I admit, I'm often too busy to closely monitor my incoming bills. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice...well, you know the rest (President Bush didn't) I looked at my Mileage Plus Visa bill closely a month ago and wondered why in the world was the interest charged on the balance so high? Then I examined the bill closer and discovered (after much searching) and much to my dismay, that the interest rate on the card had jumped to 26.99%. That's absurd! I looked back through my 2005 bills and in December of 2004 it was 10.85% and then somewhere in February it jumped to my new outlandish rate. What was the catalyst? I have no idea.
I know that credit card companies nowadays will raise interest rates if you're late on a payment, (even by a day), if some sort of promotional period has expired or if you go over your limit. None of these had happened to me, however, I did see that First USA Visa had merged with Chase Visa (the new owner of my Mileage Plus account). That is when the rate went up. Credit card companies don't want you to call or look at your bills. We owe it to ourselves to constantly monitor our credit card bills.
I called each of my credit cards, B of A, Chase and my Mileage Plus Visa. Each of them lowered my rate, one all the way down to 8% EXCEPT Mileage plus Visa, they kept the high rate. Needless to say I will not be using that card and will probably cancel it. They said to call back in 2 weeks. Yeah right. Take control of your finances, remain viligant!
2 comments:
Dawn, I am enjoying your blog. As you may know, Bush and Congress passed a law earlier this year making bankruptcy much more onerous for debtors and more profitable for banks and credit card companies. Wonderful! Meanwhile, this is off topic, but may I suggest a website to you and your readers. I live in Washington, D.C., and I have never been to California. Your blog has been very interesting. There is another website that may interest you: "Walking In LA", which is at http://walkinginla.com The author works for a studio, and he often walks, or rides the bus, or subway in the Los Angeles area on many weekends. He takes photos and posts them as you have been doing. I do not expect to visit California any time soon, but your website is interesting. Thanks! Bill
Oops! The correct website is http://www.walkinginla.com
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