If you have Department Store Credit Cards, or any Credit Cards...

Yeah,

I just got screwed over by Chase.  Did have a credit card with WAMU, but they sold some accounts or got bought out by Chase.

Did have 13.99% APR, when Chase took over they jacked it up to 23.99%!!!!

I got a coupe of notices from Chase telling me they were taking over the Wamu accounts, but not to worry, nothing would change with my account, could still use the same login to access my acount online, etc ... the agreement said that if I wanted to cancel or close the account to call them, if I wanted to keep it do nothing, and that if I incurred any new charges it was like saying I accept the new agreement and terms.

Well, I paid for my Augusta Ironman 70.3 registration with this card.  Then a month later I get a letter from them telling they made a mistake in the first letter they sent me, that really my APR was going to be 23.99% and not 13.99% like before.

What!!!  I was hot.  I called and bitched and complained, they said they would submit my account for an APR review ... I told them I was going to file a complaint with the FTC ... they told me to hold on and they would get a Supervisor ... I waited and then they told me they were not in yet ... and I could call back later to talk to one.

I've not been able to reach one since ... and my next statement just came in and still at 23.99%

I'm giving them one more call tomorrow and then going to file the FTC complaint plus call the Attorney General.

These bastards and while and cry and get all this bailout money, which comes from my taxes, and they turn around and jack up the rates for no reason ... just to get more money ... they are double-dipping.

BTW, I've had the accoutn for about 3-4 years now never been late, always paid more than the minimum balance... and have never been late on any other credit account that I have since I've had this card.

So what gives???

I can't just close the account, cause I'll still owe the money plus closing the account with it's history and reducing my available line of credit will cause my FICO score to take a big hit.

And if I tell Chase to close the account or that I refuse their new APR, they could very easily tell me fine and that they now want the full account balance paid in full.  It's about $4800 and I don't have that right now.

At 23.99%, my interest each month now is only about $10 less than my minimum payment ... so for example if I paid my minimum due of $115 last month .... I was also charged $101 in interest ... so only $14 went to paying down my balance!!!!

So I made a $150 payment ... this month's interest was %98 ... so my balance only went down $52 ... that's Bullsh!t !!!!! ....

I'm so pizzed at what they did that I've been seriously considering selling off enough of one of my IRA's to pay it off and just never use the card again.

But, with the economy I'm getting slammed from every direction ... to sell off some my my funds now would be the worst time to do so .... cause the market is way down and I'd get the least from my sale order ... but at this rate, even if I keep paying 150% of my minimum balance it will still take about 10-12 years to pay this damn thing off!!!!

CC companies are completely within thier rights to chardge pretty much whatever interest rates they want (as long as they don't fall into the nebulous predatory lending category). They're supposed to send you a notice of the new rate.

Your options: take it or cancel your account. If enough people cancel, the banks may ge tthe message that hiking rates on good customers might not be such a good idea.

Interesting.  All of my CC's are attached to the LIBOR and have been going down.  Granted, I carry a very small balance on one card (brother loan...don't ask) but always look at my statements before I pay them off.

The LIBOR has been going down so I don't see why people's APR should be going up.  And your credit score is not going to take that big of a hit if you cancel a card.  It will take a small hit, but it comes right back.  Unless you plan on buying a house or a car tomorrow, don't let that phase you.  I cancelled 5 cards at my request a couple of years ago and took a 30 pt hit on my FICO score.  It was higher a couple of months later.

Wait, did I miss something? Did someone mention the idea that maybe paying off your credit cards every month might be a better plan? I understand student loans, medical bills, or something like that, but otherwise....where's the problem if you are responsible? Esp. with a store card - if it's not a card you can use at another store (ie, not a store-issued Visa or Mastercard), then you are only using it for stuff you don't really need (like my Banana Card - I don't NEED to shop at Banana, but I do because I like it, and I like all the coupons and special discounts I get because of the card) and therefore you really shouldn't be carrying a balance on it. I pay off my bill every month so rising APR doesn't affect me.

And I will say that I've had a Bank of America Visa for several years and have always had excellent customer service when I've had a problem (like when my cc number was stolen). My APR is still pretty low, too.

We got a notice from BoA yesterday telling us we got "approved" for a 7.9% rate for all travel purchases (airfare, cruises, hotels etc...).

Then at the very bottom in VERY small print they tell us our regular APR is going up to 29.4%.

We've had this card for 12 years.  Our rate started at 10.5% 12 years ago.  Our credit score is in the 800s.  Have NEVER carried a balance (I think I was late on one payment one time in 12 years) so they have not made a penny off of us. 

And this is a cash back card so over the years they have probably LOST $10k+ to us (we put EVERYTHING on the card including $5000 down payments on cars)

I can't blame them for trying to make money but those rates are getting ridiculous.  God forbid I accidentally miss a payment.

Oh and they time frame from when I get my bill to when it is due has been getting smaller and smaller over the years (it's down to about 11 days now).  I called to complain and they told me "if you carry a balance we can give you more time but since you do not we cannot change it".  Wow...

I read the OP and I'm wondering what is the basis for your complaint? You have zero balances, what do you care if they increase the rates? I haven't used a dpartment store card in 30 years, and would have plenty of options to use before I would think of using one now. As far as I can tell, credit card companies are still competing for business, if you don't like the rates or service provided by one company, shop around and move on to the next.

Am tired of hearing how everyone is a victim.

For years and years, I paid off my balance every carry month.  Paying more than I can really afford in alimony and child support in the past year, has caused me to carry a balance.  And the rate got jacked up.  And I'm getting myself into a bit of a hole... one that I will be out of in about 5 years' time, but a hole nonetheless.

To consider myself a "victim" would be stupid.  I knew what I was getting myself into when I started carrying a balance.  People need to take responsibility for the messes they get themselves into.  Folks can write all the national petitions they want, but I won't be signing one.

Are you sure you read everything? I have a WaMu card too. I got it with a promotion rate of 0% on purcahses for 18 months or so. I got massive amounts of info from Chase and read (almost) every bit of it because I wanted to make sure my 0% wasn't going to skyrocket. I did see in that info where some rates were changing so maybe you missed that. Luckily my promotional rate did not and I will have the balance paid off before then end of the promotional period.

To the OP, I hear you about reading all your statements even if you have zero balance, and the sneaky way the companies increase rates,  but why carry so many cards with zero balance? You obviously don't use them and having that many credit cards with so much available credit is not doing your credit score any good. Even if it's a good score now, it could be even better without  all those open but unused accounts.