Comments on: Head’s Up – Watch Your Credit Limit

By: LA

LA — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:01:00 +0000

Citibank last week assessed me a late fee and bumped my rate up to 29.9% because I made a payment on the due date but at 8:00pm instead of before 5:00pm. (I was on vacation— made the payment from a hotel room, after I confirmed that my paycheck had been deposited!) Minimum payment was immediately over 2ce previous amount.

I called and complained as soon as I found out. Initial rep “could not do anything.” I was considered in default even though she could see that the date of payment was the date it was due.

I asked to speak to a supervisor. Said supervisor congenially took the rate down to 13.2% and refunded the additional finance charges. Suggested I schedule a payment online (a tool they have on their site) for the day before it’s due in the future. That’s a little tricky for me personally due to direct deposit timing—what they might do if the payment is unfunded, I can’t imagine!—but I’m certainly going to be hyperconscious of this in the future!

By: Sherri

Sherri — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:16:44 +0000

They (washington mutual) haven’t changed my credit limit (yet), but they did just raise my interest rate to 22% + Prime (currently 5.25%) last month.

Insane. I didn’t bother to call and argue with them since I pay my bill entirely every month so I never get charged interest. I’ve never made one late payment either and I’ve been a customer for 6 years.

Seems like they’re just doing this to everyone…I really feel for young families and others struggling just to buy food and gas and then suddenly get charged nearly 30% interest on any amount of credit card debt they may have…

By: Jim ~ mydebtblog.com

Jim ~ mydebtblog.com — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:13:03 +0000

It’s like they’re moving the goal posts in order to make you lose. I wonder how much longer it will take before they randomly decide to take payments or not. At the same time I don’t think this is as bad as the lenders freezing HELOCs.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:07:30 +0000

Ive had this happen to me at some point in the past. Heres a kicker too: credit card companies might charge you just for “potentially” going over your limit. Same thing with raising rates.

By: James

James — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:19:03 +0000

Thats nothing. The credit card companies have been doing this since the 1980s.

By: SmileyGirl

SmileyGirl — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:08:10 +0000

What will they think of next? Anything to make us pay an extra dollar and ding the consumer. Thanks for the heads-up – I’ll be checking my statements and limits that much closer!

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:29:56 +0000

GM Card (owned by HSBC) did this to me in addition to raising the APR to the default rate a few months ago. My APR is currently at 30.99% and they lowered my credit limit to around $100 over my current balance. It seemed like a really arbitrary amount to lower the credit limit to, as my new credit limit is now $x,705.

I’ve never had a late payment, been over the limit, etc. on ANY of my credit cards. My credit score is decent (low 700s) and I’ve had this card for about 8 years. I couldn’t get an explanation for why this happened to my account other than it occurred after a “periodic review.” Further, I wasn’t given the option of opting out of these changes.

I’ve had similar issues with another one of my cards. Credit card companies are EVIL!!!