If the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)  is as good as its website, consumers will find the process of filing and resolving credit card complaints significantly easier than it has been in the past. The new website, ConsumerFinance.gov, features a comprehensive credit card complaint section that should expedite the resolution of just about any common issues consumers may have.

On the credit card complaint page, consumers are first requested to describe the issue at hand. Once this is completed, there is a drop down box that features an extremely comprehensive list of complaint categories. Thus, if a person had their credit card stolen and the credit card issuer was unwilling to remove fraudulent charges, that person could describe the incident, select billing or identity theft as the complaint category and then input the dollar amount being disputed.

Once this information is submitted, the consumer is then prompted to explain a desired solution. In the fraud example above, this would entail stating that X number of charges totaling X number of dollars be refunded to the account. If late or penalty fees were incurred as a result of this issue, this data should be included as well. Continue Reading »

Updated 10/21/10-If you have bad credit and are looking for a credit card, there is a good chance you might stumble upon the Anacott Financial credit card. This ”credit card” was being marketed online until very recently to consumers with bad credit.  

While this may look like the best credit card available to people with bad credit, there are numerous questions surrounding the company behind this offer. Add in the hundreds, if not thousands of credit card complaints littered across the web on sites like Yahoo Answers, the CreditBoards forum and the  NerdWallet blog, and it becomes clear that the Anacott Financial credit card should be avoided at all costs.

Presently, a great deal of complaints about Anacott Financial come from consumers who have paid a $99 application fee and have yet to receive the credit card. It remains unclear just how many consumers have paid this application fee and not received a credit card, but judging from the comments on the web, there are a great deal.

If, for example, 1% of the people who applied posted complaints online, anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 people (or more) may have been ensnared by this too good to be true offer. (Consumers who have already applied for this offer and paid this fee should see these tips for Anacott Financial credit card applicants for steps you can take to secure a refund and protect you identity.)

If a web filled with consumer complaints isn’t enough to deter you from this bad credit offer, take a moment to read Felix Salmon’s article on Reuters which highlights the questionable history of Anacott Financial. Lastly, if you have been fortunate enough to avoid this potential scam and are looking for a bad credit offer, take a look at the secured credit card page on Nerdwallet, which has 27 bad credit offers that can actually deliver on the promise to help improve your credit score advertised by Anacott Financial.

Jeffrey Weber

Smart Balance Transfers

Credit card complaints have remained on a steady decline since the first major phase of the CARD Act was implemented in February. Nevertheless, consumers continue to encounter problems with their credit card companies, and no problem has loomed larger in 2010 than complaints about credit limit cuts.

Between the fall of 2008 and February of 2010, the majority of credit card complaints received and analyzed by Smart Balance Transfers focused on interest rate increases. The major banks, knowing they would no longer be able to impose any time, any reason rate hikes on consumers, began a massive interest rate increase spree that seemed to spare very few. The end result of this left a substantial portion of the credit card wielding population with interest rates as high as 29.99%.

Now, stripped of the ability to raise rates on existing balances, credit card companies are resorting to credit limit cuts as a key risk management tool. Consumer complaints and Internet searches on this subject have ebbed and flowed throughout the year, but have recently increased rather substantially. Continue Reading »

Credit card complaints have continued their steady decline since the implementation of the CARD Act. Now that credit card companies can no longer raise rates on existing balances, the main complaints continue to revolve around credit limit cuts.  However, even though these complaints have fallen off in recent month, it appears that Baby Boomers are increasing the recipients of these cuts.

A recent visitor to Smart Balance Transfers provided some quality insights into the rationale behind credit limit cuts and why this frustrating risk management tactic may become less common in general, but more prevalent for baby boomers.  In late August, Will wrote in expressing anger over the fact that the credit limits on his five Chase credit cards were reduced from $84,000 to $31,000.  Will wasn’t angry because he was planning to charge a Lexus Rx350.  He was angry because his credit utilization ratio skyrocketed from 30% to 90% and this was likely to have a massive impact on his credit score (and it probably did, as credit utilization ratio’s account for 30% of the credit score formula).

Will was also angry because he had been a customer for 20 years and felt slighted by a bank he thought he had a good relationship with. This sentiment has been shared with me by many people who experience credit limit cuts. A lot of people are more angry about perceived slights by credit card companies they have long standing relationships with than they are about the loss of available credit. But this is a whole different issue. Continue Reading »

Complaints about credit limit cuts have skyrocketed this year.  Credit card companies can no longer increase interest rates on consumers, so instead they are decreasing credit limits to make sure customers that default on their accounts don’t owe too much money.  What factors are they using?  Notoriously opaque credit card companies are keeping mum, but more than a few factors seem to have entered the public dialogue.  Here are some common causes:

1.)  Marriage counseling/Divorce attorneys:  If banks think your marriage  is on the skids, they might view you as a bigger credit risk.  Marriage counseling is a commonly accepted red flag, so when working to save your marriage, use cash or a check. Continue Reading »

Credit card complaints in the first quarter of 2010 dropped off significantly from the fourth quarter of 2009.  Much of this was due to the fact that credit card companies wrapped up their rate increases at the end of last year, though rate increases were still a major complaint.  Since the key features of the CARD Act took effect on February 22nd, most credit card complaints have centered on one issue:  credit limit decreases.

During the first two months of 2010, Citi led the pack in credit card complaints.  The primary issue was a rate increase letter they sent in October of 2009 that gave consumers the option of closing their accounts or accepting a rate of 29.99%.  Consumers who did not respond were automatically given a 29.99% rate, and many guests of Smart Balance Transfers have posted that they never received the opt out letters and were shocked to see their rates had skyrocketed. Continue Reading »

A visitor recently posted the following complaint about Advanta.  While I ordinarily don’t post single complaints as blog entries, this complaint is astounding.  Advanta, which went bankrupt and stopped issuing credit cards last year, has been increasing some interest rates to more than 30%.  Here’s one customer’s unenviable recounting of an Advanta credit card nightmare:

“I have perfect credit with a middle credit score of 755 as of 02/10/2010. In January the prior month I went over the due date on a payment by several days. About 7 days after the due date I logged into my account to make my payment and to my surprise they had changed my interest rate to 32.99% from 7.99%. Continue Reading »