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For those of us out there who still have work and a regular paycheck, and who managed to put some store-bought presents under the tree on Christmas, some shock and awe may be hitting home right about now when the credit card bills are received. Seems the credit card companies have exercised the clauses in the light gray 6pt type nobody ever reads to raise their interest rates and fees through the roof and cutting off available credit altogether no matter how good your credit score may be or how promptly you pay your bill. Some card companies have been creative about shuffling due dates at will, confusing customers and hamstringing small business, and some are refusing to even try to explain to customers what’s going on or what their options may be.
As Kathleen Ryan O’Connor explained in a recent CNN article, Credit cards gone wild: Shocking rate hikes, “Faced with the same economic pressures as other companies affected by the ongoing recession and credit crunch, credit card companies are racing to protect themselves from the costs of more defaults by hiking interest rates and slashing credit limits, even for cardholders with excellent credit histories.” Banking analyst Meredith Whitney predicts that $2 trillion in credit lines will be wiped out over the next year and a half.
As if to add a note of irony to the pain and suffering of consumers and businesses being screwed by their credit card companies, those new card offers are still coming in at the undiminished rate of one a day. One wonders if the marketing department ever even communicates with the front office!
There are ways to cancel your cards and pay out the principle at the old interest rate, but the companies are loathe to actually inform cardholders about this or answer pointed questions. Congress is expected to rein in this current ridiculous situation with emergency legislation early in the ’09 session, and may even re-implace usury laws stricken years ago so that interest rates could rise as high as loan sharks disguised as credit card companies wished. Similar legislation was passed by the House in 2008, but failed to make it through the Senate, so the Fed, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration imposed some new rules in December that companies are scrambling to get around by the current shenanigans.
Bill Shrink offers an overview of the 8 new rules, as well as Credit Card Bill of Rights: Which cards are complying? – a list of which card companies are obeying the new rules. If you’re disgusted with your company for pulling a fast one, Credit Card Guide has templates and instructions for exactly how to cancel your card in a way the company can’t simply ignore (as they too often do).
Once you’ve got your balance frozen at the lower rate and are paying it down, you may want to consider a new card or two that will allow you the convenience without making you feel as if you owed gambling debts to Mafioso thugs in Vegas. Go ahead and check for compliance on the BillShrink site linked above, then go on over to Credit Card Matcher to check out the Cash Rewards Credit Cards offers. Matcher also lists Gas Rewards Credit Cards offers, a good idea for both commuters and any small business that relies upon deliveries as part of its services. Don’t forget to balance the slightly higher initial rates with zero annual fees, thus making your overall expense quite reasonable. Then the rewards can be factored against that cost, and you the consumer can come out way ahead.
Finally, no matter whose cards you hold, open and read those incoming letters even if they look a lot like junk mail. Companies are using these to inform customers of sudden rate hikes, increased fees and limit freezes, and way too many customers are missing that notification. We can all hope the 111th Congress will step up to the plate and put a real lid on this outrageous usury, but none of us should be holding our breath. The recession (or, depression for many of us) is projected to last through 2011 at least, and some estimates don’t see the economy pulling out until 2017. We’ve got to control our spending habits, manage our indebtedness, and work especially hard to keep our small businesses going in a slow situation.
Happy New Year to all, and here’s hoping that 2009 will bring some relief from the ongoing mass looting of the nation’s wealth by the greedy and inept.
Links:
Credit cards gone wild: Shocking rate hikes
Cash Rewards Credit Cards
Gas Rewards Credit Cards
Bill Shrink: 8 New Rules
Credit Card Bill of Rights: Which cards are complying?