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Have you gotten your new loan-sharking agreement yet? - Page 2

post #31 of 52
3/10/09 at 5:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mschauer View Post
Actually it would still be true. What you are referring to isn't an interest charge.
Remember the days of ADB including debits versus ADB excluding debits? The former allows banks to asses interest from the day you make the purchase, so paying your account in full each month doesn't matter. You pay interest from the day you make the purchase up until the next statement where you pay off the balance. So it is actually an interest charge.
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post #32 of 52
3/10/09 at 6:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Momofmany View Post
Remember the days of ADB including debits versus ADB excluding debits? The former allows banks to asses interest from the day you make the purchase, so paying your account in full each month doesn't matter. You pay interest from the day you make the purchase up until the next statement where you pay off the balance. So it is actually an interest charge.
Ah! I thought you were referring to a minimum finance charge.

Everyone should be on guard for any credit cards that charges interest from the day of purchase. It's still easy to find cards that don't, assuming your credit isn't in the toilet.
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post #33 of 52
3/10/09 at 7:14pm
Thread Starter 
Yet one more reason to get out that magnifying glass and read the mice type!! Really....it's the best thing a person can do. You don't really understand how they've got you by the short hairs until you do, and read all the things they can assess you fees for, and all the reasons they can raise your rates for, and how they can void the teaser rate on your promotional offer, and, and, and, .... on and on. Basically, they can do whatever they want.

The best revenge is to use the card and pay it off every month. Then the only money they make is the merchant fee, which to them, is not much.
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post #34 of 52
3/10/09 at 8:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by coaster View Post
Yet one more reason to get out that magnifying glass and read the mice type!! Really....it's the best thing a person can do. You don't really understand how they've got you by the short hairs until you do, and read all the things they can assess you fees for, and all the reasons they can raise your rates for, and how they can void the teaser rate on your promotional offer, and, and, and, .... on and on. Basically, they can do whatever they want.
To be fair, it ain't exactly hidden information. Any credit application is going to include the terms and conditions. Anyone who isn't aware of those terms has no one but themselves to blame. The credit business is just that, a business. When they extend credit they aren't doing it because they're our buddies and are trying to to help us out. They're doing it to make money.

The moral of the story is, buying on credit is to be avoided and should only be done when absolutely necessary or at least with full understanding of the terms and conditions. Credit is so easily available today. People have forgotten that there was a time, not that long ago, when buying on credit was considered shameful.
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post #35 of 52
3/10/09 at 8:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mschauer View Post
To be fair, it ain't exactly hidden information. Any credit application is going to include the terms and conditions. Anyone who isn't aware of those terms has no one but themselves to blame.
Absolutely. By law they have to disclose their terms at the time you apply for credit. But honestly? The way it is written requires some in depth knowledge about what they are describing. I wrote the software program that calculates all the finance charges for a credit card. If I didn't have that background, I would be very hard pressed to understand what I was reading on a disclosure form. It is very complicated stuff.
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post #36 of 52
3/10/09 at 9:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mschauer View Post
..... Credit is so easily available today. .....
Mmmmmmmmm, it isn't what it used to be. I don't think easy is quite the word any more. I'm hearing stories that it's pretty tight out there. And actually these huge increases in rates is a manifestation of that.
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post #37 of 52
3/10/09 at 9:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Momofmany View Post
.... The way it is written requires some in depth knowledge about what they are describing. I wrote the software program that calculates all the finance charges for a credit card. If I didn't have that background, I would be very hard pressed to understand what I was reading on a disclosure form. It is very complicated stuff.
That's kind of what I was trying to say. Not only is it printed in a type font that encourages overlooking it, it's also worded in such a way so as to discourage the average person from trying to understand it. "Having no one but themselves to blame" as mschauer stated really isn't quite fair to the average person who has a hard time with these things. There's nothing inherently evil about credit cards. They're a useful financial tool. You just have to understand what its traps are. One of the traps is these account agreements. And if a person doesn't understand them, they can get in trouble.
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post #38 of 52
3/11/09 at 6:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by coaster View Post
Mmmmmmmmm, it isn't what it used to be. I don't think easy is quite the word any more. I'm hearing stories that it's pretty tight out there. And actually these huge increases in rates is a manifestation of that.
I actually have to disagree with this statement. I receive at least 2, if not more, offers of credit cards each and every month. I'm waiting for one addressed to Bijou next (and that's not all that funny when you consider some folks have had credit card offers mailed to their pets).

Having said that, perhaps the economy is different in Canada than the US.
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post #39 of 52
3/11/09 at 6:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yosemite View Post
Quote:
Mmmmmmmmm, it isn't what it used to be. I don't think easy is quite the word any more. I'm hearing stories that it's pretty tight out there. And actually these huge increases in rates is a manifestation of that.
I actually have to disagree with this statement. I receive at least 2, if not more, offers of credit cards each and every month. I'm waiting for one addressed to Bijou next (and that's not all that funny when you consider some folks have had credit card offers mailed to their pets).

Having said that, perhaps the economy is different in Canada than the US.
I'm currently shopping around for a credit card and I'm not having any problem at all. I doubt anyone with good credit who isn't already overextended would have any trouble getting a credit card even today.

Anyway, when I mentioned how easy it is to get credit I was referring to how easy it has been in recent years. The credit markets have only tightened up very recently.

I also don't find the credit card terms difficult to understand.
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post #40 of 52
3/11/09 at 9:12am
Thread Starter 
I still receive plenty of credit card offers. But I think they're just sending them to people with excellent credit. I'm active on a financial forum, so I think I'm a bit in tune with the financial problems people are facing now, and the read I get on the current credit card market is that people with less than impeccable credit history are NOT getting these offers any more. For example, one person with current balances on a number of accounts was having difficulty paying the minimum payments on all the accounts. The obvious solution is to consolidate into one account, preferably at a teaser rate, or at least on the lowest rate account. However, this couldn't be done because the person couldn't open a new account, and couldn't even transfer to an account with a lower rate because that account was already at the limit and she couldn't get the limit raised. And this was before all these rate increases started going out.
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post #41 of 52
3/11/09 at 9:14am
Not sure what mine is here?, but it doesn't affect me because i clear my bill each month
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post #42 of 52
3/11/09 at 10:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosiemac View Post
Not sure what mine is here?, but it doesn't affect me because i clear my bill each month
Same here. I think it's absurd that we even need a credit card but if you want to buy online you need one. Our daughter does not have a credit card because she knows herself well enough to know she would run it up and not be able to pay it off so when she wants anything on the internet she comes to me to use mine.
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post #43 of 52
3/11/09 at 10:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by coaster View Post
For example, one person with current balances on a number of accounts was having difficulty paying the minimum payments on all the accounts. The obvious solution is to consolidate into one account, preferably at a teaser rate, or at least on the lowest rate account. However, this couldn't be done because the person couldn't open a new account, and couldn't even transfer to an account with a lower rate because that account was already at the limit and she couldn't get the limit raised. And this was before all these rate increases started going out.
I'm sorry for her difficulties but the last thing she needs is another credit card regardless of how she intends to use it. If the current credit crisis means an end to giving credit card after credit card to people who are already having trouble managing the credit they have then I count that as a good thing.
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post #44 of 52
3/11/09 at 10:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mschauer View Post
I'm sorry for her difficulties but the last thing she needs is another credit card regardless of how she intends to use it. If the current credit crisis means an end to giving credit card after credit card to people who are already having trouble managing the credit they have then I count that as a good thing.
I agree 100%. Some people just should not have credit cards.
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post #45 of 52
3/11/09 at 11:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yosemite View Post
Same here. I think it's absurd that we even need a credit card but if you want to buy online you need one.
Actually, there is another option - a safer one too. You can buy a pre-paid VISA and use it for online purchases.
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post #46 of 52
3/11/09 at 11:59am
For those who have a credit card put aside somewhere for emergencies you may need to use it occasionally to keep the account open. I work with credit cards for one of the major banks and they have started closing accounts that haven't been used in two years. They are closing them when the card comes up for renewal to avoid the cost of renewing the card.
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post #47 of 52
3/11/09 at 12:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Denice View Post
For those who have a credit card put aside somewhere for emergencies you may need to use it occasionally to keep the account open. I work with credit cards for one of the major banks and they have started closing accounts that haven't been used in two years. They are closing them when the card comes up for renewal to avoid the cost of renewing the card.
Oh, really? That's interesting news. I'll have to get my free credit report again soon and see if they're showing up on there yet. I don't know why, but accounts I closed years and years ago still show up on the credit report as active accounts, even though it says "account closed by consumer"

One question: are they giving notice or are they just sending out a closed notice?
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post #48 of 52
3/11/09 at 12:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by coaster View Post
Oh, really? That's interesting news. I'll have to get my free credit report again soon and see if they're showing up on there yet. I don't know why, but accounts I closed years and years ago still show up on the credit report as active accounts, even though it says "account closed by consumer"

One question: are they giving notice or are they just sending out a closed notice?
This isn't a new practice for at least some creditors. I had a credit card account closed years ago because of lack of activity. They sent me a notice that if I didn't use it within a given period of time the account would be closed.
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post #49 of 52
3/11/09 at 1:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Denice View Post
For those who have a credit card put aside somewhere for emergencies you may need to use it occasionally to keep the account open. I work with credit cards for one of the major banks and they have started closing accounts that haven't been used in two years. They are closing them when the card comes up for renewal to avoid the cost of renewing the card.
Thanks for that bit of information, I didn't know that.
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post #50 of 52
3/11/09 at 2:52pm
Thread Starter 
I got another one of those letters in the mail today.
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post #51 of 52
3/12/09 at 1:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockcat View Post
Actually, there is another option - a safer one too. You can buy a pre-paid VISA and use it for online purchases.
Not really an option if ease of use is factored in. We got one as a Christmas gift, it was a circus and a half trying to use it. Everywhere we went, in order to use it we needed the exact up to the minute balance on the darn thing. And the item we bought we had to return. They couldn't just do an exchange, so it was a week or 2 before we could use it again. A regular credit card is much easier to use.

And we only bought a programmable thermostat and ate at Panda Express with it!
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post #52 of 52
3/12/09 at 5:19pm
DH and I used to get about 5 credit card offers a day. We haven't gotten any in months. Our credit score is about 10 points from perfect so it ain't our credit score that's stopping the solicitations. Maybe its because we pay off our balances every month and companies don't like that type of business anymore? Can't blame them. We are probably costing them more than what they make from us.
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