March 14, 2009
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A Tail of Two Cap1 CC Holders, Pt.1
A winning fight.If you're one of the 37 million of having your credit card interest rates hiked by Capital One, there may be some hope. Don't expect it to come easy, though. It probably won't. Capital One, as most people know, is swathing a very large group with unexpected credit card rate hikes to raise revenue due to the losses their taking on defaults. Capital One is not alone here. Most of the credit card industry is doing the same. Some of the largest card issuers like Citibank, and HSBC are doing the same. So, even people with spotless credit card ratings are still getting hammered, almost indiscriminately. Two true but, contrasting stories to tell. One good and the other, not so.
The first deals with a woman who was stymied by the shock and ready to give up and succumb. Her credit card APR had jumped from 7.99% to 17.99% and cash advances were jumped to 24.9%. Finally, a friend urged her to ‘get up and fight'. So she did. When she called the Capital One Customer Service line she started out confident. But, even after explaining about how her credit card account had been in good standing for 15 straight years, she was repeatedly told there was nothing anyone could do.
Flustered as she was, she decided on one more frontal attack before giving up. She, at least, got the CS rep to examine her credit record. This took a few more minutes but, she pressed on. Finally, the rep got back on the phone and relented that she ‘might qualify for a special offer" (don't you just love the face-saving lingual?). Bottom line, she was allowed to keep her old rate. The other story was the opposite. Capital One had jacked APR a man's credit card account that also had a spotless record.