38.9% interest on Credit Card!

[fltoo]

Unfortunately Angie, the cc companies follow the law of the state where they are located, not where the customer is. I can't remember all the details now, but there was some kind of supreme court ruling in the 80s that squashed a federal usury rate. Hence, the major cc company flock to DE.

To my knowledge there is no federal law on usury that supercedes state laws.
I haven't followed it in years, so I might be missing some new laws.

[Pinkie86]

Credit card lenders are businesses and businesses are in business to make money. We all need to keep that in mind when we sign a credit card application.

True. And I'm all for capitalism, but when they start harassing people and threatening to sue them when there are good people who need to feed their kids, that's when I have a problem with them.

[fltoo]

If you had a business and someone owed you $10,000., and they refused to pay, would you not keep calling them and go to court and get a judgment against them?

Or would you honestly say, okay, no big deal. I will stop calling you.

[Flamingo]

Unfortunately Angie, the cc companies follow the law of the state where they are located, not where the customer is. I can't remember all the details now, but there was some kind of supreme court ruling in the 80s that squashed a federal usury rate. Hence, the major cc company flock to DE.

To my knowledge there is no federal law on usury that supercedes state laws.
I haven't followed it in years, so I might be missing some new laws.

I read somewhere about South Dakota (can't remember where or what) but there are a number of credit card payments that get sent to SD and I believe there was something going on as to trying to regulate the interest amount as to that state. Can someone chime in who knows more about that? It was last year when I read that somewhere...had to do with very high interest rates.

[Pinkie86]

Obviously I would be upset, but I wouldn't tell people's children that their going to lose their house or anything crazy like that. Some of these people are ruthless.

Forget I said anything. I'll keep my crazy thoughts to myself.

[Flamingo]

If you had a business and someone owed you $10,000., and they refused to pay, would you not keep calling them and go to court and get a judgment against them?

Or would you honestly say, okay, no big deal. I will stop calling you.

Agree...it is always a good thing to put yourself on the other side of the table as to anything...no one forces us to obtain a credit card and we know that business is out to make money off us and the place at which we charge the goods. Plus if one lends a few thousand or more to someone and that person promises to pay that money back in xxx amount of time, and no payment or amount appears at the agreed upon payback time, I think we would become a little worried too and start making inquires....I'm not for credit card companies but keeping level heads as to what goes on is always the best as to a discussion.

[gymbo]

Credit Card co's

It is true that we are responsible for our own spending, including using the plastic, HOWEVER there is something very very wrong with this industry.

I always remember the FIRST time I got in over my head with a credit card. I was just out of college and owed more then $8k. I starved and suffered and pd it down to under $4k and called the company and I ASKED THEM to lower the limit on the card... and the woman on the phone laughed and said, in her most condescending tone "Ummmm. NO. We don't do that."

I understand that having a higher limit then you want doesn't mean you should use it - but why should we as consumers not have any say in how much credit is issued to us and when???

FYI that card now has something like a $40k credit limit on it.
I "only" owe about $8k...again

The good thing is, people, and government regulators are getting smarter. I believe the era of so many people being owned by the credit card companies will end... one person at a time.

[deafbroke]

If you had a business and someone owed you $10,000., and they refused to pay, would you not keep calling them and go to court and get a judgment against them?

Or would you honestly say, okay, no big deal. I will stop calling you.

Banks are forced to limit interest rates according to usery laws. Credit Card companies should be held to the same laws. A local loan shark can spend time on prison but the credit card companies can screw us and get away with it. Something is wrong dude. Sure we can say NO, but there are two sides to a coin. We are targeted by the CC companies. They know us better than we know ourselves.
They have free reign to do as they wish because of dipshit idiots like a certain current president of the united states kissing big businness's ass at every turn. And yep, bush pushed through the new bankruptcy lasw that make it harder for people to file and easier for CC companies to own us for the next 10 lifetmes.

DB

[TEW]

[Goingbankrupt]

TEW, I agree with you. I did a balance transfer with Advanta and they sent my first bill and second bill to the wrong address. I really felt they were up to funny business from the start. My rate was supposed to be 0% for the life of the loan (at this point I had excellent credit)...they increased the rate to over 30%...I negotiated with them and they lowered it to 21.99%. They crushed me. My payments were barely getting me anywhere. I felt like their prisoner. Not a nice feeling.

[fltoo]

Flamingo, SD is another state like DE and cc card companies are located there. CA is another. I also heard something about SD and CA trying to lower the rate, but don't really know any details.

Deaf, there IS a usury rate for cc companies and banks. They obey the usury of the state in which they are located.
Each state regulates its own interest rates.

I am not for a federal standard, as I don't believe in government interference in private industry. Lastly I heard, the supreme court upheld this.

And I am not a dude. lol There is only one person to blame for the mess this chick is in.............and it's me.

[hnhlvr]

Deaf, there IS a usury rate for cc companies and banks. They obey the usury of the state in which they are located.
Each state regulates its own interest rates.
.

Yep, when I did look into this, I found that it's the state the bank is located in NOT where I live who decides the interest cap, unfortunetly.

Regarding my credit - my score is VERY good considering I do have quite a bit of debt. One of my other CC companies keeps my FICO score on their website and as of June 2008 it was 713. Guess I did something wrong and Citicards is out to get me.

I started another thread stating I'm not sure if I will just default on them or file BK. I did default a long time ago (in my early 20s) and never filed and eventually everything was discharged and taken off my report.

Anyhow, Citibank sucks! lol

Thanks everyone for your support.

[ThreadsSnapping]

If you had a business and someone owed you $10,000., and they refused to pay, would you not keep calling them and go to court and get a judgment against them?

Or would you honestly say, okay, no big deal. I will stop calling you.

It is one thing when someone just flat out refuses to pay but I think most of us here were willing to pay our debts. I just couldn't do it at 30%+ interest. We were doing ok and making decent progress at paying our balances off when they raised the interest rates and minimum payments to where it was either pay the CC or the rent, food,and other basic needs.

So if someone owed me $10K and refused to pay then, yes, I would go after them using legal methods. But if they were willing to work with me, make payments, pay a reasonable interest rate then why would I turn that down? And if there was a temporary financial issue on there end and they needed to make just token payments or no payments for a few months until they get back on their feet I would try to work with them. The cc companies don't care about me so why would I care about them. They did it to themselves.

TS

[WhatMoney]

Watch "Secret History Of The Credit Card" on Frontline.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/

And a map of states with no usury limits, where all the national credit card banks are located:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl.../more/map.html

All the credit card history is on this site - including why banks can now charge you a $75 fee for writing a balance transfer check.

Too bad so few Americans watch PBS and Frontline. This program was originally aired in 2004.

[halloweendmb1]

Sometimes the first month you make a balance transfer there is a huge fee to do the balance transfer, such as Chase is maxed at $150.00 I would bet this interest rate is factoring in the balance transfer fee and that next month it will not exist. I noticed that on my transfers the first initial month is really high and then every month after that it is 1.9% or whatever % you expect. But still call them.