Citi starts closing Mastercards without warning

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC/AP

NEW YORK - Shannon Burdette tried to pay with her Shell Mastercard after filling up her gas tank this weekend but found the card rejected.

Confused, she called the customer service line on the back of the card, issued by Citibank, and was told the account was closed because of something that appeared on her credit report. But when the Sykesville, Md., resident got a copy of her credit report online, the only negative thing she saw was "closed at credit grantor's request" on the Shell MasterCard account.

"They said there was a routine review," said Burdette, who maintained that she and her husband, Brian, used the card regularly and always paid the bill on time.

Burdette isn't alone. People across the country have been reporting similar experiences in postings on various consumer Web sites.

Citi confirmed the basics. The bank said in a statement it "decided to close a limited number of oil partner co-branded MasterCard accounts." That includes not only Shell, but Citgo, ExxonMobil and Phillips 66-Conoco cards.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33388210/ns/business-consumer_news/

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. And they think Insurance will play nice between now and 2013

Here's your clue as to what to expect!

[berni_mccoy]

18. The House has begun crafting a series of punitive measures against the Health Insurance Industry

if they decide to screw their subscribers between now and 2013.

Things like rate-locks, rate controls and windfall profit taxes to mention a few.

The insurance industry brought this on themselves when the published that bogus report.

[Ruby the Liberal]

21. Where were they when this banking fiasco was decided?

[caseymoz]

26. ... This is the finance/banking industry, not the Health Insurance Industry.

I don't know how you get from there to here.

[berni_mccoy]

28. Because the poster I'm responding to brought it up.

That is, using the OP as a predictive device for what the Health Insurance companies will do between the time HR3200 is signed into law and 2013.

[superconnected]

78. It was easy, the first post was referencing the other industry as a comparison. I don't know how

people manage to NOT be able to make those kinds of leaps. But, I see it on DU often.

[truedelphi]

29. If only, if only, Barack had heard about the real solution for Health Care:

SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE FOR ALL!

There was a guy who looked an awful lot like Barack and who was running for the Senate in Illinois. And he said that USPHCFA was the best solution, and all it would take was a majority in Congress, and a Democrat in the WH.

Now it apparently needs 60 Senators and several decades of painfully slow amendments to The Health Care Insurance Mandate Act of 2009!

[AndyA]

2. Congress, thanks for this. You gave the banks time to do whatever they wanted to do to us.

And now you want to allow the health care insurers the same opportunity.

Do you really think you'll get re-elected? Think again. America is waking up, and we're ANGRY!

[Lugnut]

4. +10

I wish I coyld rec this post 100 times.

[depakid]

22. Agreed

That was one of the more egregious sell outs of ordinary Americans- considering all the surrounding circumstances- that I've seen in my lifetime.

[Better Today]

10. Since money re-elects them, not people, I doubt you're right, but ever hopeful

that you may be, AND more importantly that the opponents aren't as bad or worse than those in there now.

[arthritisR_US]

24. without hope all you're left with is depression...keep up the hope:-) n/t

[davidwparker]

41. it's going to get to the point where incumbents get kicked out regardless

of party just to see the existing ones gone. I'm about to that point myself.

There now? Gone tomorrow.

[Jkid]

3. Chase pull the same kind of shit six months after they owned my WaMu credit card.

Their excuse: a form letter response. Even though that credit card was charged one month ago with a purchase, they decided to kill it.

But they did advised me to sign up to Chase's credit cards because the one I had with WaMu had a high interest rate. I might as well pay everything with cash at this point.

[the other one]

5. They closed mine without warning last week

But not before I filled my tank with heating oil. Or maybe because I filled my tank with heating oil...

[Trillo]

6. These are the types of LIES from corporate that when alleged

folks tend to believe because they're so common they're ubiquitous.

Yet, it seems there's this desire among leaders to "believe" anything out of the 'mouth of corporate' (which is a curious metaphor), that corporate "doesn't lie".

[earcandle]

7. Count your blessings! Use cash.

[TommyO]

14. I've been living the cash lifestyle for a number of years now

It does have some limitations, but I'm not at the mercy of these userers.

[AnneD]

54. Cash only....

6 years and counting.

[earcandle]

74. I just started. Glad to hear it works for others too. I am finally saving some money.

[AnneD]

86. You are saving money in part.....

because you are not shelling out for interest.

Check out Dave Ramsey's website at www.daveramsey.com for some good solid advice on how to get out of debt and live on cash. He also is a wealth of information on making good consumer choices. I don't agree with his politics but money is not red or blue....it's green.

Hubby and I are close to paying off all our debts-we just have our 2 biggest left but we expect to knock them out within 2 years. We have never had more piece of mind-or money in our pocket.

[Wizard777]

8. That's the great thing about good old fashioned cash. No rejections.

No hassles. No fees. No bills. The credit card companies are just cutting their own throats in the long run. They'll get peoples used to using real money again and I doubt they will go back to plastic. Because ultimately the plastic is only there for you when they need it to be. Not when YOU need it to be. That's what cash is all about. My God let people get used to not spending the money they don't have. Let them get used to not having to pay fees to spend their money. Then the credit card industry is doomed.

[RaleighNCDUer]

17. Although you do get the occassional odd look -

"What's that? Paper money? Is that still legal?"

[arthritisR_US]

25. using money also helps us live within our means and that's never bad, IMO. n/t

[pattmarty]

9. They ONLY want the people that don't pay every month and hold.................

..............large outstanding balances on their cards. These shylock pieces of shit put the Mafia out of the usury business.

[irishlover]

40. It's been ON for months

My husband and I are lucky to have excellent credit. A few months back I wanted to transfer a balance to a 0.99 for a couple months and pay it off. Discover had an ad to which I responded. They would only do a fraction of what I wanted. When I asked WHY, they told me we had too much credit AVAILABLE to us. Then the other day, we decided to take advantage of Best Buy's 3 month no interest credit card to buy a TV since ours went up. Surprise, we were turned down, no reason, will get a letter from their "bank", blah blah. So, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Cash is the way to go.

[katkat]

11. I am, gasp, happy with my cards

I have two cards, a no-fee one from my credit union (bless the hearts of credit unions) and one from Schwab, which is a no-fees 2% cash back card.

F- B of A, Citi, etc. we should do no business with them.

[apnu]

15. I'm with you on that. I, too, have credit union cards, and won't carry a big bank card. Ever.

I'll use cash or a check card, once I pay down my credit Card, I'm gonna drop that one too. No need for it.

[damntexdem]

12. A little bit of Master abating, huh?

Shiti Bank should is just not creditable.

[CoffeeCat]

13. GAME OVER. These companies are economic bellwethers!

When the economy was booming and it was cool to live beyond your means, and wildly
spend with credit cards---the credit-card companies couldn't get enough of us!

Our mailboxes were stuffed with credit-card offers. They loved us when we
were spending--and paying 25 percent interest on that pizza, leather furniture
or overpriced candles from Pier 1.

Two things are happening. People aren't spending like drunken sailors any more, because
they're either unemployed or afraid of being unemployed. Also, people are paying down
debt, not adding to it.

The credit-card companies know it's game over. They bilked us, and now there's just
nothing left.

But that's not the entire story. If the credit-card companies thought there was some hope
that we might start spending again--they wouldn't be canceling cards and pissing off
their customers so rudely with horrendous fees, slashed lines of credit and other nastiness.

These companies are an economic bellwether. They know we're spiraling down--and they
don't want *their* cards in your hands--when panic sets in. They're most likely canceling
people who pay the bill in full every month--which probably constitutes about 10 percent of
cardholders. As far as people with conservative balances, they're probably using the "enrage
the customer into paying off in full and then cutting up the card" tactic. Either way,
fewer cards in the hands of people who could go wild in dire economic times and charge
up a bunch of essentials--with no intention of paying off the bill.

There are current stories about credit card companies charging new, exorbitant fees just
to have the card. They used to offer frequent-flyer miles to sign up--incentives. Now
they're disincentivizing people. They're punishing you for even having a card--in an effort
to close down as many accounts as possible.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

16. Excellent summary, CoffeeCat

Whatta mess! K&R

[leveymg]

32. Exactly. Financial industry expects worse to come. Cutting losses now.

In old-fashioned banking terms, they're "calling in their loans" to raise capital. This is just to squeeze out the last, little bit of cash they think we have in our pockets, before the thing heads down again. Cash is king during Depressions.

[jimlup]

19. I recently borrowed from my retirement account to shut these vampires down.

They are out of control! Congress completely screwed up when they gave these vampires as much time as they did.

We all need to stop borrowing from banks like CITI and stop using these damn cards. It is time to shut these blood suckers down.

[AllyCat]

20. Folks, you can live without credit cards!!!

I've not had one for about 5 years and it's wonderful. I've opted out from all those requests to remove the temptation. I refuse all offers from my credit union. Life is just fine without it. Checks, cash, and the occasional debit card transaction when I need to use it.

If they don't want to play nice, don't use them!

[RebelOne]

33. Right on. I have not used any credit cards in 3 years.

I filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy 3 years ago and had to give up all my credit cards whether or not they had balances. I have since learned that cash is the way to go. Credit cards got me into trouble.

[RobinA]

36. How Do You

rent a hotel room? I would love to live without cards, but sometimes you just need a card.

[laughingliberal]

45. I have not found anything that needed a credit card which I could not also use my debit card for nt

[tomm2thumbs]

49. +1

[SharonAnn]

60. Rental Car companies don't take debit cards, I'm told.

[barbtries]

62. some do some don't

(i haven't had a credit card in 9-10 years). the ones that do require a minimum balance in your checking account, but in my recent experience they never tapped the card for that money even temporarily. hertz and budget will take debit cards, and others as well. i've also twice gone to pick up a rental i arranged online and was turned down.

[Lorien]

69. They do take bank debit cards, and they take AmEx. The green card is not a

credit card. There's no interest and you pay it off monthly.

[d_r]

77. renting a car

I had a difficult time renting a car with a debit card. The regulation is that you have to show a return airline flight. I weren't renting it from the airport, and I didn't have a return airline flight. I had no idea because I had used that debit card to rent from the same company before - but in hindsight that had been at the airport. It took a call to the home of the manager, and being put o double secret probation and promising never to do it again, but I was finally able to pick the car up.

[AnneD]

55. A debit card does just fine.....

I keep a higher amount in my account but I do just fine.

[Lorien]

68. Debit cards or AmEx. I haven't had a credit card in 13 years

and I've traveled all over the US and Europe during that time.

[AllyCat]

83. I have never had trouble with getting a hotel room with a debit card.

The only issue has been rental cars. Some places rent without one so we look for those on the rare occasions we have to rent.

[CoffeeCat]

85. I use a debit card for everything...

We booked a Disney vacation, checked into our hotel and rented a car with only a debit card.

We paid off all debt--including cars and now we get to decide what to do with our money--instead of
giving it all to "the man

If we want something--furniture, car, etc--we save for it. Then we pay cash. We also get awesome deals
when we have cash. We got 50 percent off of a great car, purchased a mint-condition camper for $700 and
never pay interest on anything.

We have an ING account that we put $400 into every month. That's our car fund. So, when one of our current
cars dies--we have cash for another.

Totally different way of living--but it's nice to actually keep most of the money you make. Anyone can do it.

We're a one-income household too.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. Ah yes, Citibank, the people who placed unspecified "additional fees" on my checking account

that caused it to go over the limit, therefore triggering overdraft fees.

They did that to me ONCE. I paid the overdraft fee and then sent them my debit card cut up into little pieces with a request to close the account.

[caseymoz]

27. If these are all gas station credit cards . . .

My question is, what is happening in the oil industry then? What do they know about that industry that we don't?

Price hikes might be one guess.

[mackerel]

One more reason cash is king.

[bobalew]

30. They closed ALL of my accounts with them, for Non-use?

I had a $29K Credit line, & didn't use it for a year. Same bullshit, except " Account was closed at CUSTOMERS Request", which I DID NOT do. Same story with my Shell credit card($300.00 Credit line), My Dome Depot cards, 1 Regular, 1 Business account, both at $3K credit lines. Now I'm waiting for the other "Shoe" to drop, my Sears Card, which is ALSO serviced by them. Bottom line: Citi is in BIG TROUBLE, and NO AMOUNT of TARP, or Fed funds is going to help. Mark my words today. you'll see.... Their end is near....
Regards, Bobalew

[Yes We Did]

59. You should be happy...

they said it was closed at your request instead of theirs. If they close it, it hurts your credit score. LOL... Not that those mean anything anymore.

[reclinerhead]

72. Actually the opposite

It says closed at credit grantor's request.. i.e. Citibank.

Edited: oops you were replying to the post above. Sorry.

[vinylsolution]

31. We bail 'em out with OUR money....

.... then they declare war on us.

Is anyone else here getting p*ssed off?

It's time we gathered up our pitchforks....

[Nikki Stone1]

47. + 1

!

[saigon68]

87. Thank little Timmy Geithner and the "Present Occupant" for this

[Xipe Totec]

34. always paid the bill on time. There's the problem!

That makes them deadbeats in credit card parlance.

How can a credit card company make obscene profits, unless their customers rack up large debts and pay late fees?

Where is the compassion for these credit card companies?

















:sarcasm: captioned for the humor impaired.

[LuckyLib]

38. This is it exactly. They do not need to be floating you $$$$ only to have you

pay your bill in full each month. They can't make any gouging profits off of folks like that. Cut those "deadbeats" lose!

[la_chupa]

35. how do they dream this stuff up

My dad told me that they lowered his limit then hit him with a fee for being over his limit.

He's going all cash. I fear that next they'll sabotage his car so he has to use his card for repairs.

[whatacountry09]

37. UNBELIEVABLE...

This is terrible; I don't have "CITI", but I'm with BofA and not a credit card, but a checking account and I think this is newsworthy to account holders of BofA.

I just found out how they beat us more than they should.

If you buy something and the place of purchase immediately hits your account - it is identified as a "HOLD or an AUTH"; however, that company did NOT take their payment out of your account yet.

That company you made that purchase from can actually keep that payment on hold for up to six months (if they wanted to) and EVERY SINGLE DAY until then... you will see that AUTH/HOLD and even though that money is TECHNICALLY STILL IN YOUR ACCOUNT - if God Forbid something else clears - like an immediate direct debit of some sort... BofA counts that "AUTH/HOLD" as if YOU DO NOT HAVE THAT MONEY... even though you "technically" do have it still in your account.

The BIG picture... BofA can use that against it's customers (as they did with me) and charge me a $35 OVERDRAFT FEE.

Needless to say - I got them to refund it... but still - NOT A COOL WAY TO TREAT CUSTOMERS; ESPECIALLY IN THIS ECONOMY. And for the record... I am ALWAYS on top of these companies - every month - every statement and maintain a ZERO TOLERANCE for UNJUST FEES. However, had I NOT been that type of detail-oriented customer, as lots of folks are... this would've just been taken from me and I would've never known.

I would like EVERYONE to remove their funds from BofA (nah... I'm just kidding - but they have pissed me off and it was my duty to inform all of you and THEM TOO). :)

[JenGatherer]

51. Not a bad idea at all...

I would like EVERYONE to remove their funds from BofA (nah... I'm just kidding - but they have pissed me off and it was my duty to inform all of you and THEM TOO).

Posted Today by Karl Denninger at link below:

Have you had it with the scams, frauds, "mark to myth" and lies?

Tired of this sort of garbage - being punished for being responsible?

You may believe that your exemplary behavior shields you from unexpected credit card fees. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

You can stop it.

Yes, you.

All 330,000,000 of you.

Here's how.

Go withdraw all your money and business from the following institutions:

Bank of America
Wells Fargo/Wachovia
Citibank
JP Morgan/Chase

Those four.

Place your business with a local community bank or credit union in their place, and tell the above four institutions to "piss off."

I've resisted doing this, but the idea that banks are now going to try to penalize those who do not carry balances or pay late fees is the last straw.

This is a call for a boycott.

A call to break these institutions by destroying their deposit base and "net interest margin", one consumer at a time, as a protest against the outrageous actions these firms have taken in terms of risk and their shifting of the costs of that risk, which should have resulted in their failure and closure by The FDIC and OCC, onto the backs of their customers via outrageous fees, interest rates and costs, along with the direct subsidy being paid by all taxpayers generally.

Are not 30% credit card interest rates enough, while these four banks all can and do borrow at near-zero from The Fed and have issued debt with an FDIC guarantee (that is, funded by you)?

If that is not enough to dissuade you, how about Wells Fargo holding an unknown amount of Wachovia "off-balance sheet assets" at god-knows-what in terms of valuations - and justification for same - while cutting back HELOC lines and credit cards?

If not that, how about the practice of large banks re-ordering transactions to generate the maximum amount in overdraft fees, with the brunt of these fees and costs being born by those least able to afford it - the working class person? Yes, I know, the banks, in response to "outrage" on Capitol Hill, recently have "agreed" to reduce the maximum number of overdraft fees they will charge, but what they didn't (voluntarily) agree to do is stop that practice entirely. Oh, many will also allow you to overdraw your account at an ATM or debit terminal, and some will even display a "balance" at the ATM that includes uncleared funds in a puerile attempt to encourage you to do so. That latter practice, by the way, has drawn pending legislation - a few years late, of course, and with no clawback of the ill-gotten gains (tens of billions of dollars) that have been stolen, er, "earned" over the last few years.

There is no law that says you must patronize firms that engage in practices that you find outrageous or abusive. Indeed, it is your right and duty as an American to withdraw your consent to such practices by telling institutions such as this to go piss up a rope.

It is also your right to band together with others and persuade them to do so as well.

This is a call for all of America to do exactly that.

The "large banking industry" has effectively captured the regulatory and legislative apparatus of The United States to do their bidding, even when they screw up, instead of those costs being imposed on their shareholders and bondholders as it should be.

You have no duty to support or tolerate this, and indeed, if you ever want to see it change, you must stop providing these firms with your dollars - your deposits - and your loan business.

Wells Fargo/Wachovia
Citibank
Bank of America
JP Morgan/Chase

Tell them to go to hell and pull your business, whether it be small or large, and take that business to your local community bank or credit union.

Not only will you send a message, you'll reward those firms that provide you with quality service and a reasonable cost structure, instead of those who appear to use every opportunity to nickel and dime you to death.

These institutions, like all businesses, rely on customers in order to survive.

Deny them that business and these practices will change, or they will go out of business - as they should.




http://market-ticker.org/archives/1524-Had-Enough-Time-For-A-Boycott!.html

[Amonester]

58. Excellent. But I fear a little voice in me will tell me...

if that happens, this crime-cartel of four will just order their pre-paid lobbyists to DEMAND another round of TARP un-limited.

And guess what, that same little voice in me tells me NOW that they'll have it, no strings attached... again.

Why is that?

[xxqqqzme]

82. I completely closed everything I had

w/ Wells Fargo, almost 3 years ago (I had been w/ Wells since 1985). I opened an account w/ a credit union and have been pleased beyond expectation. They call when something is out of the ordinary and they have notified me if a vendor account has been compromised. They recently advised me to cancel my debit/ATM card because of an compromising incident.

[and-justice-for-all]

39. I think this is precurer to worse things to come....

CCC and the for profit health care sector will retaliate against us for our want of regulation and health care reforms.

The best thing you can do against a CCC is to not have any or have just one for emergencies. Perhaps just stick to your local banks CC system, which I use all the time. Comes right out of my checking.

[V_Byl]

42. Making money...

Maybe I'm confused, but I run a small business and take credit cards. Every transaction I pay about 35 cents for, and then about 3% (depending on the amount of the purchase). I know Visa or Mastercard or whoever is getting a chunk of that fee, but I know the bank is getting some too. Also, I am liable for all fraudelent charges, the bank just pulls the money back out of my account, so it's not like they are risking anything there. Oh plus if they find a charge is fraudulent (this happens about 3%-5% of the time with internet orders) when they recoup their money from my account they also charge a settlement fee... lol.

Not to mention the banks are lending out money based on having only 10%-30% of it on hand (depends on their reserve requirement) so they are lending you money that they don't even have - charging you the full amount, plus interest and late fees, and now surprise cancelations and annual fees - honestly I'm not even sure how they make money on canceling the cards but they must be doing it somehow.

I'd love to be a bank/credit card company, lol... what a scam.

[alp227]

43. Is this even legal?

If everyone knew that the fine print contained "May be revoked without notice", then they'd bankrupt the dumb card company.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

44. That happened to me!

I share a Shell account with my Mom and I went to pump gas yesterday and it was denied! I calle dabout it and got the same response. Unfuckinbelievable. :mad:

[KeepItReal]

46. CHASE closed my WaMu credit cards with no warning. Both were in good standing.

I'd had them for YEARS

Providian -> WaMu -> CHASE -> Cards Canceled

[tomm2thumbs]

48. intimidation? - Wall Street threats? - Play nice or we'll cut you off?

I say let Walmart get into the financial industry as they wanted to before. They'll kick those Wall Street a**sholes into another dimension.

[hfojvt]

53. I wonder if the customers have other citi cards

It makes no sense for Citi to just dump good customers. At least when I worked there, there were signs around the building about how important it was to keep customers. One thing they were pushing when I worked there was Mastercards. This was primarily for advertising. Mastercard allowed Citi to put its own logo across the card in big letters, whereas Visa didn't. So they were pushing these 'upgrades' that switched their customers from Visas to Mastercards. Their long range goal was to enter the field as a competitor to Visa and Mastercard.

The thing about these gas cards is that they probably have the gas station's name on the card in big letters, so Citi is closing some accounts probably to replace them with the cards that say Citi on the front.

[AnneD]

57. Makes me think Citi is in a shitload of trouble...

and needs a ton of cash on their books yesterday. Bet they are the next to go under.

[Zorra]

50. Fuck banks and banksters. Cut up your credit cards. Join a credit union if you can.

If you need a card for transactions use a debit card, and be sure to never make mistakes with your account.

Fucking POS banksters.

[orbitalman]

52. All my credit cards are history!!!!!!!!!

I get around the the credit card syndrome with a "debit" card. Most banks have them. they "act" like credit cards but without ANY of the hassles.

[rasputin1952]

56. Pay cash....get a debit card that costs you $5 to load and

use it for emergencies.

DON'T give megabanks another dime!

[WillyT]

61. Capitalism My Ass...

:wtf:

:puke:

K & R !!!

:kick:

[CreekDog]

63. A few years ago Citibank sent me a new MasterCard and told me my old VISA one would stop working

before it's expiration date.

so I called them and said, "cancel my account."

i never was crazy about them to begin with and i'm glad now that i cancelled them before they had a chance to do it to me.

the credit union credit card is better. heck, even the Amazon (Chase :eyes: ) card is better than Citibank's. my favorite Citibank experience was when they lost my payment, crediting it improperly and fixing it a few weeks later, sort of, by crediting it for the next cycle and charging me late fees on the next three bills, saying each was a month late. their argument was I paid January's bill in February, February's in March, March's in April.

[cherrybluesky]

64. Ha, funny...

Because that just happened to me with my Exxonmobile Mastercard. I didn't know anything until my husband (who was an authorized user on my card) told me that he saw that the account was "closed by guarantor" on his credit report. Sure enough, I check my credit report and there it is, closed. I called customer service and apparently, my account was closed on 10/14/2009 without my knowledge because they said that my Equifax credit score was too low. I don't know what the hell they consider "too low", but it is the same credit score I had when I got the card only 5 months ago. I made every single payment on time (as soon as the statement was available) and none of that matters now. I get my statements via email and I received an email on 10/16/2009 (two days AFTER they closed my account, mind you) stating that my new statement was available and there was not one stinking word about my account being closed. And customer service said, "Oh, we sent that out to you via regular mail, so you should receive a letter in a few days." I call bullshit on that one, because it's been almost a week and I've seen absolutely nothing from these fools.

OK< I had calmed down about this, but now I'm pissed again. Not at the situation just for me, but because now I see that many more people are being fucked over like this. :mad:

[WinkyDink]

66. They don't LIKE on-time, no-interest-paid payments!

[cherrybluesky]

70. *facepalms*

Gah! Of course! What was I thinking, paying my bills on time and paying well above the minimum payment? I knew I should have made late payments so that I would have to pay interest fees. THEN they would have kept me around just for the extra money. Thank you, WInkyDink, for showing me the error of my ways. I will have to apply this new way of thinking to all of my other bills! ;-) :rofl:

[myrna minx]

71. Welcome to DU, cherrybluesky

:hi:

[cherrybluesky]

75. Thanks a bunch!

:hi:

[TK421]

65. Oh reeeallyyyy?!!!!!!

these fuckers just need to go out of business like...yesterday!

[DontTreadOnMe]

67. GRASSROOTS ALLIANCE FOR EVERYONE...

it's time! If over 50% of all people cancel ALL their credit cards... within one business quarter (3 months)... these credit card issuers will be at their knees begging for customers.

We need to organize a grassroot effort to cancel credit cards. Yes, you NEED a credit card to check into a hotel, rent a car....etc...
But MOST people can LIVE without a credit card for three months.

One business quarter is all it takes.

[LuckyLib]

73. A debit/credit card from your local credit union will allow you to reserve hotel rooms,

rental cars, etc.

[Zorra]

84. Great idea. Credit cards are a threat to our democracy.

It would be better if everyone just canceled their credit cards permanently.

[BREMPRO]

76. i've had a CITI CC for 20 years and kept a balance and paid it off many times

I also have nearly perfect credit. I just got a disclosure from CITI to update my credit card account saying they were raising my APR for purchases to..... get this......29.95%!!! WTF@!+ This is Usury- and should be illegal. These guys are fukin crazy, bad businessmen,bloodsucker, crooks, and tone deaf. If they think i'll ever use their services again, they are mistaken. Let em fail.

[hayu_lol]

79. Prov.--Washington Mutual--Morgan-Chase...

Both Providian and WAMU were stable and reliable for me for a number of years. When Morgan-Chase took over WAMU at the first of the year, they double-billed me(single month)and there were other problems with them. For Prov. and WAMU, the due date was fixed.

For the past few months, Morgan-Chase has been moving my due date around at their convenience...has caused several late charges. This outfit really should be flying the Jolly Roger over their headquarters.

Maybe it is time to consider mass action against these pirates...a non-pay campaign for 30 or 60 days. Don't know if they would feel a cash flow problem in 30 days...but they certainly would at least notice it at the end of 60. Might be worth considering.

[harun]

80. My friend just told me they jacked his up to 30% and 27%. Should

be illegal. Should have capped cards at 15% long ago.

[SandWalker1984]

81. Citi is also jacking up the interest rates to 29.9%

Citi is jacking up the interest rates it charges on many of it's credit cards to 29.9%

I've read several stories about it recently and can also speak from personal experience. They raised my rate from 8.9% to 29.9% last month. When I called to ask why (as I've had the card for over 10 years and have always paid on time), I was told it was a company policy change. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told the same thing. She also said she could not lower my rate back to the previous rate to keep a long time customer.

Congress never should have given these loan sharks months before the new legislation kicks in.