NEW CREDIT CARD RULES

Anonymous · ‎11-12-2009

Can banks still jack your rate up if you are not late with them with the new laws or can they just close it and you pay if off at the old rate

nathan · ‎11-12-2009

They will always find a way to get you. To be safe, avoid carrying balances you cant pay within a short time. Rate jacking is not breaking news any more; it seems to be the norm now.

Anonymous · ‎11-12-2009

even on a closed card my sister got a bt for 3.99 for 15mo with citi and her normal rate is 12.49 and she closed the card and opted out of the rate increase i said i would pay it for her but i cant afford to pay more than 350.00 and it will take 63 months to pay it off 15 months at 3.99 and the rest at 12.49 she closed all her credit cards has a mortgage so asuming she is never late on anything they can still jack it up? if the jack it up can she call and be like i dont have the money to pay this and my brother does and he cant afford more than 12.49 or its bankrupcy for me (AS IN BANKRUPCY FOR HER) her card is 4 years old and back then they stated that if they rais rates for any reason you can opt out and use the card till the exp date and then its closed and you pay off at your old rate. Should i be like a hawk and look for a rate jack letter all the time and tell her if she gets one opt out? and the terms were back then the only way then can default is for a late payment with them or a bad check and she just opt out of the recent change so i dont see how they can do it?

Message Edited by XQ28Libra on 11-12-2009 06:17 PM

Anonymous · ‎11-12-2009

Here's 1 provision of the bill that I found on Wikipedia-

"Prevents card companies from retroactively increasing interest rates on the existing balance of a cardholder in good standing for reasons unrelated to the cardholder's behavior with that card (the so-called "universal default" rate increase)".

They are however doing every little thing they can to jack rates up before the bill goes into effect this February. Cap1 sent me a notice back in May I believe that my rate was going up. I opted out of the interest rate change and they restricted my account. Good ole' Capital 1!

You can see all provisions on Wikipedia and you can also view the text of the bill. Look for "Credit CARD Act of 2009". I'm not adding a link due to SPAM

creditwherecreditisdue · ‎11-12-2009

Better to read "The Bill" than somebody's summary. The summaries are frequently wrong!

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-627

Anonymous · ‎11-13-2009

@Anonymous wrote:
Here's 1 provision of the bill that I found on Wikipedia-

"Prevents card companies from retroactively increasing interest rates on the existing balance of a cardholder in good standing for reasons unrelated to the cardholder's behavior with that card (the so-called "universal default" rate increase)".

They are however doing every little thing they can to jack rates up before the bill goes into effect this February. Cap1 sent me a notice back in May I believe that my rate was going up. I opted out of the interest rate change and they restricted my account. Good ole' Capital 1!

You can see all provisions on Wikipedia and you can also view the text of the bill. Look for "Credit CARD Act of 2009". I'm not adding a link due to SPAM

Yes, it is true that many, if not most, CCC's are adjusting their rates and terms in order to protect themselves from being locked into their current TOS and rates once the new regs kick in. That is one of the consequences of regs. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The new regs say "you can't adjust rates on existing balances unless there is a default and unless the terms are variable rate and a movement of the market prime.

Therefore, nearly all rates are adjusting to variable, and many are adjusting the rates up in order to avoid being locked into artificially low rates. Many financial experts predict that rates will have to go up due to inflation in the future.