APR's Question

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2003
APR's Question
8
Thu, 08-19-2004 - 1:57pm

Okay. I'm doing my budget. Again. I just noticed that from 3 months ago, my APR went up. MOST of my cards have gone up.


Is there anything I can do? I mean, this is getting ridiculous. Do they raise them because my balances are high? Or because of the economy? Is it just regular CC's? Cuz my sears card hasn't gone up (or down), in the 10 years that I"ve had that card.


I know MBNA is going to be a joke when they put into effect their variable rate, but if I close my account, do I really wanna be stuck with a 25% APR?




my pet!

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-2004
Thu, 08-19-2004 - 2:40pm
I don't know why it's happening, but before you close the CC accounts, I'd check the "fine print." I know I was hoping to do that with one of mine and when I waded through the CC agreement, it said that if the account was closed and had a balance then I'd have to pay the balance in FULL when closing the account. Needless to say, I'm not able to do that. :(

AM

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2003
Thu, 08-19-2004 - 4:50pm
Oh good advice. Thanks for the heads up. =)

~Cher




my pet!

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-19-2004 - 5:02pm
these days, creditors check your credit report quarterly or even monthly.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2003
Thu, 08-19-2004 - 6:01pm
I don't know that I'd close them before paying them off-it may backfire. Instead of locking in your rate, the company may jack it up, which is so not what you want to have happen!

Is there any way you can surf the balances to a lower APR card? If you can, do, then close the original accounts. If the APR's get too bad, then move them to the front of your debt snowball and get 'em g-o-n-e!

Good luck-

Lisa

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2003
Thu, 08-19-2004 - 6:08pm

Ugh! Thanks for the info. So i'm screwed right now. lol remind me to get rid of these things. lol.


can you tell i'm in a much less stressed mood? i am. making a budget is helping me feel better.

~Cher




my pet!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2003
Thu, 08-19-2004 - 6:13pm

Unfortunately, no, I can't open anything else. And most times when I close my account, they say, "then the apr will be fixed and you can't lower it" and i say, "but can you raise it" and they say "no". lol.


but, i think i'd be wary of all of them. i'm beginning to realize they're all scammy.

~Cher




my pet!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 08-19-2004 - 6:31pm

Hi there!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-18-2004
Fri, 08-20-2004 - 9:39pm
i too am delurking. I had an MBNA card and closed it in FEB. One thing with MBNA, call and ask why your rate is high and if they can lower it. I did that and they said they could only lower it one point, but if I paid it down by 10 percent to call them back and they could lower it more. I did that, had my husband call and they lowered it from 19.95% to 13.99% plus gave us 0% on all balance transfers and gave us from OCT when they lowered the rate until Jun of this year to pay off the balance transfers at 0%.

I closed MBNA for the simple reason that everytime I turned around they were raising the credit limit. I would pay off a big chunk of it and then I would get a letter saying my credit limit had been raised to x dollars. It started out at a $5000 credit limit and ended at $12,500 limit. That was only in 8 years. I don't need nor like them and I refuse to do business with them anymore.


Good Luck with them.

Kellie