I need help/advice about credit card fees

[panader0]

I found out the other day that my Chase credit card is charging me 25.99% on purchases, not cash. This is a lot more than the rate they told me when I signed up a few years ago. Last spring, flush with a nice tax return, I went to the bank to pay my other Chase card down to zero. It was a relief to have one less bill. To my surprise, I noticed on-line about two months later that I had a service fee and late fee on that card. It seems that the teller had neglected to notice it when I paid it off. I was mad, but I paid it anyway. The next month was the same, and this time I was very mad and told the bank I wouldn't pay. Now, the percentage rate on my other card is 25.99%, I guess to punish me. What can I do?

[NMDemDist2]

1. close the account and pay it off

if you threaten to close the account they MIGHT offer to lower the APR

or not

but either way you win

[panader0]

2. I don't have the 3 grand and am out of work.

All I can do for now is pay the minimum.

[NMDemDist2]

4. that's OK, you can still close the account. That way they can't make any more "changes"

and you'll be locked into the current rate. They can go as high as 32% if they want to get nasty.

[Vincardog]

3. Call the card assurer. Have them reverse the charges and reinstate your interest rate or else

close the account and pay it off

[panader0]

6. How do I know who is the card assurer?

(Okay, I'm a bricklayer)

[NMDemDist2]

9. i think he meant issuer

call the number on the back of the card or the one on your statement

[Vincardog]

10. Call the phone number on the card ask for a supervisor sorry issuer

[question everything]

7. And ask to talk to a supervisor, if you cannot get any action from the agent (nt)

[HillbillyBob]

5. They are jacking EVERYONEs card rates up even if you

have good credit. Thanks to that bullshit bankruptcy law change several years ago that the rpigs pushed through that lets them jack up or close your account on a whim it was basically written by the credit card companies lobby whores. They raised our rate by several points and we had slow credit but have not been late on any payments, except for light bill 2x and it was 2 days late they can raise your rate if you are late on any bill at all.
My partner has 2 credit cards I carry none. We only use it for emergency like a car repair that cannot be put off.
Cut the card up anyway, tell them to freeze the account and you will pay it off as you can, do not go to one of those credit fixers unless you KNOW they are up and up, there are a lot of scammers that will leave you worse off. You may be able to go to your legal aid and get a little assistance to freeze the account.

[Cleita]

8. They can do anything they like. There is no regulation and 30% interest

is becoming the norm for credit card fees. Sometimes you can negotiate a lower rate if you threaten to pay off the balance in full if they don't.

[SOS]

11. Call them

At this moment banks are very worried about new credit card regulation after January 20th.
The NY Times had an article about this recently.
It's a good time to call and ask them to lower your rate.
If they are difficult, say you will tranfer the balance to another card or even say that if you don't get some relief you will have to declare bankruptcy.
The odds are good that they will lower it.
We did this with a card recently that had been jacked to 26% and after 10 minutes on the phone it was 6%!
Good luck.

[pinniped]

12. Fuck Chase. I would close the account.

In other news, I knew the 'letter' would be forthcoming.

You know the one, raising interest rates and changing terms. Since the orchestrated takeover of WAMU by the Chase assholes, it was only a question of when would it arrive. My new interest rate is now the prime rate + 11.99%, a whopping 15.24%. What's worse, if you previously had a low fixed APR, it no longer will be. Variable my ass.

Fuckers. I'm probably going to close my bank account at WAMU now, which I had for 10-years.

[Mike 03]

13. First off, I'm empathetic towards anyone who has been manipulated by a bank or credit card company,

so I'm sorry.

1. It's common for credit card companies to alter the terms of the agreement after sucking us in.

2. Personally, I have a Chase card and have had great luck with them. They call me whenever they suspect "suspicious" activity, they have given me a large limit, and have not revoked it (yet) in the face of the current crisis.

3. I'm not sure if this is the case with your account, but sometimes there is a lag time between the time a bill is sent to you and the time you pay it off, which means you do accrue interest during that period. That might be why you would have owed a service or late fee on the card. But I could be wrong as well, and perhaps you were taken advantage of.

Something similar happened to me. Usually I pay my cards off completely each month, but lately I have been letting them run a bit, and even if I pay a bill of entirely, I still have additional fees the following month because of the lag time between them sending me the bill and my payment.

Hope you can resolve this to your satisfaction. Good luck.