APR increase

[Anonymous]

So when I got my Discover January statement I noticed they increased my purchase APR by 0.25%. The same thing happened later with my Freedom. I was wondering if there was something in my file that triggered that, but I just noticed that the same thing happened with my friend's Discover card. It doesn't really make a difference, since we always pay our cards within the grace period and never accrue interest, but an APR increase always sucks. Anybody else noticed that in their accounts?

[Anonymous]

You and everyone one else in America...its due to the feds raising the interest rate from 0% to 0.25%.

[Kevin86475391]

It's because the Federal Reserve raised the Prime Rate. Your cards have a variable APR rate, for example you may have seen 15%(v) on your statement (or whatever your number was). The V means variable. When the Prime Rate rises so does your APR.

[Anonymous]

Exactly what the other two members said. 

On a side note, I was able to lower three or four of my cards' APRs significantly after this increase. If you have the time, call in, and explain your current situaiton. For me it was along the lines of " I have been asking for a APR decrease, have been a valued member, ran this much money, paid on time etc.". They looked at my account and isntead of a 0.25% I have gotten anywhere from 2-5% APR decrease. 

Good luck!

[Chris679]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Exactly what the other two members said. 

On a side note, I was able to lower three or four of my cards' APRs significantly after this increase. If you have the time, call in, and explain your current situaiton. For me it was along the lines of " I have been asking for a APR decrease, have been a valued member, ran this much money, paid on time etc.". They looked at my account and isntead of a 0.25% I have gotten anywhere from 2-5% APR decrease. 

Good luck!

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This has been my experience as well.  Was able to lower Sallie Mae to 10.24, Amex BCE to 10.49 and a couple others to around 12.  It makes sense that with more interest income coming in that they would be willing to go lower for customers that PIF. 

[Anonymous]

I thought it could be because of a prime rate increase, but then again I was thinking I would have read about something like that somewhere or the cc issuers would have let me know, neither of which happened. Anyway, as I said the rate doesn't make a difference to me, as I don't carry balances.

[Gollum]

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@Kevin86475391 wrote:

It's because the Federal Reserve raised the Prime Rate. Your cards have a variable APR rate, for example you may have seen 15%(v) on your statement (or whatever your number was). The V means variable. When the Prime Rate rises so does your APR.

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Minor quibble: The Federal Reserve does not set the prime rate.  The Fed recently (December 2015) raised the target range for the federal funds rate (to the range of 0.25% - 0.5%; the federal funds target range had been 0% - 0.25% since December 2008).  The prime rate is set by banks; it is based on the federal funds target range.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/credit_12846.htm

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I thought it could be because of a prime rate increase, but then again I was thinking I would have read about something like that somewhere or the cc issuers would have let me know, neither of which happened. Anyway, as I said the rate doesn't make a difference to me, as I don't carry balances.

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When it happened a few weeks back it was mentioned at nauseum all over the news, some vendors jumped on the change quicker than others but trust me it didn't

'slip' in many times we just forget 'oh crap' that's gonna affect 'us' too

When I saw the news I knew it was coming...very few cards offer fixed rates vs prime +

you can get alerts from like bankrate or something but it's always widely spoken of in the modern world we have today....no way for the info the NOT get out to 'us' the dumb public, too many outlets...

And as far vas the vendors specificly notifying you each time the prime rate changes...yeah good luck with that....they'll say it's in the contract etc, etc.

Plus it's PUBLIC kowledge yada yada and for once being it isn't the 1950's or even the 1980's they'd have a point....

We all agreed that when this happens...that kicks in so what ELSE do we NEED to say about it and all we can say is 'yeah, you're right...have a nice day