So Bank of america is raising my APR.

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?
My credit card companies can increase my APR to 1000+% for all I care. I still wouldn't care and would continue using my cards as usual.

The uproar on interest rates is ridiculous.
It's pretty simple...Don't spend money you don't have.

While I agree with part of your argument, I disagree that credit card companies should be allowed to increase the APR to 1000%. Let me be the first one to say that I have 6 credit cards and I have a 0 balance on each one of them. I paid off my auto loan a few weeks back and I have no debt except what I owe to the government in my taxes.
People should definitely practice paying off what they owe in full. But unfortunately that is just not possible. So you and I are privileged since we can afford to pay off our loans but thats not to say about a significant number of people here in our country as those are the people the CC companies prey upon. They rely on those people to not be able to pay off their loan so that they can tack them with extreme rates.
As for why someone would charge money on a card? Well, not every one buys unnecessary stuff on their cards. I bet a lot of people resorted to pay their bills with a credit card. Or even rent for that matter as I've known people to do that. They just don't have any money. I know a lot of students who charge their tuition and books on their cards due to lack of money. I can't blame or judge them since what else will they do?

So maybe you wouldn't care if you were charged a 1000% interest. But other people would and so would I since I wouldn't want to give that kind of power to the CC companies who are there just to wolf you down, chew you up, spit you out and then suck on your bones afterwards.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?

Some people tend to purchase out of budget, and take a very long time to pay it off. So they're outside their grace period. A few percentage points makes a big difference in how interest compounds on itself over time.

 

[ja1484]

lol @ people who carry balances on their credit cards.

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?
My credit card companies can increase my APR to 1000+% for all I care. I still wouldn't care and would continue using my cards as usual.

The uproar on interest rates is ridiculous.
It's pretty simple...Don't spend money you don't have.

This. Any CC problems, pay off the balance in its entirety. You should never have more on credit than you have immediately available in liquid cash.

WTF is wrong with people these days? No wonder this country's economically fucked.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?
My credit card companies can increase my APR to 1000+% for all I care. I still wouldn't care and would continue using my cards as usual.

The uproar on interest rates is ridiculous.
It's pretty simple...Don't spend money you don't have.

Bingo. I wouldn't care at all if my CC went into millions of percentages since I have never and will never pay a penny in interest.

Use credit cards for what they are: convenient, safe, and federally protected means to make a purchase. As a plus, you can get rewards or a short term interest free loan (until the bill comes). But don't abuse that last part. Don't use a CC as a loan. Get a loan if you need money. You are right, it is pretty simple. But so few people understand that you get a loan if you need a loan. Instead, they whip out a card and ignore the consequences.

They have a plan for the "pay in full guys". It's called zero grace period and annual fees.

 

[ja1484]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?
My credit card companies can increase my APR to 1000+% for all I care. I still wouldn't care and would continue using my cards as usual.

The uproar on interest rates is ridiculous.
It's pretty simple...Don't spend money you don't have.

Bingo. I wouldn't care at all if my CC went into millions of percentages since I have never and will never pay a penny in interest.

Use credit cards for what they are: convenient, safe, and federally protected means to make a purchase. As a plus, you can get rewards or a short term interest free loan (until the bill comes). But don't abuse that last part. Don't use a CC as a loan. Get a loan if you need money. You are right, it is pretty simple. But so few people understand that you get a loan if you need a loan. Instead, they whip out a card and ignore the consequences.

They have a plan for the "pay in full guys". It's called zero grace period and annual fees.

So what? Don't get any cards with annual fees (who the fuck would anyway?) and pay off your balance before the date flips. Problem solved.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Did you recently purchase from Wal-Mart?

I think that's only for American Express, not other credit card companies.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: ja1484

So what? Don't get any cards with annual fees (who the fuck would anyway?) and pay off your balance before the date flips. Problem solved.

They all will do it and no grace period simply means the interest clock starts ticking once the transaction is authorized.

They'll raise merchant fees until businesses stop taking credit cards - already this is happening with AMEX rip off fees. More people resort to cash/checks/debit etc.

Money sucks. People should raise goats and barter them.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?

Some people tend to purchase out of budget, and take a very long time to pay it off. So they're outside their grace period. A few percentage points makes a big difference in how interest compounds on itself over time.

Right, but Lothar's point was that people should not spend beyond their means to begin with.

 

[ja1484]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: ja1484

So what? Don't get any cards with annual fees (who the fuck would anyway?) and pay off your balance before the date flips. Problem solved.

They all will do it and no grace period simply means the interest clock starts ticking once the transaction is authorized.

They'll raise merchant fees until businesses stop taking credit cards - already this is happening with AMEX rip off fees. More people resort to cash/checks/debit etc.

Money sucks. People should raise goats and barter them.

But but but...that would fuck up the economy!

The economy that's FAKE ANYWAY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! /Bill Hicks

I doubt the situation you describe above would ever happen. It's one thing to have our current system where you make a lot of money off stupid people. It's a whole different think to run a scam out in the open where any moron can tell it's a bad idea. They'd put themselves out of business.

 

[Rubycon]

It would make absolutely no difference to the majority of consumers with thousands of dollars of debt though.

Want to screw up the economy good? Change mortgage deductions and go after HELOC abuse. Interest paid on mortgages is no longer tax deductible!

At the very least make people with HELOC's provide proof of what they are spending that money on is for their house. No more using it for cars, vacations, etc. and getting the tax credit.

Yeah that would do it.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: ja1484

So what? Don't get any cards with annual fees (who the fuck would anyway?) and pay off your balance before the date flips. Problem solved.

They all will do it and no grace period simply means the interest clock starts ticking once the transaction is authorized.

They'll raise merchant fees until businesses stop taking credit cards - already this is happening with AMEX rip off fees. More people resort to cash/checks/debit etc.

Money sucks. People should raise goats and barter them.

Paging DrPizza... you are now a bazillionaire! :laugh:

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Paging DrPizza... you are now a bazillionaire! :laugh:

That's nice. I'll donate ALL of it to AT so maybe we can get on track for V-bulletin. :laugh:

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
They have a plan for the "pay in full guys". It's called zero grace period and annual fees.

Could you elaborate? If I fill in the blanks, you are assuming (1) that CC companies make much money from the interest portion of the business and (2) that if they lose the interest portion of the business that they'd make drastic changes. Neither assumption is true in the long run.

CC companies just about break even on the interest side of their business. Sure, some years when the economy is great, they rake in interest profit. But then in years when the economy is bad, the interest doesn't even come close to covering the people who default. On average, they break even on the interest. Thus, on average, the bulk of their profits is the money they charge businesses for their service. My choice to pay interest or not has no bearing on their profit (same goes if everyone changed the way they used credit cards).

I think you need to read income statements from CC companies going back a couple of decades before posting again on the subject.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?

Some people tend to purchase out of budget, and take a very long time to pay it off. So they're outside their grace period. A few percentage points makes a big difference in how interest compounds on itself over time.

Right, but Lothar's point was that people should not spend beyond their means to begin with.

I agree with that statement, except that it ignores the obvious reality of how people actually handle money.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Paging DrPizza... you are now a bazillionaire! :laugh:

That's nice. I'll donate ALL of it to AT so maybe we can get on track for V-bulletin. :laugh:

I'm not sure vBulletin runs on goats...

 

[Rubycon]

nevermind - I am an idiot!

 

[Lepard]

Originally posted by: manlymatt83
from 8.99% to 25%! For no reason whatsoever.

I have a small balance on the card that I should be able to pay off within a few months. They say I can either close the account now, or just opt-out and keep the account open but not use it. I'm almost afraid though that if I keep the account open, an auto-charge might hit and I might get screwed....

So here's the two options I forsee:

- Close the account so I can keep the old rate.
- Keep the account open, but mark the card as "lost" so they send me a new card with a new number, and immediately sock draw that card so it isn't accidentally used.

Thoughts?

Remove the auto-charges

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?
My credit card companies can increase my APR to 1000+% for all I care. I still wouldn't care and would continue using my cards as usual.

The uproar on interest rates is ridiculous.
It's pretty simple...Don't spend money you don't have.

Damn. Never thought about it like that.

I've pretty much explained why I have this balance in other threads.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
You can dispute any rise in your interest rate in writing. Do it soon, they only give people a 2-3 week window to decline a change in interest rates.

You still get to keep your card, keep your current APR, etc.

Bullshit.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
nevermind - I am an idiot!

no you aren't.

 

[Aimster]

I dont even know what my APR is. Its throwing money away by not paying the full payment each month

 

[manlymatt83]

Called - they said the only reason is because of the economy, and that they were unable to maintain a card at 8.99%. He actually said my scores were good, everything is good, and there were no other reasons other than "economic conditions".

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: zoiks

Originally posted by: Lothar
Why would anyone care about what the interest rate on a credit card is?
My credit card companies can increase my APR to 1000+% for all I care. I still wouldn't care and would continue using my cards as usual.

The uproar on interest rates is ridiculous.
It's pretty simple...Don't spend money you don't have.

While I agree with part of your argument, I disagree that credit card companies should be allowed to increase the APR to 1000%. Let me be the first one to say that I have 6 credit cards and I have a 0 balance on each one of them. I paid off my auto loan a few weeks back and I have no debt except what I owe to the government in my taxes.
People should definitely practice paying off what they owe in full. But unfortunately that is just not possible. So you and I are privileged since we can afford to pay off our loans but thats not to say about a significant number of people here in our country as those are the people the CC companies prey upon. They rely on those people to not be able to pay off their loan so that they can tack them with extreme rates.
As for why someone would charge money on a card? Well, not every one buys unnecessary stuff on their cards. I bet a lot of people resorted to pay their bills with a credit card. Or even rent for that matter as I've known people to do that. They just don't have any money. I know a lot of students who charge their tuition and books on their cards due to lack of money. I can't blame or judge them since what else will they do?

So maybe you wouldn't care if you were charged a 1000% interest. But other people would and so would I since I wouldn't want to give that kind of power to the CC companies who are there just to wolf you down, chew you up, spit you out and then suck on your bones afterwards.

yea basically its legal loan sharking

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: manlymatt83
from 8.99% to 25%! For no reason whatsoever.

I have a small balance on the card that I should be able to pay off within a few months. They say I can either close the account now, or just opt-out and keep the account open but not use it. I'm almost afraid though that if I keep the account open, an auto-charge might hit and I might get screwed....

So here's the two options I forsee:

- Close the account so I can keep the old rate.
- Keep the account open, but mark the card as "lost" so they send me a new card with a new number, and immediately sock draw that card so it isn't accidentally used.

Thoughts?

The bolded tactic won't work. If you have automatic charges, they will simply go on the new card. A replacement card is not the same as a completely separate account, even if the number changes.

And it's drawer goddamnit. Did everyone suddleny move to Massachusetts?

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: Hacp

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
Your welcome. As an American citizen I have a significant ownership stake in BoA through the government.

Actually, you don't have any stake at all. You are, however, a creditor to BoFA.

And someone who does not know proper grammar.