by Tricia
I am going to be quite busy the next few days, so I am not sure how much time I will be able to devote to writing on here. Thankfully, I received an interesting email from a reader sharing her story about her credit card raising her rates. She was nice and is letting me share it with all of you.
“We have always paid our debts on time. Due to my husband’s (last) illness, they got higher than we wanted BUT when viewing assets (mutual funds, house owned etc.) against the amount of debt we were still over $100,000 in plus territory. Supposedly upon a review of our credit report (I was told they do it once a month which is b.s.) we were over-extended so Chase raised our interest rate to 29.9% on $15,000 balance. I was floored. Got a very snotty customer service rep on the phone, was refused lower interest rate. Paid 1/2 off this account. Next month, called again. Again got another snotty rep and was refused. Paid I/2 of the 1/2. Called again. Refused. Paid it all off except $200, called and was refused. Over the past year we’ve dropped our total debt by 35%. Seems none of this counted the other day when I called again to ask for a lower interest rate, I was refused.
I am (get this!) a debt collector. I have collected on First USA/Chase credit cards. I have been told by more than several debtors that the reason why they quit paying was that the interest rate was raised to the point where they couldn’t pay. One thing I noticed (because we’re trained to look for this) was that these people owned their own houses. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I think it’s a “planned predatory” act.”
Have any of you had experiences like this with a credit card? Did your rates magically raise for no apparent reason?
