Credit Cards Blog
Card’s fixed rate APR changes to variable? What to do?
When your credit card company changes your card rate from fixed to variable, there are a number of things you can do to get it changed to its previous state or something equivalent to the previous state.
Call your creditor
The first thing you should do having received a letter notifying you of such development is to call the customer care hotline. Ask for the company’s intent towards this increase and make sure to bring up the fact that you’ve never made a late payment in recent times or you’ve been a good and loyal customer right from the start. Not that this will change their minds towards your situation which is more likely to be general but you never know how these things work.
Consider closing the account
Do the math and find out how much extra you’ll be paying each month. If it accrues to a figure you can’t cope with, you should seriously consider closing the account. As a last resort you should consider closing the account but this should left to only when you’re debt soaked to your eyeballs. In this case tell your creditor that you’re going to close the account and some will consider a change to the previous rate or bring up some other agreement between both parties. Other companies will tell you that closing the account is the only option you have but you should never threaten to close the account except you really mean it.
Start searching for a new card
Mention this and you can be sure to get the “closing this account will affect your credit score“. This is true but you’ll come out happier in the long run. Start scouting for a replacement card with emphasis on a long term balance transfer offer and low interest rate afterwards. If you intend charging purchases to the new card pay attention to the purchase APR. Make sure you go through the fine print especially the parts that appear to have been written in extra small text – this is to discourage you from reading it in the first place.
You might also consider writing the Better Business Bureau, Office of the Treasury, Compliant’s Board and consulting with an experienced attorney.
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- BBB Warns – Robocalls Promising to Lower Credit Card Interest Rate September 23, 2009
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