I was reading an article in consumer reports last night that really made me wonder if people were aware of the fact that cc companies can change your rate ..sometimes overnight. They are advising people to check up on their accounts to be sure they have not changed for teh worse. There was a guy that actually saw his cc interest rate go up triple from 8% to 25%. It was his Bank of America card.
He always paid on time, has an excellent credit rating and never missed a payment. After calling and asking why his rate was hiked they told him his debt-to-income ratio was too high and his card balance was even $1000 below his limit!
After reading this I am going to review what few cards I do have. There are still some credit card companies out there that offfer lower interest rates and even 0% interest for a small period. This article really opened my eyes and I thought that anyone with credit cards here on the forum may want to know this info so they can check their cards.
Forums
cc
Ya know, that's what Imagine Credit Card did with me. I mean when I WAS paying on time, the % rate DID start going up. Imagine was ALREADY high because it was a 'bad credit' credit card. Gosh. I could do without the extra bill.
Oh SD I feel really bad. When I read this article I was soo pissed off. I know a lot of it probaly has to do with the economy but I am a little sick of all us paying for the crap big people on Wall Street did. Hopefully you can get this card paid off and maybe start with a smaller type card. I had worked for Fashion Bug for quite a while (5yrs) and that is rthe card I told GN to get to restart her credit. The interest rate is a littl high but she just buys a couple things anf=d the next month pays it off. She never thought she would get approved but I told her usually after the second or third time applying they would except her and they did. This will help build her credit and probaly within a year or so she can actrually get approved for a lower rate card elsewhere. This is how I had done it a few years back and my credit was aweful with a capitol A,
I pay off my credit cards at the end of each month in full, because I don't like the idea of keeping balances on credit cards - it's just too expensive.
cc
Good,JT...that's the BEST way to do it, if you can.
Way to go JT...I was into this habit until about a year ago I was hit by another driver and left with a lfie injury...all those bills and co pays add up while yoyu are waiting for the other side to settle so I had to rely on a couple ccards to get me through but they are the first thing to go as soon as I get money.
You are right jtrenton. If you pay off the credit card debt within the due date, not only you save on the high interest on credit cards, but also helps you to maintain a good payment history. I think that only if you cannot afford to pay off the entire spending on your credit card within the due date, you should go for monthly repayment schemes to pay them back.
Correct but always check the interest rate on any credit card. I have been hearing so much of these rate changes and they seem to be happening overnight. Credit card companies know that the economy is bad and people are either using their cards a lot more to just get by or some are avoiding using them at all cutting down on there extra spending. So some of them are using this to their advantage by raising peoples rates. Just be sure to check the rate every month as your bills come in.
bills
If you need credit THAT bad, I'm sure people will apply for every credit card that they can. That's what i thought, too. What I DID think, at one time, was to " get some credit and apply for EVERYTHING." I din't know, until I came from this forum, that every 'hard inquiry' brings down your credit score. That's a bit scary.