Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Nevermind. Capital One isn't nice at all!
I had recently praised Capital One in their willingness to refinance my line of credit a few months ago. But everything nice I said about them is now null and void.
As I arrive home last night and sort through my mail, I notice I have received a nice little pamphlet from Capital One. As I pull it out of the envelope I see on the front: "important notice of a change in terms". No biggy. I've received plenty of mail from them letting me know that late payment fees and over-the-limit fees would be rising. Never bothered me because I've never been late or over my limit with them.
So I open it up and find out that they're jacking my interest rate up. Well more than jacking it up, they're more than doubling it. I currently have a 9.9% interest rate. When these changes go into effect after September 16, my rate will go to the Prime rate plus 11.65% which is currently equal to 19.9%!!!
I know they have the "right" to do this. But geez. I have never been late or over-the-limit with them. But that means they aren't making any money off of me.
Guess they took a gander at my credit report and probably saw some collections on there that haven't cleared yet or that my credit utilization was very, very high.
I have the option to decline these changes, but in doing so it will close my account. I really don't want to close my account because it will hurt my credit history. I've had a CapOne card for over 6 years now. The only older card I have, I got about 6 months before this one.
Luckily, my balance on this card is just over $900. I'm only accumulating about $9 in interest per month on this account.
Here's my plan:
- Pay down as much as possible as quickly as possible
- Consider a balance transfer after the interest rate goes up.
- Write a letter to the address in the pamphlet to find out why my rates are going up
- Write a nasty letter to someone in an exec position to let them know how ass-backwards they are with helping me on a personal loan and then raising my interest rates somewhere else.
My friend had a 7.9 rate with a credit card company. It has tripled since then to 21.9. No apparent reason.
Credit cards companies are making money from all customers, slow pay, no pay and current customers.
No laws against it. Close your acct. and move on.
Of course, you'll never be able to USE that card again or else they'll say you accept the change in terms, and you can't cancel either, or miss a payment... but you're past using this card anyway, right?
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