They can always give you a new promotional rate 
.
I guess their idea is that your current default rate will be your new "normal" rate. Your current normal rate will be your new "promotional" rate. They just renamed rates in order to circumvent the new law.
Could, but I don't intend to carry a balance again any time soon.
@Anonymous wrote:
They can always give you a new promotional rate
@Anonymous wrote:They can always give you a new promotional rate
I guess their idea is that your current default rate will be your new "normal" rate. Your current normal rate will be your new "promotional" rate. They just renamed rates in order to circumvent the new law.
Under the new law, if you get a rate hike for any reason after 6 months if the situation that caused the rate jack no longer exists, they have to lower your APR back to the original rate.
By declaring the current rate as promotional, they are saying that your current rate is temporary and your actual APR in regards to the new law is the higher rate they are sending in these rate hike letters. Because you did not opt out of this change you accepted the rate, and now when they hike the rate up in 2011 it falls under the exception to the 6 month APR rule I stated above.
They just used the new law to their advantage.
@wmarat wrote:http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=162569
Congrats, that is how it should be.
Someone argued in another thread, not all can PIF their monthly bill. I say, everybody can PIF his credit card bill in full.The point is, ppl want everything on the spot and are not willing to wait some month to save the money.That is what cause trouble.
Basically I agree with your statement. Furthermore when reading the other thread and additional posts about rate jacking, one theme seems to be constant. The rate increases are exorbitant and for "no reason". I have been warning everybody in my past posts about the exorbitant rate increases and credit limit decreases coming as a result of the July 2010 deadline for the Fed mandated "REFORMS". Now that Obama and the other politicians decided to pass some additional "feel good" laws the chickens are coming home to roost much sooner.
Yes people should be upset with the actions of credit card issuers like Cap 1 and others. The rate hikes are in excess of what would have been warranted with the "old system" of risk based pricing which was adjusted as a person's credit worthiness changed. The only reason that the banks can now raise the rates so high even for people who show no change in their repayment habits, is that Obama and the other politicians have now passed a law to assure the banks that the consumer cannot go elsewhere to obtain substantially lower rates. All of the competition in the former free marketplace, can no longer offer reasonable rates since there will soon be no longer an ability adjust the rates upward for people who suddenly demonstrate risky behavior.
We can of course blame the credit card issuers. The credit card issuers could not have taken the rate jacking measures if the partners in crime at the Fed, in the White House, and in Congress did not enact the anti free market place rules and laws.
So when we complain about rate jacks and all the other fees and that are still to come, lets not forget the real culprits in the matter. The bankers' buddies who run the Federal Reserve, and the politicians who the banks get elected are the real enablers of the pro bank anti consumer tsunami that will be taking place.
Read the many posts about the subject over the past year. All the cheerleaders for the new "reforms" are also to blame because it was the "popular" support for the so called reforms that got the consumer into the current mess.
Wamarat,
I agree with you that PIF is the way to go. Generally it was people who owed substantial credit card debt who thought that they would save a bunch of money if only new "protections" were enacted for the consumer. Now people who don't pay in full will be paying a lot more for their existing debt.
The sad fact remains that even if the consumers were to demand that Obama and Congress were to repeal the ill conceived law, the big banks will still make sure that the law stays in force. It will enable them to make more and more profits as time goes by. The smaller banks will not be able to compete by offering lower rates and eventually get gobbled up by the big banks.
The borrower is slave to the lender. After the government steps in to help, the slaves are worse off than ever. In the meantime the big banks will continue to finance election campaigns so that Presidents and Congress will continue to mandate reforms that only favor the banks at the expense of the taxpayer.
There is no way to stop the partnership between banks and politicians. The only self defense possible is to strive to PIF all credit cards whenever humanly possible, and to pay off any outstanding debt as fast as possible. We cannot lower the cost of credit by voting for politicians who need the banks more than the taxpayer in order to get elected.