Since so many of you come to Smart Balance Transfers to vent, I want to take the opportunity to do some of my own venting.  People began receiving rate increase notices this weekend.  By Monday morning, I’d heard from at least 30 people, and the number of comments continues to swell.  Increasing interest rates to 29.99% is absurd and this ought to be big news.  But its not.

So far, I’ve found little more than a Huffington Post blog article, which for some reason rejected my comment on the story, and a small blog posting on MSN.  Other than that, no major media outlet seems to be interested in the story.  Have we become so accustomed to malicious credit card practices that this massive rate increase is no longer newsworthy. 

So I tried to contact ABC news.  No luck.  Apparently, no one seems to care that the financial well-being of tens of thousands of Americans is in danger.

And that’s my vent.  I am very privileged to have the opportunity to facilitate the sharing of information on this matter via the Balance Transfers Blog, but I am also deeply, deeply disappointed in the major media players for turning a blind eye to an event that has far reaching implications for everyone who carries credit card debt.  Shame on them.

I just got a copy of the Citibank interest rate increase letter and, perhaps like many of you, am completely baffled.  Unfortunately, I’ve spent the past five years reviewing credit card terms and was hoping to find some definitive answers in this letter.  However, the terms Citi is proposing are as incomprehensible as its decision to raise rates on what I’ve learned from over 60 readers are very good customers with very good credit scores.

1.)  Traditional opt out notices require those who opt out to accept an immediate closure to their account.  You opt out, the card is closed, and that is it. Period.  In the letter I reviewed, it states that the cardholder can use the card until the expiration date on the card.  This wreaks of trickery and my fear is that consumers who opt out but use the card after the opt out date will see their rates increased to 29.99%. Continue Reading »

After a relatively calm three months in which credit card rate increases slowed substantially, Citibank’s decision to raise interest rates to 29.99% on tens of thousands of customers has taken many-myself included-by surprise.  Yesterday, I posted some options for people dealing with this situation and I wanted to update those as well as point out some additional points. (See Citibank Interest Rate Increase Solutions for yesterdays article as well as Citibank Raises Interest Rates A Lot to read comments from other visitors.)

First off, most people will need to opt out of the rate increase.  Continue Reading »

The shocking and unprecedented interest rate increases from Citibank has generated a flood of comments and, as editor of Smart Balance Transfers, I am trying to put as much helpful information online as I can.  Consequently, I am hoping that someone can email me a copy of a rate increase notice so I can review the terms and conditions more fully.

If you received a Citi rate increase letter and want to help out, please email us a copy.  However, PLEASE be sure to use a BLACK MARKER to cover any personal information such as your name, account number etc, as I would like to post this online.

Thank you in advance for your help and please see our tips on Citibank Interest Rate Increase Solutions for ideas on how to handle this troublesome development.

After a brief pause, and right before new laws to limit interest rate increases take effect, Citibank appears to have raised interest rates on a wide range of its customers.  Over the past weekend, close to a dozen people posted on Smart Balance Transfers about monstrous rate increases that lifted APRs to 29.99%.  Fortunately, if Citibank raised your interest rate, there are easy steps you can take to lessen your financial pain

Option 1:  Opt Out and Open a New Credit Card Account

Unless you have the ability to pay your credit card balance in full, the best way to deal with an interest rate increase notice is to opt out by closing your account.  This will allow you to repay your balance at the current rate, ultimately saving you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in interest expenses.  If, for example, you carry a $10,000 balance on a Citibank card with a rate that is moving from 15% to 29.99%, you will save around $1,500 in interest by electing to opt out.  This is a no brainer.  Don’t over-think it.  Get on the phone right now and opt out. Continue Reading »

UPDATE:  Please see Citibank Interest Rate Increase Solutions for detailed information on the most recent rate increase.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about Citibank raising credit card interest rateson a small number of store issued credit cards.  At the time, Citi had been generating very few negative comments from readers and it appeared as if Citi was shaping up to be one of the best behaved credit card companies.  I was proved very wrong, as CitiBank has substantially raised interest rates on an apparently large base of customers to as much as 29.99%. 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 »