Anyone get their minimum increased??

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Anyone get their minimum increased??
23
Tue, 12-13-2005 - 11:27pm


MBNA said they would be raising the monthly minimums from 1% to "up to 5%" of my balance, starting with the December statement. I still have a couple of days until the December bill will print, and I can go online and see what my new minimum will be....and it's driving me bonkers just waiting! I am dreading seeing a $470 minimum, which would be 5% of what I currently owe.

Has anyone else seen their minimums go up?? I don't mind an increase--just not 5%! LOL!

Pat

Avatar for sohappilyme
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 12-15-2005 - 11:42am

We have a Bank of America card that has been on a payment plan...we're paying $100 a month on a $2500 balance (they dropped the interest to 12% from 29% and took away the late and overlimit charges, so it was a sweet deal since the balance was actually going UP a few dollars a month before, even though we weren't using it).

Sarah
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2006
Sun, 01-22-2006 - 9:07pm
I've had the same problem. My minimum went up $40 in December and another $10 for January. They are slowly raising it each month. My minimum could get to a whopping $390. I'd never be able to afford it. I'm sure it's coming though.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Sun, 01-22-2006 - 10:18pm
Hi, Pat. Yes, indeed. Minimums going up. So that folks wont be stuck until the next century paying off those blasted cc. I am paying above and beyond minimum so I can get the balance down quickly. Q--if you pay more, does that mean the minimum goes up because they think you can pay it? Or, is minimum go up only on balances over a certain amount, say $10K owed? Whiz.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2005
Mon, 01-23-2006 - 12:09am

I don't have any idea. Although I did notice that my Bank of America card increased another $6.00 with the last payment. I'm hoping they keep raising slowly if it keeps going up. It's scary to think that the minimum payment on the card could be as high as $500 if it goes up to a 5% payment a month. I'm not quite ready to face that. Right now it's at 2.53% which increased from 2.45% last month.

The only thing I can do is keep chipping away at my debt and hope that by the time they get the minimums raised I'll have paid off a few other debts and been able to cut out some other expense. It would be ideal if they would keep it low until I get moved in July but we'll see.

The other thing I noticed is that they raised my interest rate a bit on it, which ticks me off to no end. All my cards seem to be going up with their interest charges. It's like they're trying to drive me insane. Hello CC companies I'm trying to pay this down stop trying to slow me down.

I am grateful that the government is trying do something about all the debt that people are getting into, I just wish they had done more than just decide to increase minimums...like maybe put a cap on what kind of interest we are charged every month.

Never again is my mantra at this point.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-13-2004
Mon, 01-23-2006 - 1:59am
Yeah, one of my credit card minimums just went up to $30 a month. I'm sure my other ones will follow suit. I don't know what my minimums are now, let alone what they will be later on! Right now I am sending more than the minimum on all of them, but we'll see if that continues. I am sending that one credit card $60 this month, just to spite them and pay them off quicker! Right now they are my highest interest rate, so I won't miss them once they are gone!! LOL!
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Mon, 01-23-2006 - 8:19am

My minimum increased a few dollars two between my December and my January bills, which surprised me since my balance is about $600 less. I looked at the interest rate, though, and there was a .25% increase, probably from the last time the Feds raised the interest rates, so that's probably the cause.

Pat :-D

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2005
Mon, 01-23-2006 - 11:04pm
Hi,
My MBNA card went up from 15.00 to 51.00 which is 1% of what we owe. I thought that was odd, since I very much doubt that they really want you to pay the balance off before their interest rate goes up -- we have 0% until August. I would think that they would prefer that we still owe $$$ when August turns up -- I wonder if this is because Bank of America bought MBNA? Hopefully we'll get the 5,000.00 paid off by August. I hate to think of what will happen if we don't. So far AT&T and Captital One haven't raised rates. If (when) I ever get this stuff paid off, I will never ever ever use credit cards again.
Megan
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 7:54am

I'm with you there! I will never use credit cards again unless I need that 'buyer's protection' that comes with them (for big purchases), AND I am 100% sure that I can pay off the whole amount of my purchases.

Pat

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2002
Wed, 01-25-2006 - 9:27am
I don't know if this helps anyone or not, but I am now on credit cousuling - for the THIRD TIME! Ugghh. But this time it looks good. I am about to have 2 bills paid off altogether after about 6 years. I just started this thrid go around about 3 months ago. I owe MBNA close to 3,000 and it was at 26% interest and on the plan, it was lowered to 1%. I know all credit cards get shut off on the plan and accounts closed, so for fico scores, not good, but if anyone is struggling with the new minimums, it might be an option. I was struggling before so my fico is low anyway so this did not impact me any more negativily than I already did to myself. I feel stress free for the first time in so long about money and I believe its because my interest rates are from 1%-3% now on some unsecured loans and i am finally making progress.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2005
Wed, 01-25-2006 - 10:13am

Ain't that that truth. Never again will I use a credit card for everyday purchases that can be put off. I have cut up all but one of my cards. Well that's not exactly true, I just got another card that I moved some of my debt over to for a lower interest rate that I haven't cut up yet. I haven't activated it yet either. I plan on cancelling it once I get it paid off though. I wish I could find a card that I could transfer all my cc debt too but that would be a huge balance. Maybe once I get things paid down a bit.

Sadly, I am still using one of my cards in order to pay for shipping on all the things that I am selling but I have already sent one payment in and will be sending another payment in once I get paid again. I should have all these new charges paid off before the next bill cycle comes. If my selling continues that this rate, I'll have re-evaluate how I'm paying for postage. I thus far have been able to keep pretty good tabs on what I owe to the credit card company but what if I loose track?