People's Bank Card BAD NEWS

My husband has had a People's Bank credit card for at several years now. We got it in the mail and transferred a much higher rated card to this one at 13.99%. We have never been late or over our credit limit. We recieved a letter from People's Bank in July stating that they were going to increase our interest rate to 27.99% for three reasons.
1) the total balance on all your credit cards and other lines of credit are high when compared to the total amount of credit available
2) Your credit bureau reports that in the past 12 months you have had balances on a high percentage of your credit cards
3) A relatively high number of inquiries have been made into your credit bureau record of the last 12 months
We were absolutely furious.
We contacted Equifax and got a copy of our credit report. First there were several things that were wrong on the report. The main thing being that PEOPLE'S BANK had listed that we had TWO accounts with them with a $4300 balance in each account. Also, there were some things on the credit report that we had paid off that were not listed as paid off. Still all in all, our credit was perfect. We had all 1's. We wrote People's bank a letter back stating that some things were not right on the credit report and asked them to not raise it. They sent a letter back to us saying "after careful consideration" they were going to stand by the increase.
One thing that WAS shown on the credit report was that People's Bank checked our Credit in APRIL. The letter was sent in JULY. After Equifax changed everything on the credit report, they sent us the updated one. At the bottom of the credit report there is a list of all people who have asked for your credit rating. We know that People's Bank did not even check again after that April check. They also could tell that all of the people asking for credit ratings were the junk mail that you get all the time. The Creditor is able to tell that. The last credit that we wanted was our car in July 1999. We haven't asked for anything else.
I believe that People's Bank is doing this to a lot of other people too. Luckily, we have the money to pay the credit card off with a nasty letter but what about the other people who don't have a choice? It's not fair to them!!! Our interest rate was increased not because of what we owed PEOPLE'S BANK but to all the other creditors!!! We don't have but three major credit cards. We are telling everyone about People's Bank. Don't get sucked in by their
"goodness" to give you a credit card. You will end up like us. !!!

 

RE: People's Bank Card BAD NEW

It's ashame I have seen on other boards
people who have had the same experience
with People's lately. Sounds like alot of people need to quit this unethical bank.

 

RE: People's Bank Card BAD NEW

A couple of years ago the credit industry made massive bribes to congress to pass or loosen laws wherein they could legally jack up your rates (to penalty rates in your case) for frivolous reasons.

You can definately see this was a investment that has paid off BIGTIME for them at YOUR and most everybody elses expense.

Its great that you are in a position to pay off your card and gain them nothing. Were I in your position I would've probably added in the letter something along the lines of "here's a copy of the Equifax reporting PROVING there was nothing other than promotional inquiries and your own OUTDATED inquiry proving YOUR lie of too many inquiries. That you should sue them for libel and that you have already sent a copy of this to the FTC, Banking Commission, etc. etc. detailing their questionable practises. Also you will be posting this on every credit site and credit and ripoff newsgroup you can find.

As for the majority of consumers the only way they can prevent this extortion is by holding a number of cards wherein you would be in an immediate position to transfer your balance if a bank got too greedy (they'll beg you back soon enough after you've done so, believe me), moreover it is useful to have a least one card that DOES NOT report to the CRA's, thus giving you another option to transfer or pay of your balance that the other banks are totally unaware of.

As CreditWorks says; DEAL FROM STRENGTH, thus limiting the possibility of you getting SCREWED by these greedy, immoral, voracious banks.

 

RE: People's Bank Card BAD NEW

And to think this company used to be considered one of the "premium" card companies that was noted for for some of the lowest APR's in the industry.

At least other's such as MBNA raise their rates in steps, insteading of criminaly jacking it up to a penalty rate in one shot.

At this rate they'll be another the Associates in no time.

Your right screw them.

BTW, have you sent them a "f$ck off and die and don't bother me again" letter, on second thought this backfired on another poster who did so with Cap 1 so perhaps its best to leave enough alone But really, just send a letter to their legal department demanding no more contact from this company or any of its affliates (especially by phone) or you will consider it a case of harassment and take the appropriate steps.

 

RE: People's Bank Card BAD NEW

Steven Z said...

>I would've probably added in the
>letter something along the lines
>of "here's a copy of the Equifax
>reporting PROVING there was nothing
>other than promotional inquiries
> and your own OUTDATED inquiry
>proving YOUR lie of too many
>inquiries.


The fact that the bank mentioned excessive inquiries in their "welcome to usary-ville" letter could possibly be considered improper in the context of the legal issue of disclosing the reasons for adverse action based on credit report info.


>That you should sue them for libel


No, because the bank did *not* say anything negative about the consumer to any third-parties, or in public.


This idea of raising the interest rates on good customers based on total debt-to-limit ratio with other creditors is part of the general industry profit-squeezing, and the desire to fit the product specifications (interest, fees, etc.) to the exact circumstances (including risk level and profitability) of each customer. The high debt levels are considered to be a sign of generally higher risk (could be a symptom of something wrong, like a job-loss or pre-bankruptcy load-up), so the banks charge those customers more to compensate for that risk.

Unfortunately, if someone has significant debts at 9.9%, but is always paying on time, then a sudden increase to, say, 25%, could in itself substantially increase the possibilty of a default, by raising the minimum payments out of the customer's reach.

--
CardReport.Com - Credit Tools, News, And Reference
http://www.cardreport.com/
Everything You Need To Know About Credit And Debt
--

 

RE: People's Bank Card BAD NEW

You are correct as far as "libel" goes its just that I would so like to see an individual take a bank to task for all their lies.

Not let us consider that said individual may not only have to worry about the increase in one card as banks have recently demonstrated they differ little from vultures and as their habit is swarm in packs resulting in all them raising their rates almost in unison and shrugging their hands and crying crocodile tears (while calling their victims deadbeats and bums) while driving them into bankruptcy.

Looking at their rates and terms one cannot help but notice that unlike the rest of their competitors who may push you up to penalty rate in anywhere from 2 to 5 steps, they are the only institution (outside of ChexSystems) with a "one strike your out" setup.

And if that isn't enough their current listed rates are from February, no doubt we shall see them raise their rates somewhat and I wouldn't be suprised to see their penalty rate raise to 29% (from 26%) and beyond!

Now with their aggressive all-out attempt to squeeze their customers I see little reason why anybody would stay with them.

 

RE: People's Bank Card BAD NEW

Today we cut the card up with a check to pay off the balance and a "not so nice" letter to them explaining why we didn't have to take their mess. We did tell them that we would be on the internet and tell EVERYONE what we did. This is just my first step at this. I'm going to keep going until I feel justified to stop. It may take a long time. When I came to this board I didn't see anything about People's Bank so I assumed that this was only happening to me. But evidently it isn't. If enough people complain, maybe some legislature could be passed to stop the credit card companies from hanging good paying customers out to dry. Luckily we were able to pay it off. I am sure that there are a lot of people who can't, especially the elderly who are on fixed income. They have no choice but to keep paying what ever the card company says. It's a shame that credit card companies have come to this. They blame it on all the fraudulent charges that have to be paid somewhere, but to do something like this is ludicrious. They better contact me again, or its going to be BAD.

 

RE: People's Bank Card BAD NEW

First off, the reason you would not have seen anything about People's on this site may have to do with

- Most posters on this site concern themselves with sub-prime cards; the epinions.com site would've have been the place to start as most of the posts deal with "prime" cards

- People's is a smallish bank compared to say Citibank or Chase, thus fewer posts

- Until recently People's was considered a "premium" card and held in high regard

Now, as you've found out the hard way, they have decided to drop into the pit and have become just as avarice and immoral as the swine who typically indulge in this such as First USA, Fleet, the Associates.

I will reiterate my oft-stated opinion that it will take many millions of angry voters to overcome the MASSIVE bribes put out to this very congress you wish to see changes from; sorry they and many of the local attorney general's (especially Delaware and Florida) are firmly in the pockets of the financial industry, which includes the CRA's.

Yes, it is a bad and worsening period for those looking for a moral bank who will treat you fairly. So the only choice out there is to choose based on which are "not the worst", sh$t its getting like politics.

 

RE: People's Bank Card BAD NEW

As far as I am aware the consumer does still (this being one of the few areas that congress held the line and would not budge perhaps they believed that this would be the straw that broke the consumers back and would lead to a backlash they were not willing to risk) retain this right, though unscrupulous creditors such as Fleet are notorious for illegaly ignoring (it usually takes the threat of a lawsuit to force them to retract) this which is implicit in their very own terms and regulations in their all out attempt to drive away unprofitable middle class customers and gouge the rest.

About the 'only way' to avoid this is to do business soley a creditor that does not report to the CRA's, in this respect they are the last companies where your credit history with them is all that counts.