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Pissed off At Your Credit Card? Join the Club

September 21, 2009 · By Sandy Smith

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I’ve never weaseled out of a debt that I owe and in fact I think I’ve been pretty much tackling the debt head on. My debtors have, for te most part, been cooperative. No one has raised rates or demanded the balance in full within 30 days. That’s not the case for many of you. People have been seeing their rates spike to 30%. This happened to Ann Minch and she took to Youtube to air her grievances.

I watched this video about a week ago and had a good time watching her get pissed off and doing something about it. Take a peek. But to be honest, while the banks can and will hike your rate up, be prepared to do something about it if they do. That’s what your emergency fund is for. You might be tempted to say that a rate hike isn’t an emergency, but 30% interest is a serious emergency to me. Personally, I would have transfered the balance to another card or obtained a loan from Prosper or called the issuing bank and told them that I don’t agree to the rate hike so close my account. New rules that went into effect on August 20 require card companies who raise your interest rate or otherwise change the terms to tell you that you can cancel the card and pay off the balance at your old rate over five years. Your minimum payment may rise though.

I know you’re wondering if anything happened. After her video received over 200,000 views, she did get a call from Jeff Crawford who is the Senior Vice President of existing credit card accounts and they will reduce her rate back to 12.99%. Hey, bitching works…sometimes! You think it will work with Chase and my 8.99%?!

About the Author

Sandy Smith

I started this blog years ago as a way of keeping myself accountable to my own debt reduction plans. Now I'm using this site to help others get out of debt, and learn about personal finance so that they can live their best lives.

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