Well in this upsetting entry from GrannyDoc early last month, she (?) describes a letter from Citibank regarding how they a) lowered her credit limit, and b) raised her interest rate in spite of her zero balance and sterling payment record. I thought about it a lot when I got two of my own versionss of that letter, one for each of two credit cards.
(RickD got a similar letter and had a similar take on it.)
My credit isn't the best (medical stuff I didn't pay, dummy me) but my payment on these cards was perfect. Each letter was very similar to the one GrannyDoc got, with one major difference being they didn't change my limit.
I was going to send in my written responses declining the rate increase, but other issues got the better of me and I forgot. I have balances of 4K+ on one and 6K+ on the other. But today, while paying bills and being reminded of the changes that kicked in this month, I called the bank and had some pretty positive results that I will share below the fold.
I decided to treat each card separately. I logged on to the secured website, and called the specific phone number found under the "Contact Us" tab. Curiously, each card had a different phone number to call, but one of my cards is a standard card, and the other is a "Diamond" card (or some such thing. Please don't make me look.) You can also call the phone number on your bill.
My first call was for the Diamond card, and connected me with a woman who was, I believe, in India, Pakistan, or somewhere near that part of the world. She was very pleasant. I mentioned that I noticed my increased rate, and that it was "unacceptable." I wasn't at all mean to her, I was just very clear. In fact, I know the nicer you are on these calls, the better your luck will be.
Surprisingly, she immediately apologized, told me that she would immediately lower my rate to around 11% and change, that she would remove the entire (!) interest they charged me this month (I would gladly have settled for a reduction, but hey, I'll take it!), and she would then connect me with a customer service representative who would get me even closer to the rate I was at before! After being transferred, I spoke with a nice lady and was given a special rate of 5.99% for 9 months and a variable APR after that ends. (Which today would be somewhere between 8 and 9 points.) My prior rate, amazingly, was close to 10 points.
The second call didn't go as well, but was still very much worth it. I think the call landed somewhere here in the states, and I was told that, "Sorry," everybody got those letters, and you can decline the increase and the card and agreed upon rate will work until the card expires. Actually, that rate turned out to be a little better than what I had before, I ended up with 8+ points where I had been at almost 10 before, and the recent increase had taken me to 16 points.
I was fine with no longer using the card because I only used it card once to by some much needed house repairs pay off a certain bill, and I haven't use it otherwise. And, I ended up with a much lower interest rate, which on several thousand dollars will make quite a difference over time.
They didn't start out with that offer; I had to tell them of the better deal they gave me on my other card before they gave me the best deal they would on this card. I don't know why the difference between the two.
The point of all this has been written about in many diaries over time: Pick up the phone, call those credit card companies, and ask for a lower rate. I hope you have good luck with the effort.
And by the way, try this every 6 months, or so I hear. I'm heading to work (on a Sunday, ugh) and I will try to check this out a little later.