Citi APR increase from Prime plus 1.99% to Prime plus 7.99%

[lukepwnsall]

All right so it finally happened. My last really low APR card was increased.

Now I know most of you are thinking, well yes, but credit card rates are variable based on prime (or another rate) and prime has increased. But here that is not the only case. Citi increased my APR from Prime plus 1.99% to Prime plus 7.99%!

(screenshot showing may 2022 bill with Prime plus 1.99%)

Bummer for sure. Now I will mention I do not carry balances, but I viewed this card as my cheap emergency card. The card still has a really good rate compared to most cards, but no longer my emergency card go to.

Back a long time I used to post alot and go on the ficoforums (2015ish) and I found that Citi would just lower your APR if you asked. So I would call and ask on my two cards at the time, a Hilton Card and a AA Card (now converted to a Citi custom cash). After multiple requests Citi would lower my rate (not a promo offer) on my two cards. I was able to get as low as Prime plus 1.74% on the Hilton Card and Prime plus 1.99 on this card (or somewhere around there).

It just looks like as rates have increased, the banks have upped looking at their profitability on their cards and probably reviewed the account and realized it was way to low! The Hilton Card transferred to Amex back during the Hilton transition and maintianed the low rate at amex for a short period. Eventually Amex increased that cards APR in Feb 2022. The most frustrating part on both cards part is they just put the APR increase in the statement with no other notice. Since I get electronic statements, I usually dont look at them. It would be nice if I got a seperate email notice to let me know theres changes to my CA. This is what Amex said back in my Feb 2022 Bill:

Now my Fico at the time was 742, which is a little low for me but hey I think it was still good! Truthfully the main reason was the APRs were just way too low. The low APR train for me has ended! I just thought my Citi card was safe because it had been like this for like 5 years. Citi's language was similar - although my credit score was 806 (out of 900 - EQ):


Just thought I'd throw the datapoint out there and post on the forums again! Maybe I just need to call and ask them to lower it again?

[Curious_George2]

Thanks for posting. We don't hear a lot about AA like this. You motivated me to check my Custom Cash. So far, they've left me alone. Still Prime + 5.99% like it's been for more than a decade. I guess it makes sense that your super low rate would get their attention more than my kinda low rate. 

In a recent post, I called Citi's APR policy wackadoodle. I stand by that. 

[Anonymous]

I guess honesty is a little too much to expect from the issuer!  Simply "We are raising the margin because your rate is too low in the current market conditions" or something.   By bringing your score into it, are they going to lower the margin again when your score increases?  Um, no, but that's different!

[hdporter]

I think this reflects the fact that card issuers are no longer competing on rate.  I had a Citi that also saw a similar increase.

My "go to" card for cash liquidity is one issued by a CU which still offers a fixed 8.9% APR.  (It has no cash advance fee also).  Very nice when I want to bridge cash outflows for a week, rather than shuffle funds.