How long does a contract last?

MonkeyGirl

Hi all me again

We have just found out that our credit card is on 19.9% APR we thought it was 15.9% and that was high enough. Anyway we rang today to see if we can go onto a lower rate they have said yes we can go onto the 16.9% which is better but they said we can't go onto anything lower as we have a contract. We knew nothing about this we have had the card for about 2yrs now but they sent us a new card at the beginning of this year. How do we know how long the contract is for when we didnt know we were on one in the first place

Thank you for your help.

Moglex

Well, you always have a contract with a credit card company when you have one of their cards, and it lasts as long as you have the card. I've never heard of a CC (unlike, for example a mobile phone contract) having a minimum period.

I think either the person you were talking to didn't know what they were talking about, or you have misunderstood them.

Zebra

You can cancel an agreement at any time by simply contacting them, but you'll have to pay them the full amount owing.

If you have a large balance and are paying interest every month, why don't you take advantage of one of the 0% balance transfer deals available?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1107182516,76509,

jimmyjim_uk

Echo Moglex comments. The correct name for the contract is a credit card agreement.

You can cancel when you want. I think you can even cancel when you have a balance on the card. All you do is pay of what you owe in the agreed terms.

As for the APR its up to their discretion. Have you noticed that the advertised APR always has "variable" in brackets next to it. Meaning they can change it when they want.

MonkeyGirl

Well thats what I thought but it was the way she kept saying you can't go any lower as you have a contract but you can change it again at a later date when the contract has finished. Unfortuantley OH didnt think to ask how long the contract was or even what it was as such.The reason we wanted a lower APR was because we saw a better deal and as we only use it to spend on not balance transfer we thought we would go for it. The card expires in 2007. We didnt want to change companies just go with the same company on a lower rate. I think I may have to ring them back and get them to explain.

Thank you for your reply.