I am a financial advisor and I am getting a lot of complaints from my clients toward the credit card companies and it is all about one thing. “My credit card company changed my interest rates and I havn’t done anything wrong, cand they do that”. Unfortunately yes they can do that. When you sign on the dotted line of that credit card agreement you are signing that the credit card can basically do what they will with that credit card account. Lately theses companies have been sending out changes in terms letters letting people know that even though they have had an almost perfect or perfect payment history they still will be having some changes to their APR. In most cases you will recieve a letter that is very confusing and it will say something like on January 1, 2010 your apr will be changing to prime pluss 14.99%. Most people don’t know what prime rate is so if you have a 16.99% you might think that your interest rate is going down. Well prime is the highes prime rate published in the wallstreet journal at the end of each billing cycle. Rite now prime is 3.25% so that 16.99% would be going to 18.24% and people are being angered by the changes.
There are ways to get around a terms change. First call the credit card company and find out what the opt out terms are. Usually opting out means that you will need to close the account and not use it to be able to pay it off at the current interest rate. If that is the only way to keep the rate down I would say do it there are always ways to get new credit cards. And let me tell you what the majority of the time the new credit card will have a lower interest rate any way and on top of that it will give you a 0% introductory interest rate for balance transfers so not only can you get rid of that banks credit card, you can pay it in full too.
There are a lot of companies offering these 0% introductory interest rate for balance transfers but the one I would recomend is Discovery card. They not only give you low intro rates but they give you low long term rates as well. Visit www.JemCreditCards.com for more information.
Also, when applying for a new credit card account I strongly advise that you read the terms and conditions for that bank and that account. This is the most important step in finding a new credit card. I can’t tell you how many times a client has told me the credit card company can’t do that about something when that client had signed documents saying that they can. I cannot emphasize it enough READ THE TERM AND CONDITIONS!
So to top this article off tell these sleezy credit card companies to take a hike. Go get a credit card with a company that will offer you the interest rate you deserve with no hastle.
Copyright © 2008 Credit Cards: from Choosing Best Credit Card to Application
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