topic Re: APRs going up? in Credit Cards

APRs going up?

Boragard — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 06:59:33 GMT

Hello MyFicoers!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

I have a question regarding some APR increases...

Yesterday, I received some emails from MInt stating that some of the APRs on my credit cards were going up. The funny this is most of these accounts new statements are not available yet until next month, therefore, it is a possibility it could be true. I was wondering if there were any news out there in the media stating these cards APR will go up in 2016? Is Mint scaring or preparing me for the future? Any details would be great.

According to the emails from Mint it says these cards APRs are going up:

US Bank Cash Plus: 21:99-->22.24%

Chase Freedom: 22.99-->23.24%

Chase Sapphire Preferred: 15.99-->16.24%

Re: APRs going up?

takeshi74 — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 07:07:05 GMT

@Boragard wrote:
I was wondering if there were any news out there in the media

Read the terms for your cards about how the APR's are set. You'll probably see something like this on some of them:

These APRs will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.

Re: APRs going up?

lg8302ch — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 07:04:59 GMT

Yup... I only checked my highest - Chase Freedom and on the account it is visible with 23,24% ... a new "penalty" APR

Re: APRs going up?

UncleB — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 07:09:59 GMT

@Boragard wrote:
Hello MyFicoers!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

I have a question regarding some APR increases...

Yesterday, I received some emails from MInt stating that some of the APRs on my credit cards were going up. The funny this is most of these accounts new statements are not available yet until next month, therefore, it is a possibility it could be true. I was wondering if there were any news out there in the media stating these cards APR will go up in 2016? Is Mint scaring or preparing me for the future? Any details would be great.

According to the emails from Mint it says these cards APRs are going up:

US Bank Cash Plus: 21:99-->22.24%
Chase Freedom: 22.99-->23.24%
Chase Sapphire Preferred: 15.99-->16.24%

Yep, unfortunately (or for savers, fortunately) there was a 0.25% rate increase at the FED a couple of weeks ago, so those of us with variable rate APRs are seeing adjustments.

There are a few threads running right now that have more details:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Citi-increased-APR/td-p/4384635

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Chase-really-doesn-t-waste-any-time/m-p/4381670#M1256031

Re: APRs going up?

Imperfectfuture — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 07:11:37 GMT

@lg8302ch wrote:
Yup... I only checked my highest - Chase Freedom and on the account it is visible with 23,24% ... a new "penalty" APR

LOL, it's not a penalty, you just do not wish to close, and re apply in a few months. I bet there will be options to lower Apr coming, just as I was auto upgraded to signature when card only 8 months old. That was new, and happened to a lot of folks. Or, the old fashioned way, close and re app.

Re: APRs going up?

Boragard — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 07:12:41 GMT

@lg8302ch wrote:
Yup... I only checked my highest - Chase Freedom and on the account it is visible with 23,24% ... a new "penalty" APR

wow, I just logged into Chase and saw this. I guess its true. Mint is preparing me I see. Funny thing is when people apply it still shows the old lower APRs.

Re: APRs going up?

Boragard — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 07:14:05 GMT

@takeshi74 wrote:
@Boragard wrote:
I was wondering if there were any news out there in the media
Yup. See also:
https://www.google.com/search?q=fed+rate&oq=fed+rate&aqs=chrome..69i57.2407j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8#tbm=nws&q=fed+rate+increase

Read the terms for your cards about how the APR's are set. You'll probably see something like this on some of them:
These APRs will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.

Yikes, I had no idea!

Re: APRs going up?

lg8302ch — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 07:20:19 GMT

@Imperfectfuture wrote:
@lg8302ch wrote:
Yup... I only checked my highest - Chase Freedom and on the account it is visible with 23,24% ... a new "penalty" APR
LOL, it's not a penalty, you just do not wish to close, and re apply in a few months. I bet there will be options to lower Apr coming, just as I was auto upgraded to signature when card only 8 months old. That was new, and happened to a lot of folks. Or, the old fashioned way, close and re app.

sorry...should have mentioned "my penalty APR" ...it is me that calls Chase Freedom with penalty APR ..it is the regular in the highest tier.. No problem as Chase will not see a dime in interest from me as long as they keep the account on this level. Interesting though is that Chase is giving me 1% BT offers on that same account and this does not make much sense to me but hey I will take it . First I thought of closing and to reapply but that is too much of a hassle so I keep it the way it is and simply PIF so I could care less about the APR... just find it interesting with the BT offers on that account.

Re: APRs going up?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 17:20:36 GMT

@Boragard wrote:
@lg8302ch wrote:
Yup... I only checked my highest - Chase Freedom and on the account it is visible with 23,24% ... a new "penalty" APR
wow, I just logged into Chase and saw this. I guess its true. Mint is preparing me I see. Funny thing is when people apply it still shows the old lower APRs.

Interesting. Chase Freedom says

Prime Rate: Variable APRs are based on the 3.25% Prime Rate as of 9/18/2014.

which explains why the old rates like 13.99 show.

Citi has:

Prime Rate: Variable APRs are based on the 3.5% Prime Rate as of 12/26/2015.

So I guess for Chase updating the rates on the application pages isn't a priority, as it looks good when people compare them to other issuers

Re: APRs going up?

taxi818 — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 17:43:55 GMT

@lg8302ch wrote:
Yup... I only checked my highest - Chase Freedom and on the account it is visible with 23,24% ... a new "penalty" APR

This made me check both of my chase cards. I just got statement from the Marriott and appears that is still the same. 15.99%

The statement on the freedom is 22.99% im guessing i can expect it to go to 23.24% but i still have promo Apr on freedom until August 2016, Time to pay that puppy off now i guess.

Re: APRs going up?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 19:48:20 GMT

PIF and never worry about the rate!

Re: APRs going up?

Man-Of-Steel — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 20:24:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
PIF and never worry about the rate!

I agree with this, although from what I've read, a lot of people are bothered by the high APRs psychologically.

Re: APRs going up?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 21:13:32 GMT

@Man-Of-Steel wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
PIF and never worry about the rate!
I agree with this, although from what I've read, a lot of people are bothered by the high APRs psychologically.

Interesting. I wouldn't even have any idea what my APRs are, because I wouldn't dream of carrying a blaance.

However, someone said something about savings interest rates going up: that would be great. I've been stuck at 1% for a while, so every bit helps as I'm doing a lot of short term saving.

Re: APRs going up?

Man-Of-Steel — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 21:29:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Man-Of-Steel wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
PIF and never worry about the rate!
I agree with this, although from what I've read, a lot of people are bothered by the high APRs psychologically.
Interesting. I wouldn't even have any idea what my APRs are, because I wouldn't dream of carrying a blaance.

However, someone said something about savings interest rates going up: that would be great. I've been stuck at 1% for a while, so every bit helps as I'm doing a lot of short term saving.

I agree with this as well. I'm hoping that happens eventually. I just checked my Barclays savings account and the APY is still at 1%.

Re: APRs going up?

Imperfectfuture — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 03:21:02 GMT

@taxi818 wrote:
@lg8302ch wrote:
Yup... I only checked my highest - Chase Freedom and on the account it is visible with 23,24% ... a new "penalty" APR
This made me check both of my chase cards. I just got statement from the Marriott and appears that is still the same. 15.99%
The statement on the freedom is 22.99% im guessing i can expect it to go to 23.24% but i still have promo Apr on freedom until August 2016, Time to pay that puppy off now i guess.

Barclays still has the lower apr's, so hum.

Re: APRs going up?

j615 — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 17:25:06 GMT

Just called Chase and AmEx. Both have increased by .25%.

Re: APRs going up?

UncleB — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 23:04:05 GMT

By now this is 'old news' but for the sake of being thorough I can also confirm that my Capital One cards are now reflecting the increase. I haven't had a statement drop with the new rates yet, but if I go to the screen where you transfer a balance, it has my QS Visa rate as 18.24% (previously 17.99%) and my QS1 MasterCard rate as 15.24% (previously 14.99%).

Oddly enough, when I went to the pre-qual page just today, the rate I was offered was the usual 17.99% for both Venture and QS. I guess the prequal rates haven't been updated yet, since I can't imagine them not adjusting the rate on a brand new account to reflect the current prime rate (especially since it's in their favor).

Like other's have mentioned, it doesn't matter as long as you PIF each month, so I'm not too concerned. I'll also note that without digging around for the terms, my rates with both NFCU and USAA haven't changed; either they haven't updated, or the rates aren't variable (I'm not concerned enough to bother looking it up... LOL)

Re: APRs going up?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 14:21:18 GMT

The search tool is your friend. This has been covered several times since the Fed increased interest rates. It's like every day is a new day in here.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Chase-really-doesn-t-waste-any-time/m-p/4381670/highlight/true#M1256031

Re: APRs going up?

taxi818 — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 14:20:56 GMT

Take it Ez sc32valve. Lots of new people join everyday. So they just ask questions. But I know what you mean. Hehehe

Re: APRs going up?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 14:22:55 GMT

@taxi818 wrote:
Take it Ez sc32valve. Lots of new people join everyday. So they just ask questions. But I know what you mean. Hehehe

He/she has been a member since 10/2013