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OMG – $250 Maximum Balance Transfer Fee!!!

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I just received notice that one of my credit cards is now changing their terms of agreement and they will begin charging a maximum of $250 per balance transfer starting mid-November. What that means, is that I will be charged 3% of the amount of the transfer, but not less than $5 or more than $250. The maximum used to be $60.

Then, after January 2007 they are removing the maximum and you will just pay 3% of the balance you are transferring.

This is a huge credit card company doing this and I have a few cards from them. So far, I’ve only received noticed on one of the cards.

I don’t know what affect this will have on the special balance transfer offers this particular company sometimes has. I still hope some offers will come around with no balance transfer fee, but it appears to me that this company wants to make some more money.

I’ll explain more later why this is making me so uneasy. I just did a balance transfer and now I’m thinking I made the wrong decision 🙁

Thinking of Closing a Credit Card? Make Sure it Really is Closed

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Bob left me the following comment about a lesson he learned when he closed a credit card:

“I had several cards with low limits from the same company. I called up and canceled these cards. Thinking everything was OK I just went on my merry way until two months later I got an overdue notice and a $100 bill (I don’t remember the exact amount, but it was plenty). I called the company, got a rep in India (the first one that I cancelled with was from the US). I explained that I had canceled the card and there should be no charges.

Turns out this particular card had some kind of annual fee. Even though the balance was zero (and had been for some time) the annual fee was charged AFTER I had closed the account. Next month I was charged with a late fee which, of course, showed up on my credit report. The Indian sales rep was very helpful, reversed the incorrect charges and closed the accounts, but the credit card company did not bother to have the items removed from my credit report.

The moral of the story is be SURE your account is canceled and no additional fees are charged.”

Wow. To think that you are done with a card yet having it charge you for the annual fee is horrible. While mistakes can happen, having your credit history dinged because of their mistake is not fair at all. I guess the best thing to always do is to watch your cards like a hawk so you can correct mistakes immediately.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Bob!