor no matter who they are.