Has Your Credit Card Offered You an Incentive?

I read this article on Yahoo finance and it really surprised me:

“With defaults on the rise, credit-card issuers are employing all sorts of tactics to persuade consumers to reduce their balances and, ideally, close their accounts.

[Via Yahoo Finance]

Some are giving out gift cards or cash back. One bank (Chase) unfortunately is adding a $10 monthly fee for accounts with large balances. It doesn’t appear to be happening with all accounts – just a select few.

I don’t like what I’ve heard about the way Chase is handling things. One customer in the article says, “They’re trying to renege on the deal [he had].” Citibank and American Express are using the gift cards or the cash back. I think those are a great idea although someone is paying for these incentives down the line.

Have any of you been offered an incentive like that?

Posted by Tricia on March 2, 2009 at 7:48 AM in Credit Cards | 16 Comments »
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Kev responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 am
Nope – nothing in the way of incentives here. Two of CC companies have jacked my interest rate up in the last few months though. Both card issuers did the same thing – they switched me to a variable rate (14.65% + Prime). It’s ridiculous and it ticks me off b/c I did nothing wrong. I haven’t been late – I don’t even have a balance. I’m just glad I got them paid off before they pulled that crap.

I read the same article and agree that Chase is one of the shadiest of them all. I’ve dealt with them in the past and have since cut all ties. I absolutely refuse to do business with them in any manner – credit card or otherwise.
Mr Plasectomy responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 9:22 am
Nothing here either other than the occasional balance transfer offer on a few of the cards that were recently paid off. I wouldn’t mind getting a $300 gift certificate to go away and never come back. Either way what the companies are doing is dirty as they are the ones that got themselves into the mess they are in by lending credit to anything with a pulse.

I have to agree that Chase is pretty shady and thankfully the one card that I do have a balance transfer balance at 3.99% as yet to be effected by their new policy. However, that didn’t stop them from jacking my rate to 36% on another one of their cards, http://www.myplasectomy.com/?p=150 . Which is odd considering they still send me those balance transfer checks for that account in the mail once month for the 3.99%, 4.99%, or 5.99% interest rate.
Nicole responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
We’ve been given a dis-incentive. We received a letter changing the terms of our credit card rewards, basically saying they can take the card and all accumulated unredeemed rewards away at any time. Fearing they will, I’m redeeming our rewards ASAP for a cheaper gift than I was planning on, then canceling the card
Jim ~ mydebtblog.com responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I have an old AmEx card I wouldn’t mind closing for $300. They can be assured that I will never be their customer or do business with them ever again too. It’s a shift to move credit lines to people who have balances, so the credit card companies can stop writing off debt (ironic isn’t it?) and actually show a profit.

The thing that pisses me off more and more is raising the APR on people who are paying their accounts. My wife got jacked by Citi, and seeing that 18.99% just makes me want to get rid of them faster. If Chase is starting to do it, that’s not going to be a good thing for their business. I remember when Capital One axed their 4.9% ‘flat rate’ cards, anyone who had one got suckered on that deal. We’ll never be their customer ever again, I guarantee that.

These credit card companies are leaving us no choice but to pay them off and never use them again. If we don’t fall in the trap, no need to struggle to get out.
Junior responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Mr P’s note on the low-rate balance transfer offers, is something I have seen also. I expect, the reason that they would make this low-rate offer on a high-interest card is, this way they can keep you paying the highest rate on your existing high-interest balance, all the while they will be taking your every payment dollar to pay back their little low-rate loan to you! I.e., it’s just another sucker-pitch. Don’t swing on it.
Susan responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I don’t have a credit card balance (well, right now I owe $24.50 for gas I bought this morning, but I’m paying that at the end of the week) – no change in my interest rate, credit line, rewards, etc.

I’m so glad I’ve paid off my credit card debt! It took 3 years and a LOT of struggle and sacrifice, but thankfully, we’re there.

Now – if only we could tackle the mortgage and home equity loan…
Judy responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I was offered the Citibank deal (upto $550 cashback when paying over the minimum balance). I am using the snowball to tackle it now so I figured, why not?
craig responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 pm
No incentive but they have raised my limit, not sure if there was an economic reason or that’s just the standard.
Ninja responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I have one CC balance left. It WAS with Discover, til today when a balance transfer went through. I moved the full balance to a 0% for 6 months card through BB&T where I bank. My personal banker helped me do this (and I also have a great credit score, which helped). So–my goal is to pay off this last card by August and then all I will have left is my car loan.

Never again with credit cards! EVER! =)
Pev responded:
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I have a credit card a nordstroms and it’s cool getting nordstrom notes in the mail and bringing it in to get free stuff
TheVanMan responded:
Posted: March 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
I must get at least four or five offers on credit cards each week. I think my existing card supplier is selling my details to the competition. How mad is that?
pfmoron responded:
Posted: March 3rd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Yes, I’ve been offered an HUGE incentive to reduce my balance and close my account. It’s called a 16.99% Interest Rate!
Flip responded:
Posted: March 3rd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I was offered the AMEX deal. Just got it in the mail the other day, as I have a large amount in there (my largest in the snowball and a very low rate I locked them into a while back). On initial viewing, the gift card wouldn’t help me pay down my balance by the dates required, so I’m not going to do it.

But I’m going to go look at all the fine print, b/c I don’t want to find out I missed something and something worse happens later.
Girl Getting out of Debt responded:
Posted: March 4th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
I paid off 2500 all at once on a nearly-maxed-out card that was charging me 19% APR finally, and once it cleared, I called them and asked them to lower the APR. I had done that before the economy crash and they denied me. This time, they happily lowered the APR to 0% for two months, then 9$ thereafter. Short answer: YES! And call them if you feel your APR is high!
Girl Getting out of Debt responded:
Posted: March 4th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I mean, 9% thereafter.
Katie responded:
Posted: March 18th, 2009 at 5:42 am
I had a Providian/WaMu card that had been at 9 percent for the last 5 years. I have never missed a payment. I have never been late. Chase bought it out, and as soon as they took over, my 9 percent interest rate went to 22.24 percent. For what? Didn’t part of my tax dollars ALREADY go to Chase to “bail” them out? I guess the billions of tax payer money isn’t enough…

I have used those fixed 4.99% for the life of the balance deals before. I am actually using one right now. I just use it to transfer balances over and don’t use the card for anything. Once the balance is paid, I transfer more over. That way, the only thing the card is being used for is the 4.99%.