Yikes, I missed a credit card payment and my APR jumped from 0% to 27.9%. I had the money, I just spaced it. I've missed credit card payments before and I think the APR only jumped to somewhere less than 20%. AND this time they lowered my credit limit to basically the amount owed - all without notifying me.

Imagine losing your job and missing a payment, now you have to pay the credit card companies almost 1/3 the amount owed every year AND you have no room on your credit limit to live on until you get your next job.

I think I'm going keep a credit card with a permanent relatively low interest rate (rather than a good intro offer and a sharp increase after a year) that I never use, just for something like this.

The credit card companies are being so charitable during this recession, aren't they!

Time to get a new card, the intro offer was going to run out in June anyway.

Ooops sorry, this rant probably falls into the banned economic catagory.

lol i doubt it you are just expressing a personal beef

honestly i did away with my credit cards a few years ago and just have a mastercard that i can load prepaid when i need or want to order something online. getting out of the credit stranglehold was the best thing i ever did .. you are seriously better off sticking your moneyin a high interest savings account and have that as your *credit* than getting sucked into the lousy plastic financial sink

saying that you have no room on your limit to live on should be a warning sign to you .. credit is not to live on, and thats what drags you down in the end, you are just throwing money away that you could be better spent in your pocket. stop using the cards, pay off the ones you have and do without whatever it is you are using credit for for 3 months and put that money into a savings account you will be far better ahead of the game and alot smarter (and richer !)

sorry not meaning to nag just my opinion

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I have one credit card with a very low spending limit. I think I may have mentioned this on another thread a long time ago, but when I was 19, my mom got me a little book on a whim at Hallmark. It was something about a father's advice to his son, or something. Although I was a girl child, she thought the advice pertinent, regardless. I still have the book somewhere, but the one adage I recall with stark clarity was, "Remember: a credit card is for convenience, never for credit." I got my first credit card that year, and was always mortally terrified of screwing up with my payments, which kept me in line. One piece of info about this: my card is issued through my credit union. There are no better, fairer terms to be had than through a community credit union, so if you are a member of one, tropical, look into it. Totally the best decision I made getting a card through them.

if you have a saving account that you keep at a certain balance you can think of it as your credit card .. adn you should be just as mortally feared about putting that money back in like a credit card payment .. be your own credit card F*CK VISA, F*CK mastercard they are just robbing you blind

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Jgunn Wrote:> saying that you have no room on your limit to live
> on should be a warning sign to you ..

No, see the credit card company dropped our credit limit several thousand - down to the amount owed. Which is something that's never happened before when we missed a payment. With everyone loosing jobs and going bankrupt, they must be assuming that you've lost your job when you miss a payment. I was just thinking how someone who actually has lost their job would feel if they had no income, their unsecured debt had a 28% interest rate and they were counting on living off their credit cards until they got their next job, and then, their credit limit dropped and suddenly they had no credit limit available to buy things with. They would be on the mercy of their relatives.

Great advice Tamuka! I have had a community credit card before, I should look into that again,

I did get another card yesterday to dump that debt onto, it's 0% interest for a year, so at least my credit wasn't so damaged that I have to stay with 27.9% interest. :-)

Jgunn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> if you have a saving account that you keep at a
> certain balance you can think of it as your credit
> card .. adn you should be just as mortally feared
> about putting that money back in like a credit
> card payment .. be your own credit card F*CK VISA,
> F*CK mastercard they are just robbing you blind

Great advice! I read in a book about money that if you pay with cash (for purchases) you will spend 20% less every month just because you actually see the money leaving and it will be a bigger emotional impact than just swiping the card. I tried that but it got a bit cumbersome to carry all that cash so I'm back to the debit card.

The same book also had this idea of a "buy nothing month" that's when you don't buy anything but the bare nessesities for a month. Kind of like a water fast, but with money.

yep we could all learn something by going on a credit fast .. the whole credit and banking system has the world in a stranglehold .. the sooner we slip the noose the better

whats the book called lol, everyone should read it ! since ditching my card i manage to keep a savings account which i never did before because all my $ was being sucked up in interest and fees etc etc. if i cant manage to get money back into it that ive spent i put in extra the next month .. like a personal penalty ifyou will

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Smart Women Finish Rich, it has lots of good info and was worth the 25 cents I paid for it at a thrift store :-)

[www.amazon.com]

quarterspentwisely

28%, Im sure you could get a better rate from a Staten Island loan shark.
Everbody needs to take their savings and all banking needs to community
credit unions, We can do a better job, community credit unions have been
doing very well while theft banking is hurting. go none corpse go community
banking, profit for the people not a corpse.
WAR ON THE CASTLES PEACE TO THE COTTAGES

ha ! i always call visa/AMEX and mastercard loan sharks .. there was a time indeed when charging that kind of money(28%) for loan was considered illegal lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist