Back
in May, Congress passed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, a
measure intended to put an end to certain oppressive credit card
policies. Among its provisions are controls on unexpected interest rate
hikes, "double-billing" methods of calculating finance charges, and
fees on previously paid balances.
With the law's initial
effective date, February 22, 2010, on the horizon, credit card
companies are hammering consumers with increased fees and interest
rates, according to new survey data from Credit.com which shows that 45 percent of
consumers experienced these negative changes to their credit card accounts:
Compiled
by GfK Custom Research and based on a random sampling of 1,000 adults,
the findings suggest that credit card companies have done little to
allay the types of consumer concerns that prompted legislative actions
earlier this year. The percentage of consumers experiencing recent
interest rate increases, for example, spiked to 27 percent (an 80 percent
increase from the 15 percent of consumers who reported such activity in a
similar survey conducted by Credit.com in February 2009).
Other survey highlights include:
- 36 percent increase in those experiencing recent fee hikes (from 14 percent in June survey to 19 percent in October)
- 113 percent jump in those facing lower credit limits (from 8 percent of consumers surveyed in February to 17 percent in October)
- 42 percent increase in those who’ve experienced a hike in minimum payment due (from 12 percent in June survey to 17 percent in October)
- 33 percent increase in those who had their rewards program reduced (from 9 percent in June survey to 12 percent in October)
It
may come as no surprise, then, that the majority of those surveyed
(56.5 percent) favor a Congressional proposal to expedite Credit Cardholders'
Bill of Rights enforcement. The plan suggested by House Financial
Services Committee Chair Barney Frank (D-Mass) and Joint Economic
Committee Chair Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) suggests the Bill of Rights
be made effective on December 1, 2009.
Speaking
at a hearing on credit card reform earlier this month, Frank suggested
financial companies have taken advantage of a delayed Credit
Cardholders' Bill of Rights implementation by raising customers' rates.
Banks, meanwhile, have argued that they need more time to comply
with the new law.
Credit.com offers straightforward tips and advice to help you make smarter financial decisions. Visit Credit.com to sign up for your FREE Credit Report Card and find out where you stand today!
{ 12 comments… add a comment }
Yes, and unfortunately, I’m the one that saw a change for the worst. I would always pay on time, knowing HOW to manage my money.
Now, I have an annual fee, as well as a lower reward tier. You have to love the government for holding the hands of those that don’t know how to manage their money =)
Yeah right blame the government!
The government only got involved because of the excessive abuses and greed of the credit card companies.
From excessive rates and fees to circumventing the new safeguards, they are incompetent, greedy people who not only needed the government to save them from their own evil ways but also weakened America’s economic status.
Yeah right blame the government!
The banking industry has proven what absoulute bloodsuckers they are by taking the time allotted to implement new regulations to completely financially rape their customers.
The corruption continues due to the reliance on credit scores for everything from mortgage rates to insurance rates and even getting a job.
Scenario: You are financially responsible use your Credit cards responsibly… pay on time … they force an annual fee on you because you don’t borrow enough money each year…. so you cancel your credit card account….
YOUR CREDIT SCORE DROPS…. adversly affecting your ability to get the best mortgage rates, the best insurance rates, etc.
I have a Citibank Card, Bank of America Card, and a Wells Fargo Card. All have zero balances and I rarely use them. I have not cancelled them b/c I’m trying to build my credit score and I want to refinance my house in a month or two. So if one of these VAMPIRES decide to screw me over with an annual fee… I’m going to be forced to damage my own credit score possibly resulting in a higher interest rate on a refinanced mortgage.
What a friggin’ crock of sh*t.
None of this will be forgotton. The banks have screwed so many people and it’s so widespread and well known that when they all get themselves in a crunch again.
No one will be there to bail their sorry as## out.
It’s coming, they are on borrowed time right now
Wow this is unreal we have all been sold out by our congress..Who ever heard of 29.95%. I am glad I had zero bal on my card..I called them told them to cancell it ..I told them they where like a Vaccum cleaner sucking everyone dry. I fell sorry for the people that got taken in under false terms. I don’t care what the agrement says it takes a lawyer to understand it and a microscope to see the print…People call your congrssman and say fix it or get another job in 2010. Vote all the bum out..Man they are really on the take from these banks..Our tax money to bail them out and this is what they are going to do with everyone that has a credit card.. I say SREW THEM ALL BEFORE THEY SCREW YOU….
I told the lady that I called regarding my interest rate change to find another job because CITI as a company MAKES POOR BUSINESS decisions and her future was poor. They do poor financially and they try and become healthy by extorting their business partners (CUSTOMERS).Try firing the FAT cats and developing a sustainable and fiscally responsible business model! Actually..try running a business with NO customers..F U …CITI…I can’t wait until I get this card paid off and you can shove this ass-hattery in the place where the sun does not shine. Goodbye to GREAT long term customers…HELLO …Bankrupcy…SOOO LONG…
Credit creation and expansion is only as good as the fool who extends it and the bigger fool (the “bigger fool therory”) of one who accepts it and the terms to pay their usurios interest rates and fees to have the luxury of spending MORE than you MAKE. The Founding Fathers warned many times of lax credit standards and the creation of credit monies by bank-sters. They feared the citizens of the then “united states of America” would go insolvent at some point and they were correct, it has come to pass. By the way; that is not a typing error, it was the “united states of America”. Lower case on the “united” and “states” for effect. Look it up on an old map in an old History book. That is if you still have one of those things we call books. Oh, the ignorant masses! “The borrower is slave to the lender”. Don’t worry citizens (serfs); the current administration is going to fix everything. LOL!
The Government wanted evryone possible to own their own home and pushed banks and Freddy MAC to respond. So what happened? They offered Adustible Rate Mortgages at teaser rates to qualify those that were marginal. They gave brokers the authority to write mortgages without having any interest in the outcome of those loans. Next thing you know, they raised the rates to levels that disrupted household budgets. Those that survived that, stopped buying other things and the economy collapsed.
People from all walks of life lost their jobs because the demand for goods and services evaporated people lost their jobs, their houses, their credit all because of the real estate market lunacy.
Now the banks are doing the same thing with credit card
rates. Just testing to see if the same thing will happen again. Maybe Congress and bankers should pass saliva tests!
The only way to begin balancing the field would be for those feeling taken advantage of to stop using cards. The CC runners had us when people started using credit to maintain lifestyles they really couldn’t afford otherwise- essentially making them sitting ducks. I’m not against using credit wisely, just against using it to underwrite an unsustainable lifestyle. Corporations inflated the American “dream” with their ‘must-have’ advertising and dumb-downed the masses enough so they believed they could have all of it without being able to REALLY afford it. Now some people feel trapped. But there are enough of us who could get by on cash for the length of time it would take to damage the CC companies and their investors into playing fair and behaving like responsible adults as opposed to the greedy, self-centered despots they’ve become- if only we’d grow up as consumers.
Up to this point, the credit card companies were mostly using these tactics on customers who had become risky investments through poor payment histories, bankruptcies, etc.. With the new laws, it is impossible for the banks to continue to treat customers as individuals, meaning that they have to spread their practices to customers who are not risks.
So yes, I DO blame the government. When they step in and try to balance out the playing field, the good people tend to get screwed.
I have a Citibank card and got nailed like many others. I have had this card for 18 years and have over 800 credit score. While they offered it I had their “Platnum Plus – Customer Apresiation Card”. Well about 8 years ago they upped my interest rate a from 14% to 16%. This year they upped it to 18%. They just sent me a letter saying the are upping it to 29%. Well I just got a new credit card through my bank for 0% for 6 months on my transfer and Prime +4% (not +26%). I guess they also add an annual fee of $30-90 if you charge less than $2400 a year. Not my new card. I went from really loving my Citicard to absolutely hating them and will NEVER use them again.
How pathetic the banking industry is. It is obvious to me that rather than bailing them out in the last year, congress should have let them fail (go bankrupt) and perhaps a lesson would have been learned. It was a greedy banking culture that has resulted in their industries enormous salaries and bonuses and was a major factor in the economic crisis. It is too bad that our system primarily rewards those who figure out how to manipulate within only legal limits rather than those who try to maintain some moral standard in addition.