misshestermoffitt
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Wow, am I glad I always rejected the credit card way of life. I don't have one, never have had one and have no intention of ever getting one.
Imagine those people who have 10's of thousands of credit card debt, sucks to be them.
(CNN) -- It arrived in Rich Stevens' mailbox a few weeks ago: the notice that Citibank had "rate-jacked" the Visa cards belonging to him and his wife.
Some credit card holders have seen their interest rates go up dramatically, a practice called "rate-jacking."
"In my case, from 9.5 percent to 16.99," the 54-year-old nurse from the Long Island hamlet of Merrick, New York, told CNN. And his wife's rate zoomed from 7.95 percent to 16.99 percent, he said.
Stevens said he did not know why the rates had soared; his credit rating is great.
But, like thousands of other credit card customers around the nation, he has been notified his rate is skyrocketing.
"It almost borders on loan-sharking, from my perspective," he said.
In the blogosphere, writers are livid at the instant rate hikes -- called "rate-jacking."
Citigroup seems to be the target of most bloggers' venom -- partly because Citigroup issues so many credit cards and partly because Citi began sending the notices at about the same time it was getting a $20 billion, taxpayer-financed government bailout.
No one at Citigroup would talk on camera to CNN about the matter. Instead, the company issued a written statement, which said: "To continue funding in this difficult credit and funding environment, Citi is repricing a group of customers."
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Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, said she is sick of the fine print.
She agreed that credit card companies get away with whatever they want, as long at they put their desires into the fine print.
"They have this provision that says they can raise the rate -- any time, any reason," she said.
In September, Maloney got the House to pass by an overwhelming margin of 200 votes the "credit card holders' bill of rights," which would have stopped rate-jacking and the imposition of other fees by banks.
But the bill has languished in the Senate since September. "There's a lot of pushback from the financial industry," she said.
Watch how card companies are trying to woo customers »
Critics say that pushback is linked to donations from the banking industry to the politicians responsible for regulating credit cards.
The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is Christopher Dodd. His staff said the Connecticut Democrat has his own credit card bill containing tough language to stop things like rate-jacking and shortening of billing cycles -- two issues that anger consumers.
But even Dodd's own bill has failed to gain traction -- it has sat since July.
Dodd himself received more than $4 million from the financial sector during the last campaign, according to campaign records. His office did not respond to CNN's questions about that.
It did say that he has tried repeatedly to protect consumers, but added, "legislation has been met with stiff opposition by the credit card industry."
On Thursday, the Federal Reserve is expected to vote on its own new rules regarding credit cards, rules in the works for four years that could clamp down on rate-jacking.
Whatever is passed, Maloney said, probably would not take effect until 2010
Imagine those people who have 10's of thousands of credit card debt, sucks to be them.
(CNN) -- It arrived in Rich Stevens' mailbox a few weeks ago: the notice that Citibank had "rate-jacked" the Visa cards belonging to him and his wife.
"In my case, from 9.5 percent to 16.99," the 54-year-old nurse from the Long Island hamlet of Merrick, New York, told CNN. And his wife's rate zoomed from 7.95 percent to 16.99 percent, he said.
Stevens said he did not know why the rates had soared; his credit rating is great.
But, like thousands of other credit card customers around the nation, he has been notified his rate is skyrocketing.
"It almost borders on loan-sharking, from my perspective," he said.
In the blogosphere, writers are livid at the instant rate hikes -- called "rate-jacking."
Citigroup seems to be the target of most bloggers' venom -- partly because Citigroup issues so many credit cards and partly because Citi began sending the notices at about the same time it was getting a $20 billion, taxpayer-financed government bailout.
No one at Citigroup would talk on camera to CNN about the matter. Instead, the company issued a written statement, which said: "To continue funding in this difficult credit and funding environment, Citi is repricing a group of customers."
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Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, said she is sick of the fine print.
She agreed that credit card companies get away with whatever they want, as long at they put their desires into the fine print.
"They have this provision that says they can raise the rate -- any time, any reason," she said.
In September, Maloney got the House to pass by an overwhelming margin of 200 votes the "credit card holders' bill of rights," which would have stopped rate-jacking and the imposition of other fees by banks.
But the bill has languished in the Senate since September. "There's a lot of pushback from the financial industry," she said.
Critics say that pushback is linked to donations from the banking industry to the politicians responsible for regulating credit cards.
The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is Christopher Dodd. His staff said the Connecticut Democrat has his own credit card bill containing tough language to stop things like rate-jacking and shortening of billing cycles -- two issues that anger consumers.
But even Dodd's own bill has failed to gain traction -- it has sat since July.
Dodd himself received more than $4 million from the financial sector during the last campaign, according to campaign records. His office did not respond to CNN's questions about that.
It did say that he has tried repeatedly to protect consumers, but added, "legislation has been met with stiff opposition by the credit card industry."
On Thursday, the Federal Reserve is expected to vote on its own new rules regarding credit cards, rules in the works for four years that could clamp down on rate-jacking.
Whatever is passed, Maloney said, probably would not take effect until 2010
For me, I wouldn't have been able to accomplish some pretty significant things had I not worked hard at rebuilding my credit. In fact, I don't think Dave fully appreciated what that meant until he saw the difference in how one gets pinched if they haven't got such good credit and how another is practically spoonfed by companies falling over each other to get you to sign up with them. I do think that era is over, though I will continue to take advantage of the 0%APR offers to transfer balances as long as I don't get dinged too hard with transfer fees.
