Credit card rates - what in the fuck?

L

loop

Veteran XX
SO...
I have a card I never really use (Chase bank), with a fairly high limit. I accidentally made a payment late about a year ago (by a couple of days), and my rate went from under 10% to 29.99 - and hasn't dropped since. I'm not carrying any balance, so it's not a huge deal other than the ego hit.

SO
I called them up this morning to ask when my rate drops and to get it checked over, and the rep on the phone tells me "sir, we aren't allowed to change any rates anymore. The government won't let us. New regulations have frozen everything. Period."

I mean, I have a killer credit rating - so there should be no obstacle on that end, and I've paid the card off every month since then (because fuck that rate). I have great rates on all of my other credit lines, and I carry very little debt (well, outside of a mortgage that is :)).

So what the fuck, tw? Were they lying to me about regulations? Is there anything I can do here?
 
How is that i'm 22 and you're a guy who is married with a kid and gets the shit kicked out of him by women and my rates on my credit cards are lower than yours.
 
I never heard of that. I'd call them back, ask again politely and if they refuse then cancel the card on the spot. Find a new card with a better intro rate and move on. No sense wasting more time on it.
 
dionysus said:
How is that i'm 22 and you're a guy who is married with a kid and gets the shit kicked out of him by women and my rates on my credit cards are lower than yours.
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Wow, SO edgy. It's okay though - my other cards are all under 10%, my mortgage is under 5, and my car loan is a 0% loan... so yeah.... you're awesome.

DocHolliday said:
I never heard of that. I'd call them back, ask again politely and if they refuse then cancel the card on the spot. Find a new card with a better intro rate and move on. No sense wasting more time on it.
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I don't know if I want to cancel it though - I mean, I hold a zero balance on it 99% of the time (and the rest of the time I pay it off immediately), and I've heard that the more available credit you have the better it is on your record.

Though yeah I might just cancel it.
 
Don't cancel it if you have any credit history on it. It will lower your FICO score. Just never use it and tell them to fuck off.
 
Chase is shifty.

If they're lying on this, that's an immediate red flag for you to cancel the card.
 
For the last 6 years I've just been going from one 0% offer for a year then transferring over to another 0%... although now that the credit crunch is going on I'm not getting those offers.. (even though my credit is golden).. guess I'll have to pay it off.
 
Icey said:
Don't cancel it if you have any credit history on it. It will lower your FICO score. Just never use it and tell them to fuck off.
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Call Them, Explain the bullshit excuse your heard the 1st time. Explain you have < 10% on other cards and will not be using yours until the fix the rate.

If they refuse, Just use the card rarely, always pay it off immediately, and keep it for the credit boost.

Get a New Card if you NEED the credit.
 
There's was a video posted a couple days ago with a fed up chick who wants everyone to say screw the CC companies and not pay their bill any more. She was pissed.
 
Mindflayr said:
Call Them, Explain the bullshit excuse your heard the 1st time. Explain you have < 10% on other cards and will not be using yours until the fix the rate.

If they refuse, Just use the card rarely, always pay it off immediately, and keep it for the credit boost.

Get a New Card if you NEED the credit.
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Good call.

But seriously don't cancel it. It will basically result in all the goodwill you built up by paying off that card on time over the years to immediately vanish. Yeah it sucks because all the bad stuff stays there for years and the good stuff has to be active to show up, but that's how it works.

If they don't fix the credit line, just slice up the card or put it away somewhere safe and never use it. But don't tell Chase about it.
 
Just called them again.
Lady says to me "At this time we're revising our policies on rate reductions. The only changes we're making are to revise upwards on defaults."

She suggested I check back in 3-6 months.
Yeah, card's getting thrown in a drawer and left unused.
Way to go, Chase bank!!
 
Credit card companies don't like people like you, especially if you've only carried a balance once. They probably don't see a point in lowering your rate since you never give them any money, they want to make sure when you forget to pay the balance on time again you'll be hit with the highest interest possible.
 
JustinCase said:
Credit card companies don't like people like you, especially if you've only carried a balance once. They probably don't see a point in lowering your rate since you never give them any money, they want to make sure when you forget to pay the balance on time again you'll be hit with the highest interest possible.
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I used to carry a balance on the card - used it for business travel all the time, so thousands went through it regularly. Then I fucked up a monthly payment (forgot to hit submit on a screen at my credit union's interface, totally my fault) and kablam.
 
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