Welcome back from the break in December! With the holidays and the 'real life job', I took a month hiatus, but I imagine I'll have plenty to gripe about 2010. With that said, let's welcome in the new year with a rant that is affecting many more than me, I'm sure.
I got two lovely letters in the mail a few days ago from my bank. One was informing me of new legislation that had passed that imposed limits on banks from arbitrarily raising APR's or minimum payments, which goes into effect in June 2010.
The other letter was informing me that my APR was being raised by over 300% in February 2010, unless I chose to protest the raise and close my account.
I hopped online and did a bit of research, and found I'm not alone. Many banks pulled this in the second quarter of 2009, and a second wave hit at the end of the year. I'll refrain from ranting on the idiocy of passing a law that essentially forced the banks' hands instead of restraining them completely (I do try not to get too politically involved here, for now), but I will pass along the tips I learned in my research:
Don't completely close your account. Go ahead and pay down or transfer your balance if you can, and for heaven's sake DON'T charge anything new to your card. Once you protest the APR hike, you can continue to pay down your balance at your OLD rate, so long as you don't purchase anything new. Once your card is paid off, leave the account open but unused. Every six months, make a small purchase and pay it off completely that month. This way, your credit rating is saved by still having the 'active' account, but the greedy bank gets nothin' from you.
In the meantime, I'm looking for a credit union.
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