Obama Takes Aim at Credit Card Companies

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I had a Direct Merchants Credit card through HSBC. I have had this card for over 10 years with a high credit limit. The card was paid off over a year ago and has not been used since. The interest rate started off at nearly 7 percent due to the fall of the economy they decide to raise the rate to 27 percent ( wonder why I have not used the card. Any way they decided to close my account on me due to INACTIVITY. When I questioned them there response to me was that they needed people to use there cards in todays economy. There not making money with me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It is not worth paying your cards off in full. Let them wait. They destroy your credit anyway. I have contacted the BBB. I will not stop at this one. Everyone needs to stand together on this. DJ

DJ of NY 12:00PM July 27, 2009

I had a Chase Visa very near my limit of $7500. I managed to pay the card down to $1000 a few months ago. I noticed this month that Chase lowered my limit to $1800 and raised my interest rate. Of course, I called Chase to inquire as to why they would do this. The (outsourced) operator informed me that Chase reserves the right to make changes to anyone's limit or interest rate purely at their own discretion. After hearing this, I informed the operator that I would cancel the card if they failed to either raise my limit back to $7500 or decrease my interest rate. He stated that he would be happy to close my account.
I then, out of anger, asked him if he was aware of how much of the 25 billion given to Chase would be put toward consumer loans. He replied that he didn't know. Of course, being foreign country, I didn't expect him to know, so I told him. Zero. That's right all $25,000,000,000 of our tax payer dollars is going toward Chase's acquisition of other banks, because Chase feels "it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling."
That's right. Chase is taking it upon itself to use our money to expand its financial empire. To hell with making sound loans for responsible homebuyers! Let's buy some bad banks while we have all this free money!!!
I'm disgusted by Chase's business practices and will NEVER AGAIN allow their filthy hands in my wallet.

Tony of IN 10:04PM July 16, 2009

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Xqjsgtjp of FL 6:37AM July 14, 2009

I have 2 credit cards with B of A. One has a substantial balance on it, but not maxed out. The other has no balance on it. The visa card had a credit limit over $20,000. I don't use that card much as it has a higher interest rate, but I liked having a high credit limit in case of emergencies, since my husband and I are both disabled. B of A decided to lower my credit limit since I didn't use the card much, so they took $11,000 off my limit. When I called to complain, they took another $10,000 off it leaving me with a limit of only $1000. There reasoning was that I only made a monthly payment of a little more than the minimum payment due on my other B of A credit card. That is by choice since I have other things I'm trying to do with my money right now, not because I can't afford it. They felt that if there was an emergency I wouldn't be able to pay for it. So now I'm sure that they will screw with the other account as well. So be prepared to be screwed by B of A if you do business with them. I hope President Obama will do something about this unfair practice.

C.M. of CA 5:54PM May 20, 2009

HEY DENNIS, I was in the exact same position you're in right now. I never used my credit cards to go out to eat, spend on furniture, or anything else. I then got hit with a turn for the worse and had to use the cards to get by. After years of struggling to keep up on my payments I finally missed one payment with one card and they all came after me like jackals. I called them and tried to negotiate and they wouldn't help out a bit. Finally, I went to a great debt settlement company and spoke w/ a guy who was professional, up front, and had a plan to get me out of debt (Thanks Rob! 858-483-9600 x104) From start to finish I'll be out of debt in 2 years, will have paid 50% of the principle and NONE of the interest rate they jacked on me for past purchases. When all is said and done this is a better route for everyone involved compared to bankruptcy.

S.H of CA 5:16PM May 04, 2009

Your politicians get huge campaign contributions from your credit card companies. In turn, the politicians make sure that credit card companies can do just about anything to consumers. Then the credit card companies raise interest rates and fees (often without cause) which then allows them to make even more money. So, they can make more contributions to the politicians. If there is anyone out there who doesn't know this is what is going on, they need to do a little more reading on the sites that who is giving what to the politicians.

Maria of TN 10:12AM May 04, 2009

I recently canceled my Citicards Mastercard after receivig notice of a $35.00 late payment fine, plus interest on the previous months statement and the folowing months statement I always pay the full amount and never leave a balance. I had not realised the statement had arrived late by several days leaving only a few days before the due date. My payment was sent as soon as I discovered it was due, but it arrived and the check cleared electronically, oe day late. I first thought it was a U.S. Mail problem, but after several friends said they had the same experience the same month, I realised Citicards was exacting it's own bailout plan.

Sam Rowland of MO 3:17PM April 30, 2009

who do suppose regulated credit card disclosure (fine print) in the first place? the same folks that now are shouting mad, by the very definition of the word credit why would anyone think of credit cards as income and that lenders have no right to call all and any shots they want, most credit card agreements (again fine print) have a common element, they state the lender can do what it wants when it wants, if you don't like the terms don't activate the card, this really isn't rocket science

jeffrey john of OK 7:40PM April 27, 2009

Even tho I have always paid on time, and more than the minimum, I had B of A raise my rate from 12.99% to 25.49% and was told this was due to a bulk increase for 7 million customers. What kind of answer is this for a good customer who has over a 700 FICA score. I realize this is not an excellent score, but my history is good and I don't understand their rational for treating their customers this way. I think they are trying to do this before the new rules go into effect next year so that they can rip us off, and have a basis for keeping them high in 2010.

Wilburn Brock of FL 5:53PM April 27, 2009

keep after the credit card companies. We ran into a major problem yers ago, and had to use credit cards to survive. at the interest rate it was fair then, over 15 years ago. today i have paid off the charges but the interest is what is still being paid on, forever due to the credit card companies locking up the credit cards and sayin g because we do not use the cards, we cann ot reverse or lower any interest fees. this is nothing short of robbing americans. why do the banks treat people this way. do not let these issues go away, keep after the credit card companies for their bad business practices.

Dennis DeMolet of OH 10:23PM April 26, 2009