I just got off the phone with a friend...She was having trouble making ends meet and has paid on her 1 CC (out of several) late 3 months in a row. Well, she just got her statement from one of the other cards and saw a sky high interest rate on what was her lowest interst rate card. I was surprised to hear she didn't know if you defualt on 1 card this gives any of your other CC companies the right to raise your APR (it is in the fine print...you MUST read it!).

I just thought it was a good reminder to all of us, to periodically check your interest rates for any changes (I do it monthly when a statement comes in, but hopefully in 20 months I won't have to worry b/c we won't have any CC debt (I'm optomistic about paying them off!) )

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Yes this is true!

Also I Cannot Believe what Hounds these Compaines Are Nowadays!
Things are sure Strict on the CC front.
Last Yr. I Forgot - Seriously Just Missed a Payment When I Remembered ( the payment was due the 31st and I remembered on the 3rd ) - Anyway I logged in and Saw I Was Charged a 30.00 Fee Obviously , I Couldn't Argue with that - It was my Dumb fault.
Anyway - I figured - oh , what is a Few more Days Going to Matter , Cause now My payment was 3 days Late - I was charged a fee, I thought, I will pay them Friday which would Then be 7 days Late.
ok , well at 5 days Late I get a Phone call from the company asking me to pay
Now this is Capitol one and I have a Good Rate with them and Have been a customer for yrs.
I said Ok - and Paid the guy over the Phone I know I was in the wrong - But Jeez - Yrs. ago when we actually had money probs the calls wouldn't Come till 30 days Late about the time they put it on your Credit report!
I can't Imagine now Being late on everything ! Does the Phone ever stop ringing??

I dont Deal with Late payments or Credit cards too Often , i was Just So surprised the guy called me 5 days late ?!

mention to your friend to call the credit card companies most are willing to work out a payment option in fear people will simply quit paying. my 2 largest balance cards had already lowered mine last year down in the 3 and 4% range i called back this month and both set me up on 0% until they are paid in full now i can be credit card debt free in 3 years if i only make the payments we agreed on...does not hurt to call i simply asked and they were more than willing to help me out and thanked me for calling before making a payment was an issue.. you might sugest she give them a call the worst they can say is no.

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If you don't mind my asking, are you still able to charge on those cards at 0% or was the credit limit reduced to 0? I ask b/c she was looking into consolidation ( I am not a fan of most companies for it) and with those your available credit is reduced to 0 (which for someone who has no impulse control over spending is a blessing!). Is it the same thing?

She is working at a very good job, but her Dh is not...so they were living off her check which wasn't enough b/c then they are resorting to the CC to be able to buy food. He just came into some money and they are trying to play catch up.

Taylyn~ about 6 months ago I wrote a payment deduction for a CC in my checkbook, but their site was down, so I didn't process the payment that day (it was about 2 weeks before it was due) . I forgot about it until I was looking for the payment posted on my account and realized OH NO...I never made it...I had to pay a 14.95 fee for same day processing! UGH.

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Again that has been my experience you call and Talk to a real person and in most cases they will work with you. I too had a card where I got the payment date wrong and was dinged with a late fee. Called and found out they would remove it no problem. Another issue where we had interest free period and they were charging interest a phone call fixed it. Still I like to make my payments early just to be on the safe side now.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006

Me too! I am being Really Careful this Yr.

I don't Like the Fees - obviously , But I was More Surprised How Fast they Call !

I Just Couldn't Believe it!

Do They still Have to wait till 30 Days Late to report you to the Credit Bureau?

I think they can report it at 15 days...but I could be wrong.


On a different note. A couple of years ago I called all our credit card companies to see if we could lower our interest (it was all sky high). Anyway, Two of them lowered it with much pleading on my part but our ATT Universal Card wouldn't budge. Which is odd b/c Citibank lowered it and they're the same company. Well, ATT finally asked if I just couldn't pay my bill...because if I couldn't pay my bill they would put me on a payment plan. I just didn't care anymore and said okay. They closed my account and set my interest rate at 0% for a year and lowered my payments. They told me that once the year was over my interest rate would probably be lowered b/c I'd been making payments for a year. Before the year was over I received a letter stating my interest had been lowered b/c of on time payments. When the year was over I started receiving statements with the new balance and the old 28% interest on it. When I called them they told me that the lowered interest rate was on new purchases not the old defaulted balance. When I asked if I could get the old balance interest lowered they told me they couldn't do that because the account was still closed. If I wanted I could apply for the card again and get it reopened. I didn't reopen the account and couldn't pay them off fast enough. Credit card companies are so sneaky.

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Jenny, wife to Brad, mommy to two crazy little kids with one on the way!