If you get a piece of mail from a credit card company these days, its much more likely to be an opt out notice than a 0% APR for 1 year offer.  During the past two years, credit card offers sent via the mail have declined by nearly 75%.  However, that hasn’t stopped credit card companies from using the postal service to send out rate increase notices.  During the past year, just about every major credit card company has sent out one form of these notices to a wide range of customers.  Usually, these mailings provide you with two options:  accept a higher interest or opt out and close your account. 

Unfortunately, neither of these options is ideal for just about anyone. Continue Reading »

2009 has surely been a less than stellar year for many of us.  Unfortunately, the difficulties many of us are going through have been made significantly worse by our not so friendly credit card companies.  During the first half of 2009, Smart Balance Transfers received ten times more credit card complaints than we have in the past two years.  To make matters worse, most of the credit card complaints we’ve received came from people who had really done nothing wrong.  In the past, a majority of complaints came from consumers who had made mistakes, such as missing payments or failing to understand elementary fine print.  Such is not the case in 2009.

In 2009, the worst credit card complaints have come from people who literally did nothing to deserve ludicrous interest rate increases, absurd payment increases, and drastic credit limit decreases.  So strap yourself down and take a moment to absorb some of the most horrendous credit card practices in the history of modern finance. Continue Reading »

Effective today, Bank of America has raised balance transfer fees to 4% from a previous level of 3%.  While this move was announced over a month ago, the very fact that one of the country’s biggest issuers of credit cards has taken this step could spell trouble for the future of balance transfer fees.

During the past half decade, credit card companies were engaged in a battle to win new customers.  This was great for consumers, who were offered long term 0% interest rates and often charged little to no balance transfer fees.  As the credit crunch intensified last summer, companies began eliminating no fee balance transfer deals.  By fall, companies began to remove the limit on balance transfer fees.  Prior to the fall, most companies charged a maximum fee of $75 per transaction.  Anyone transferring less than $2,500 paid 3%, while those transferring more simply paid $75.  Continue Reading »

Today’s passage of H.R. 627 , also known as the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009, is great news if, according to the terms and conditions of my credit card, the definition of great is horrible.  While its patriotic title and good intentions may impress the average voter, these credit card regulations have caused more problems for credit cardholders than late payments and over the limit fees combined.  And the bill won’t even take effect for nine months.

The problem with this bill and, more precisely, the threat of this bill is that it threatened to fundamentally alter a business that, without government interference, was fundamentally troubled.  Before the threat of this legislation existed, credit card companies were not raising interest rates across the board on consumers with good credit.  Nor were they hitting good customers who simply missed a single payment with default rates.  Essentially, all of the horrible things credit card companies have done in the past few months seem to be tied to the fact that they were scrambling before the new laws took effect. Continue Reading »

From the Editor:  I have a confession-I’m technically one of the bad guys.  For the past five years, I’ve made my living marketing credit cards on the Internet.  On the whole, I think I’ve done my best to help consumers find good credit card deals.  However, I’ve heard so many horror stories lately that I feel an obligation to provide credit card help to as many visitors as possible.

In a lot of instances, you may find a discussion or article on Smart Balance Transfers that answers your credit card question.  However, if you can’t find the information you need, please feel free to post your credit card question here.  All information posted on the balance transfers blog is anonymous and the only time your email may be used is if I send you a personal response. 

This is a tremendously difficult time for many of us and credit card problems are the last thing we need.  So, while I can’t get your credit card company to lower your interest rate or turn back the clock and remind you to pay last month’s credit card bill on time, I’ll try my best to give you clarity on whatever credit card questions you have.

Thanks in advance to those of you who choose to share.  And thanks for helping me clear my conscience by providing whatever credit card help I can.

The Office of the Comptroller of Currency has launched a new website, www.helpwithmybank.gov.  While it appears this website is in very early stages, the site may eventually provide good information to consumers.  A section on credit card balance transfers currently has two questions and answers, a far cry from the hundreds of articles and comments that can be found at Smart Balance Transfers.  However, this site contains questions and answers about a range of credit card issues, including fees and penalties, as well as general banking concerns.

Over time this site may become a useful tool.  In the meantime, however, you may want to review balance transfer credit card information on our site if the helpwithmybank doesn’t resolve your questions.

After today’s credit card conference at the White House, President Obama outlined some broad strokes as to how credit card companies can help consumers.  Many of the details are similar to those outlined in the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, such as using plain language instead of complex legal jargon and putting an end to the wave of massive interest rate increases.  However, one of the more important ideas introduced by the President may have slipped under the radar.  This is the belief that consumers need to be able to easily compare credit card offers. Continue Reading »