I think that I am being treated unfairly by my CC company. Here's what happened: I recieved a notice from Fleet Credit Card services that they were raising my rates based on a recent review of my credit. The increase was 8.5%. Coincidently this occurred right after my balance reached the highest it had been in a year. (It was over $2000.00.) According to their records, and mine as well, there was 1 late payment in the last 2 years and it was only 1 or 2 days late due to an oversight on my part. When I called Fleet on this they reversed the late fee charges. In fact that payment was the only late payment on any account of mine in well over 2 years. I see no reason for such a HUGE rate increase of 8 1/2 percent. I made several phone calls and wrote letters asking if there was a mistake and asking what information they used to justify this rate increase. All I got in response were form letters that stating the info they used came from the credit bureaus. I wrote back asking for the specfic items that they considered so bad as to justify the rate increase. Again all I got was a form letter restating what they had told me before. I wrote a letter to the president of the company who referred me to a subordinate who told me the same things as in the letter refusing to tell me the specfic items that caused them to raise my rate. So as not to pay their exhorbident interest rate I paid off all but a few dollars of the balance. I wanted to keep the account open until the matter was resolved. After many more phone calls and another letter or 2 I gave up and wrote to the president asking him to close my account. Several weeks later I got another form letter in the mail telling me that Fleet had determined that I no longer met their standards and they would not renew my card because I didn't meet their standards. I feel that I am being treated unfairly. One late payment in 2 years does not seem excessive. My credit reports indicate that there were NO late payments in the last 2+ years. Who can I turn to for help? Is there a regulatory agency that deals with credit card companys? Any good suggestions? Thanks for taking the time to read this. Stan
Stan, I would contact your state attorney general, and what ever state fleet credit is in. Then I would send a Letter to the state banking commission where fleet is located. You can can also make a complaint to the better business bureau, and contact you local congressional rep. and ask them to check into the practices of fleet with the congressional banking committee. I would also send a letter to the cra's stating you dispute any negative reports placed on your report by fleet. Send it registered and get a return receipt. Then if your not satisfied take them to court. Credit card co. hate courts because it tarnishes their reputation. That's just my opinion on what I would do. But I know nothing about Fleet. Be glad it wasn't CCB or you would still be paying out the rear. Even if your account was closed. Anyway Good Luck.
I would bring the account to a zero balance. Use another account. The only way to deal with this money hungry banks is by pitting them against eachother. CreditWorks has been paying 19.47% APR since May 1996. We help individuals and small businesses create a better payment record. It has worked for everyone that has participated in the program. We make monthly payments on loans of $1000 or more. You make the payments to your creditor and they invariably lower your rates and rasie your limits. Please visit our Web Site or e-mail creditworks@msn.com http://www.creditsense.com
I believe that Fleet is chartered in Rhode Island. This could have recently changed though as a result of their giant merger with Bank Boston. Fleet has been on an aggressive campaign of buying up banks in the Northeast over the past several year. I believe the new entity is being called "Fleet Boston" so it may now be chatered in Massachusetts. Fleet is now a conglomerate of what used to be Fleet Bank in RI, Shawmut Bank in MA, Baybank throughout New England, and the Bank of Boston. As a result of all of that several secondary banks set up shop like Citizens, USTrust, and Soveregn Bank. Citizens and USTrust recently merged so there will be another bank setting up shop from the closure of duplicate branches. In addition Citizens recently took over State Street Bank's retail operation, but that was only about 6 branches. State Street is now completely commercial/institutional. You had to either be wealthy or an employee of State Street to get a consumer account there anyhow. As a result of all of this Fleet has decided to become more of a money center and commercial bank and are trying to cut back on their retail/consumer side except for affluent customers. One of the effects of this has been that they have been jacking up the rates on credit cards in an effort to get people to cancel their accounts as they are viewed as unprofitable. They are not cancelling accounts outright (at the moment) because they don't want to annoy the federal and state banking regulators. For a while they were offering a 7.99% fixed rate product, but that is all but gone now. Of course the reason they are citing for this is the escalation in the prime rate by the Fed over the past several months. So unless you are an affluent customer, they really don't care diddly-squat about you and would rather be rid of you. I would suspect that what happened in they recently pulled an account review credit report on you and your FICO score fell below some magic number and that prompted the interest rate increase. This is why they can't give you a specific reason for the rate increase, as all they are getting is the FICO 'reason codes'. (Revolving Debt too High, Excessive inquiries, etc). None of the reason codes are quantified in any way. There is no definition for 'too high', 'excessive', 'too many', 'too few' etc. I would suggest that you just give up on them. Pay them off, close the account and move on. It's not worth the aggravation. I would suggest the you officially cancel your account and insist that "Account Closed by Consumer" be included as the notation in your credit files with the CRAs.
Thank you for your insight into this matter. I have closed my account with them. How would I find out my FICO number?
e-loan (www.e-loan.com) was giving them out as a promotion for their website. There are other posts here about Equifax cutting off e-loans access to the information though. Rumor has it though that e-loan has worked a deal with TransUnion to get FICO scores. I'd check their site.
