Credit Cards

[bubbleboy]

My BofA $5300 secured card went unsecured at the beginning of this year. They want to charge me a $29 fee. In addition to this I have $4500 or so in an account with them.

The interest I get from the savings account is a joke. 

I'm calling them and telling them they need to remove the $29/year fee. Just do it now or cancel the account. I'm not applying for anything, not wasting time. Do it or I walk.

In addition they need to do better for me on the $4500 in the checking account. Real interest or I walk. 

I'm the customer, if they don't like it they can shove off. With my deposit they can make up money (fractional reserve lending), something us proles go to jail for. Banks owe us, the customers!

[Ulan]

I agree with the fee, if you already have better alternatives.

But don't expect any big bank to pay you real money for $4500. That's peanuts for them. They usually start warming up around $25,000, but don't expect any real goodies below $100,000. With such low sums, try credit unions or smaller online banks.

[CanDoAttitude]

Hey bubbleboy,

You may not realize it but you're way ahead of the game.

You now have an unsecured credit card with BofA for

$5,300. Not only will this help your credit as you pay

on time each month, but every 6 months you can request

a credit limit increase. BofA has a history of being very

generous with CLI's, so don't be surprised if you end up

with a 5-figure card in the next 6-12 months...provided you

take care of the account. 

I wouldn't pull the trigger on demanding the $29 annual fee

being waived just yet. You've proven that you can handle a

secured card with BofA, but you've yet to prove that you

can handle unsecured credit with BofA. Once you've established

a track record of 12 months in unsecured status, then go after

the $29 annual fee being waived...but not before then. That would

be a big mistake right now.

BofA is not the enemy. Even though you put up the money for the

secured card, they took a chance on you by offering you a credit

card when most likely few others would. I wouldn't blow that relationship

just because you're upset over a measly $29.

And BofA has a wide variety of checking accounts that pay interest.

I'm sure they would be happy to talk to you about other options.

Just for the record: the savings account acting as collateral for your

secured card isn't designed to pay a high interest rate. It's to protect

the bank against you defaulting while using the secured card. Now that

the card has graduated to unsecured status, you should be able to

speak to BofA about a more suitable interest-bearing account.

Don't let your emotions get the best of you, bubbleboy. All of us are

upset over the bailout scenario with banks, but they don't owe you

anything. Anything you get, you earn...just like anybody else. Just

because banks are acting irrationally doesn't mean you have to follow

their lead. Just handle your business, take care of your new unsecured

card with BofA and look after your money. Everything else will fall into

place.

CanDo

"The right attitude is everything" 

[SanFranMatt]

Agreed with above.  $4500 in a checking account is not a recipe for high interest.

[Geordi]

---

bubbleboy wrote:

My BofA $5300 secured card went unsecured at the beginning of this year. They want to charge me a $29 fee. In addition to this I have $4500 or so in an account with them.

The interest I get from the savings account is a joke. 

---

Just call and convert your Platinum Plus Visa to a card that has no annual fee.  Simple enough

And as for the interest, either buy a CD or move your funds into a higher return investment.

Finally, and with all due respect, if you wish to give threats to a financial institution about withdrawing your funds and closing your accounts, you should have in the neighborhood of tens of millions of dollars deposited with that particular bank.  Otherwise you're just peanuts to them.

Good luck

[Creditaddict]

I agree, just call the back door number and ask for a product change.

as far as your $4500, If you want to earn 3 or 4% move it to something like Emigrant Direct, you are not going to get real paying interest out of a checking account and calling them won't do anything. 

[andytisk]

I do agree with you about the fee, however, "demanding" a higher rate with BofA for the savings account and waiving a balance of $4500 might not be the best idea, although that is a high amount of money to us, to a bank like BofA it is like a couple of cents for you. I am not trying to hate or flame or anything, just suggesting to maybe follow a different route of asking kindly and humbly. Below is just to show what banks currently have access to in terms of bailout money, and why $4500 is not a big deal for a bank such as BofA:

$350,000,000,000(amount allocated for use with bailout as of today) / $4500 (amount you have on deposit) =

77,777,777.79 (number of 4500 deposits that make up the funds available to them to cover bad debt and lending)

Also BofA current market value is rought 639billion, and with the new Merrill merger that is only to go up as Merrill tailoered to higher income clients.

Again this is just to show you that maybe asking super nicely might get you much farther in todays market than demanding

[score_building]

---

Geordi wrote:

Just call and convert your Platinum Plus Visa to a card that has no annual fee.  Simple enough

And as for the interest, either buy a CD or move your funds into a higher return investment.

Finally, and with all due respect, if you wish to give threats to a financial institution about withdrawing your funds and closing your accounts, you should have in the neighborhood of tens of millions of dollars deposited with that particular bank.  Otherwise you're just peanuts to them.

Good luck

---

my platinum plus has never had an annual fee.  i'd wait 6 to 12 months and then request removal of the AF on the card you now hold unless you prefer a product change.

yeah, i'm afraid previous posts are spot on, it simply won't pay to get puffed up about a few thousand dollars in a boa bank acct.  at least not under the idea that this major bank will fight for your business because of it.  at the point there is millions of dollars in business at stake a top bank would be more likely to vie for your accounts at your prompting.  otherwise, i wouldn't bother trying to get their attention with threats of closure, etc.

[andytisk]

In fact, with the credit market where its at today, they would be more than happy to close a credit card rather than keep it open. If you search the posts on here, people with good credit histories and much higher scores have received Credit Line Decreases and some even suffered closure of accounts due to the credit crisis and the minimising of outstanding liabilities for banks (giving credit). Right now is the time to be very humple and thankful for any credit that you have kept, and especially that you might have recently acquired, in today's market a 5000CL is actually very good, seeing how amex is cutting 10k and 15k CLs down to 5 if not worse.

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, bubbleboy, in case you haven't seen it, I just wanted to let you know about another member's formerly secured card that just had its CL jumped to $7100. It only unsecured this past September:

BOA CLI

I promise you, no one is forcing you to learn how to work the scoring formula to your advantage, or to learn how CC's can be a productive part of your personal finances. It's completely up to you whether you want to work the system, or to simply walk away. But if you're not going to jump in to the game and play, it's sort of silly to sit in the bleachers and carp.


edit to remove the acres of underlined blue text. This is why I preview my posts 99.9% of the time! Sorry this one slipped through.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 01-09-2009 04:12 PM