So, we got the Amazon.com credit card a couple of years ago 'cause we could transfer a bunch of our other cards to it and they had an intro rate of 0% that went up to 15% eventually (which was lower than our other cards). We were very, very careful to pay on time and not get into any trouble with them. Then, one day... [fade out]
We noticed when paying online that our monthly payment had gone up. "How is that possible?" we asked. We checked our interest rate and it was, like 29.5%. "Hokey-smoke" said I, "this must be some kind of mistake." But it wasn't. We called the credit card folks. "No," they said "you haven't had any late payments or other problems with your account, but our 'credit people' reviewed your credit in last November and decided that your balance was too high on your OTHER CARDS. You recieved a letter explaining all of this a couple of months ago."
"No we didn't." said I. "We don't care...screw you." said they (or something to that effect). And that was it. So....I checked with the three major credit reporting agencies (as you can do for free once a year), and found that, indeed, they had checked with one of them. I also found that no one had reported anything negative with any of the agencies for at least a couple of years.
So now, we pay our Amazon.com credit card $103 a month and get charged $96 in interest, but that's not the best part. The best part is that since we were so close to our limit with the Amazon.com credit card (it was our favorite because of the low interest and Amazon.com bonuses) the increase in the interest rate sent us over our limit and got us a $35 over-limit fee (which Sonja talked them into revoking only to have them stick it back on the next day :)). That's the best part.
I wonder what these people are thinking. I would assume that people with their credit cards maxed out are either poor or make bad financial decisions (probably both), I would further assume that jacking up their rate so high that they could never pay off the card would pretty much force these (poor) people (who make bad financial decisions) to throw up their hands and declare bankruptcy (which was our first thought), and where is the profit in that? I honestly don't get it.
We trusted them with our debt (which was stupid, I know, please no one post that it was stupid), we did right by them, payed what we were supposed to, and they screwed us. We were so ticked that we really, really did consider bankruptcy, just to get them back if for nothing else. But both of us are so concerned about paying off what we owe, that I don't think we ever could actually file. But lots of people could care less. So how do the credit card companies stay in business? I know that Congress just tightened the bankrupcy laws to protect the companies from horrible folks like us (thank God), maybe that's how.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. The next month another of our cards did the exact same thing.
Keep smiling,
Jef
