Heres the reply
"Thank you for your email. I will be happy to assist you with your inquiry. Pursuant to the Federal Credit Card Act of 2009, signed into law by President Obama, Federally Regulated institutions are prohibited from changing the Terms and Conditions of a credit card agreement. Thus, the reason why were are unable to change your interest rate on your credit card.
Although, we were not able to decrease your interest rate, I would extend you the opportunity to speak with our Financial Improvement Team (FIT). This team concentrates on providing you assistance in debt management, budgeting and building/maintain credit. Please feel free to contact them at -210-531-8722,Monday to Friday: 7:30 a.m. 8 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m. 4 p.m. All U.S. time zones (except Alaska and Hawaii). Time zone is determined by your phone's area code. Alaska and Hawaii codes use PST.
Thank you,
USAA"
Is this BS or not?
Looked around for a while, looks likes im not the only one: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Asking-your-Bank-for-an-Interest-Rate-reduction/td-p/23...
Starting Score: 575 (As Of Early 2011)
@Juan123 wrote:Heres the reply
"Thank you for your email. I will be happy to assist you with your inquiry. Pursuant to the Federal Credit Card Act of 2009, signed into law by President Obama, Federally Regulated institutions are prohibited from changing the Terms and Conditions of a credit card agreement. Thus, the reason why were are unable to change your interest rate on your credit card.
Although, we were not able to decrease your interest rate, I would extend you the opportunity to speak with our Financial Improvement Team (FIT). This team concentrates on providing you assistance in debt management, budgeting and building/maintain credit. Please feel free to contact them at -210-531-8722,Monday to Friday: 7:30 a.m. 8 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m. 4 p.m. All U.S. time zones (except Alaska and Hawaii). Time zone is determined by your phone's area code. Alaska and Hawaii codes use PST.
Thank you,
USAA"
Is this BS or not?
Looked around for a while, looks likes im not the only one: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Asking-your-Bank-for-an-Interest-Rate-reduction/td-p/23...
Malarkey! Just wow that they would send another response, so patently lacking in merit 
Obviously the spirit of a law intended to aid consumers from abuse in lending, doesn't bar lender review for more favorable terms, but rather usurious increases. What a crock.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Juan123 wrote:Heres the reply
"Thank you for your email. I will be happy to assist you with your inquiry. Pursuant to the Federal Credit Card Act of 2009, signed into law by President Obama, Federally Regulated institutions are prohibited from changing the Terms and Conditions of a credit card agreement. Thus, the reason why were are unable to change your interest rate on your credit card.
Although, we were not able to decrease your interest rate, I would extend you the opportunity to speak with our Financial Improvement Team (FIT). This team concentrates on providing you assistance in debt management, budgeting and building/maintain credit. Please feel free to contact them at -210-531-8722,Monday to Friday: 7:30 a.m. 8 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m. 4 p.m. All U.S. time zones (except Alaska and Hawaii). Time zone is determined by your phone's area code. Alaska and Hawaii codes use PST.
Thank you,
USAA"
Is this BS or not?
Looked around for a while, looks likes im not the only one: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Asking-your-Bank-for-an-Interest-Rate-reduction/td-p/2367223
They're completely wrong. There's nothing in the 2009 act that prohibits them from lowering it.
I would probably be snarky and write back something like:
" If you don't want to lower my APR just say so instead of making up an excuse. Most major banks and other credit unions are routinely lowering APRs on request up to the current date. Either everyone else is violating the law or you are reading it wrong. I suggest you have your attorneys review it again or seek competent outside legal assistance. Even a cursory review would show that terms may be changed, they merely require more notice and there are some restrictions on applying the changes to existing balances. As a matter of fact there is a provision in the law that mandates that after a default APR is imposed the lender is required to review the account every six months and reduce the APR if there are no other problems. Obviously this would be impossible if your interpretation of a total prohibition were correct."
thanks for that, i'm not sure if i'm ready to be snarky yet lol. I'll definitely use that if it gets to that point though.
If they are indeed breaking the law, where or who would i report them to?
@Anonymous wrote:
@Juan123 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Juan123 wrote:Heres the reply
"Thank you for your email. I will be happy to assist you with your inquiry. Pursuant to the Federal Credit Card Act of 2009, signed into law by President Obama, Federally Regulated institutions are prohibited from changing the Terms and Conditions of a credit card agreement. Thus, the reason why were are unable to change your interest rate on your credit card.
Although, we were not able to decrease your interest rate, I would extend you the opportunity to speak with our Financial Improvement Team (FIT). This team concentrates on providing you assistance in debt management, budgeting and building/maintain credit. Please feel free to contact them at -210-531-8722,Monday to Friday: 7:30 a.m. 8 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m. 4 p.m. All U.S. time zones (except Alaska and Hawaii). Time zone is determined by your phone's area code. Alaska and Hawaii codes use PST.
Thank you,
USAA"
Is this BS or not?
Looked around for a while, looks likes im not the only one: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Asking-your-Bank-for-an-Interest-Rate-reduction/td-p/2367223
They're completely wrong. There's nothing in the 2009 act that prohibits them from lowering it.
I would probably be snarky and write back something like:
" If you don't want to lower my APR just say so instead of making up an excuse. Most major banks and other credit unions are routinely lowering APRs on request up to the current date. Either everyone else is violating the law or you are reading it wrong. I suggest you have your attorneys review it again or seek competent outside legal assistance. Even a cursory review would show that terms may be changed, they merely require more notice and there are some restrictions on applying the changes to existing balances. As a matter of fact there is a provision in the law that mandates that after a default APR is imposed the lender is required to review the account every six months and reduce the APR if there are no other problems. Obviously this would be impossible if your interpretation of a total prohibition were correct."
thanks for that, i'm not sure if i'm ready to be snarky yet lol. I'll definitely use that if it gets to that point though.
If they are indeed breaking the law, where or who would i report them to?They aren't breaking the law. There is no legal requirement that they lower your APR. They are exhibiting poor customer service by citing the Card act erroneously as justification for not lowering the APR. Your options are either stick with card as is or once your balances are at 0, to take your credit card business elsewhere. USAA is great for insurance products but they certainly arent at the top of the list for banking products.
I'm not saying there is a legal requirement for them to lower my APR but they're standing behind a law and citing the law incorrectly. Also like i've stated before i'm not the only one that's getting this from USAA, if they don't know the law correctly who knows how many people they could be affecting and since this is happening there has to be some sort of venue i can report them to.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Juan123 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Juan123 wrote:Heres the reply
"Thank you for your email. I will be happy to assist you with your inquiry. Pursuant to the Federal Credit Card Act of 2009, signed into law by President Obama, Federally Regulated institutions are prohibited from changing the Terms and Conditions of a credit card agreement. Thus, the reason why were are unable to change your interest rate on your credit card.
Although, we were not able to decrease your interest rate, I would extend you the opportunity to speak with our Financial Improvement Team (FIT). This team concentrates on providing you assistance in debt management, budgeting and building/maintain credit. Please feel free to contact them at -210-531-8722,Monday to Friday: 7:30 a.m. 8 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m. 4 p.m. All U.S. time zones (except Alaska and Hawaii). Time zone is determined by your phone's area code. Alaska and Hawaii codes use PST.
Thank you,
USAA"
Is this BS or not?
Looked around for a while, looks likes im not the only one: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Asking-your-Bank-for-an-Interest-Rate-reduction/td-p/2367223
They're completely wrong. There's nothing in the 2009 act that prohibits them from lowering it.
I would probably be snarky and write back something like:
" If you don't want to lower my APR just say so instead of making up an excuse. Most major banks and other credit unions are routinely lowering APRs on request up to the current date. Either everyone else is violating the law or you are reading it wrong. I suggest you have your attorneys review it again or seek competent outside legal assistance. Even a cursory review would show that terms may be changed, they merely require more notice and there are some restrictions on applying the changes to existing balances. As a matter of fact there is a provision in the law that mandates that after a default APR is imposed the lender is required to review the account every six months and reduce the APR if there are no other problems. Obviously this would be impossible if your interpretation of a total prohibition were correct."
thanks for that, i'm not sure if i'm ready to be snarky yet lol. I'll definitely use that if it gets to that point though.
If they are indeed breaking the law, where or who would i report them to?They aren't breaking the law. There is no legal requirement that they lower your APR. They are exhibiting poor customer service by citing the Card act erroneously as justification for not lowering the APR. Your options are either stick with card as is or once your balances are at 0, to take your credit card business elsewhere. USAA is great for insurance products but they certainly arent at the top of the list for banking products.
Though not a veteran (related, but estranged), I concur with this statement. Many reports of overly stringent, low sl's, this kinda stuff. My own credit union is kinda conservative, but they don't make up stories for not lowering apr, they just say no. 