Help! Amex is raising our rate.

[Anonymous]

What can I do, if anything, about this? Amex is raising our rate by 5% which means an extra $200 a month and we can barely feed our kids right now let alone pay more interest on our card. All our cards are maxed and we have nothing to work with. So far, we are just able to pay the minimums each month and barely squeak by.

Can anyone offer any help on who to call or how to deal with this? At this point, we're looking at not being able to pay our minimums each monthl My husband and I are both sick over this.

[redhed1026]

I would first try calling them and explaining the situation. Be honest with them about it. My guess is that they will be willing to work with you. However, they may balance chase you, lowering your limit each time you make a payment. Also, in exchange for lowering the interest rate or payment, they might decline additional spending on the card.

It's in their best interest to work with you, or they won't be getting paid, IMO.

I hope this helps. I'm not a frequent contributor, but this is the route I would take. 

[haulingthescoreup]

In the meantime, you're going to have to increase your family income, decrease your family expenses, or both. Very, very difficult in these times, I know.

You might want to start thinking about a DMP --debt management program. There are good ones out there, and there are awful ones. We've had several members (marty56, fishbjc, and demi, I think) who used them with great success. DMP's can negotiate lowered interest, etc. with your lenders. You do NOT want to get with a debt negotiation program, which will saddle you with months and month of lates, destroying your credit, in hopes of getting lenders to cut you a deal.

Click on the link in my siggy called FTC website: Knee Deep in Debt for a great overview of your options.

Welcome to the forums; sorry it's under such tough circumstances.

[GregB]

If Amex rate increase of 5% means that your monthly payment increases by $200, that means you owe Amex $48,000. Do you mean that the 5% increase means that your YEARLY payment is increased by $200. That would mean you owe Amex $4000.

5% per year equals 0.42% per month.