Overview

It is almost painful to write this, but amidst all the recent rate increases, credit limit cuts and fee increases, battered and beleaguered Citibank is emerging as a good credit card company.  There.  I said it.  I just stuck my neck out and made a positive statement about Citibank.  In the days when Citibank wasn’t owned by our government, Citi traditionally ranked pretty low on the credit card totem poll.  J.D. Power, for instance, consistently ranked Citicards near the bottom of the pack.  But now that we own Citibank, it appears as if its credit cardholders are getting treated fairly.  And perhaps its time for the rest of us to start reaping what little benefits we can from our multi-billion dollar investment in Citibank. Continue Reading »

A visitor wrote me today stating that he called his credit card company after getting a typical accept a huge rate increase or close your credit card notice in the mail and chose to opt out of the higher rate.  According to the visitor, the account was supposed to be closed on May 1st.  However, his wife recently called the company to see if she could negotiate a better deal to keep her account open.  Not surprisingly, she was told no.  Continue Reading »

According to today’s Wall Street Journal, Bank of America will be raising interest rates on EVERY consumer who carries a balance and has an interest rate below 10% on June 1st.  (Source)  This is a truly startling development, and yet another signal that major banks are doing everything they can to increase the profitability of accounts held by responsible consumers with good credit.

Earlier this week, a visitor reported that Chase will also be raising interest rates across the board, although our research has yielded mixed responses on the subject.  (See Is Chase Raising Credit Card Rates on Everyone? for more details) Continue Reading »

Smart Balance Transfers has just learned that, starting May 1st, the best balance transfer credit card on the market will no longer be providing a 0% APR for 12 months.  While we cannot name names, we hope this message reaches you before the changes take effect.  Once this offer is removed, consumers will have very few opportunities to get a 0% APR for a full year.  Additionally, the fact that this particular offer will be changing does not bode well for the future of 0% balance transfers rates that last 1 year.  In our opinion, this may be the beginning of the end of 12 month, 0% deals.  Hopefully, you’ll have locked in a 0% rate before this occurs.

Following yesterday’s White House meeting, the President took a balanced approach to credit card reform that should be applauded.  While our Representatives have been hastily rushing to hamstring the industry with credit card regulations, Obama recognizes that credit card companies are businesses and seems willing to work with them, rather than against them, to effect change in the way business is done without driving these companies out of business. Continue Reading »

Following yesterday’s conference with credit card executives, Jeffrey Weber, your humble blogger, was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor.  I’d like to thank the author, Ron Scherer, for his thorough story and particularly for being among the first writers to bring the rise of balance transfer fees to a national audience. 

To read the complete article, please follow the link below.

http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/04/23/obama-seeks-to-protect-credit-card-users/

Although President Obama and the House of Representatives are bringing attention to the most egregious and unfair credit card practices, an important credit card fee that has risen dramatically over the past twelve months has garnered little to no attention.  This is the balance transfer fee charged by banks when consumers shift their high interest credit card debt to credit cards with short term, 0% introductory rates.

Balance transfer fees have flown under the regulatory radar largely because consumers who utilize 0% balance transfers are more than happy to pay them in exchange for a massive reduction in their interest rates.  Continue Reading »