Posted on 02/07/2010 6:38:01 AM PST by Graybeard58
While consumer groups generally applaud new restrictions on credit cards, Vickie Wellington isn't buying into them. In fact, "I'm opting out" of credit cards altogether, says the 60-year-old Detroiter.
"I just don't want to be bound by those new terms. There are higher fees. There are new fees," Wellington said. "I don't need credit that bad. I don't need them."
Since summer, credit card companies have been changing their terms to work around new rules that take effect Feb. 22. In August, a rule took effect requiring them to send a notice 45 days before increasing rates or making significant changes on certain fees, such as annual fees or late fees.
Wellington read those notices and canceled cards. How many more people will read all the fine print — or react by cutting up their plastic?
"Ultimately, the power rests with the consumer," said Ken Clayton, senior vice president and general counsel for the American Bankers Association.
Consumer groups charge for the most part that credit card companies got away too long with sneaky rate hikes, oddball billing practices and outrageous fees.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., heard plenty from angry consumers and pushed the credit card reform legislation that was signed into law last May.
But the new restrictions have a price. Credit card companies are now creating new fees, such as inactivity fees, or bringing back annual fees.
"These are folks that never met a fee they didn't like, anyway," warned Adam Levin, co-founder and chairman of Credit.com. "If they can't get it in a rate, they're going to go after a fee."
Still, new rules can help:
In most cases, there will be no interest rate increases for the first year that any account is open.
Your payment will be due on the same date each month, and if the date is a Sunday, could be received by Monday and still be on time.
Issuers cannot in most cases raise the rate on existing balances — just new charges.
Actually I am surprised you have a choice, and they don’t make you get the debit card.
I always take the 80 bucks for 10,000 points and run. One never knows when the company will discontinue the program altogether or reduce the rebate. I doubt it would have few compunctions in changing the rules mid-game if it deems it necessary.
Plus, why should Visa collect the interest on my rebate money sitting in its account rather than me?
Leni
I had about 40,000 Visa points. I got a really nice T-Shirt that said “Visa” on it. Didn’t fit.
Another chicken droppings move is to cancel earned awards if you don’t use the card.
You don’t need to use these as a debit card, you take the card to the bank and request the amount on the card be deposited to your savings account. Or you can request cash back or some cash and deposit the rest.
I discovered these pre-paid debit cards are pias (pains in the a—).
First, to use them you enter them as a credit not a debit.
Second, I couldn’t use it at Target because the clerk didn’t know that she needed to enter the purchase a certain way for it to work, whether or not the payment was entered as credit or debit.
Third, when using the cards in a restaurant, a 20% gratuity is automatically added. This means the card won’t work, if your meal plus the 20% gratutiy totals more then is on the card. Our server couldn’t figure out a way to make it work with or without a 20% gratuity. Aren’t computers great? I wasn’t angry with the server. Yet it really bugs me that the credit card company and service industry have an agreement where a 20% gratuity is paid when a pre-paid refund card is used. The amount of gratuity paid should be my decision. Some days I can afford 10%, others 15% and occasionally 20%, plus it depends on the service.
Fourth, the clerk at Sears politely told me she could try entering it for me, but it might not work. But, she offered me a solution. She politely suggested I take it to the bank and request cash. She also told me to first ask whether or not the bank was going to charge me a fee to do this. If they were, she suggested I go to the bank she uses because they don’t charge a fee. This happened to be the bank I use, so I took the card there and cashed it in. It was so easy that I did it with the the next two rebates I received.
Just remember though, you/we own Citi now through our TARP Bailout. That does not count what I/others have lost in Citi over the past couple of years in our mutual fund holdings. The 29.9% is just to 'help' Citi become profitable again /sarc
They also know that a fairly high percentage of these types of cards never get spent. I don’t know what the rate is, but it might keep the government from having to make 10% or more of the tax refund payments.
Last month, because of a family health crisis, I was two days late paying the balance. I immediately got a letter from the card company charging me a $30 or $40 late fee, and threatening to raise my interest rate. This after 10 plus years of faithfully paying that card on time and in full. I guess I should be thankful they didn't actually raise my rate (not that it matters, since I always pay the full balance). I'm just worried what they'll do to my credit rating.
That’s really nice - I didn’t know about that.
My collection of points are not flyer points, but can be
redeemed for cash.
Chase’s credit card converts points to dollars at 100:1, so chances are you’ve built up $300-worth through your credit union.
I used my Citi card maybe once in the last year, and I got a notice that they’re raising my interest to 26% on the basis of “two or more late payments in the last twelve months.” Well, there’s no need to use that card. I just use my ATM card; it has a Mastercard logo on it and I don’t ever have to worry that a payment will be received late.
Citi handles Shell’s U.S. accounts. I have just closed my Shell account because Citi started making automated phone calls to me at all hours (8:10 AM through 9:35 PM) when the bill had been sent/closing dated just seven days before the calls started. And I have always paid off the entire balance each month! Of course, if you answer the call, a long ad speel is first played, inviting you to use Citi banking. I got eight calls in less than a week before I finally called to instruct them to close the account, that I would never use Shell or Texaco ever again, and certainly would have nothing to do with Citi bank in any way so long as I could know it. Their level of obnoxious can only be interpreted to mean they are dyed in the wool democrat liberal scum.
I usually pay in full but had a big purchase on a card that was going to take a couple of payments to get rid of. I accidentally paid twice in one month and was then considered to be late the next month. You would think I killed the Pope. I called and said the card would be paid in full that afternoon and then canceled if they didn’t put my rate back and remove the fees.
Shell and Texaco are 2 different companies. Shell is part of Royal Dutch (technically a Netherlands company, but with all substantial headquarter operations in the UK) while Texaco is simply a brand under Chevron.
I recall my Texaco business being brought under the Shell name. My payments were to be sent no longer to Texaco, but to Shell. I did not apply for a Shell card, they just sent me one from the past Texaco system. Perhaps Texaco was broken into regional segments and some are under Chevron, but Shell took Texaco in my area.
Shell had rights to the Texaco ‘downstream marketing’ operations for a few years (~01-05) after its merger with Chevron.
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