Rate Jacking Sucesses/failures

BognorBoy

I had my rate jacked from 9.9% (very reasonable) to 15.75% (still not bad but it is a 50% increase on the interest I now pay).

I was advised that I needed to phone them in 30 days to benifit from the closing of the account at the old APR and just paying the account off. Unfortunatly I did not see this until afterwards and wrote to them within 60 days however they are saying that as I did not contact them in the first 30 days tough!

I advised them that that 30 day period had now increased to 60 days but was told this was only a white paper and had not taken forse yet.

Is there anything I can do?

hoopstars

Had a letter today from Tesco saying "The current economic environment has increased the risk associated with unsecured credit products, such as credit cards. With this in mind and following a review of your account new higher interest rates will apply to your account from June".
I am not the sort of customer they want as I use my card for everything BUT pay it off in full every month via Direct Debit. However when I phoned to ask why the hike, I was told, in quite a shirty voice, that the letter explained everything, so I asked what was it about my account that had prompted this increase but the young lady just kept saying it wasn't only my account that had been reviewed. I said I understood that but obviously not all accounts rates had been increased, she just said that mine hadn't been increased as much as some people's but that she couldn't do anything about it.
It was the fact that the letter seems to say that I've done something wrong on my account and her attitude when I phoned. I'm lucky as at the moment I am able to pay off in full so the hike won't affect me but it's galling none the less!

cats_eye

On 29th January, citi-cards tried to Rate-jack me and I opted for not accepting the increase and to suspend the account. The letter confirmed that they would close the account after I had finished paying off the balance of £3,672.
Today I received a letter telling me that they had closed the account and passed the ownership of my account over to an asset management company CC Asset Management Limited (CCAM) as part of an "announced agreement". Is this legal? What is the status of the debt now - is it still protected? Also said that they have passed my personal information over to this company. Is this as worrying as it feels?
I am not in arrears with my payments.

seikothrill

hoopstars wrote: »

Had a letter today from Tesco saying "The current economic environment has increased the risk associated with unsecured credit products, such as credit cards. With this in mind and following a review of your account new higher interest rates will apply to your account from June".

I have received the same letter today.

Has anyone had any joy at getting the increase stopped and if so what process did they use?

Thanks

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

I had the Tesco letter too. They talk about "Simple Annual Rate" rather than APR. Does anyone know how "Simple Annual Rate" is calculated, how it compares to APR and whether regulations permit Tesco to use this term rather than APR?

catnap53

Got the the same Tesco letter today. It is a bit obscure quoting simple interest rate and the monthly rate. I use on line account and can't even see what the APR is on there.

I will exercise my option to cancel and keep the current rate until it is paid off. I was trying to stop using Tesco anyway for shopping, even though the new store is the nearest supermarket to me.

issy18

same Tesco letter here, fine and dandy i tend to clear the balance and use this for the buy now pay 6mths zero % so :p mr tesco

davestones

I have just had a letter from Virgin Money increasing my rate from 21.9% to 29.9% as of June. The rate went up from 15.9% to 21.9% last year for no reason, so I have cancelled the card as they wouldn't/couldn't reduce it over the phone.

Now have a Barclaycard coming with 7.8% APR. Considering my card is used day in day out and then paid off in full every month, they have lost a very good customer...

CannyJock

davestones wrote: »

I have just had a letter from Virgin Money increasing my rate from 21.9% to 29.9% as of June. The rate went up from 15.9% to 21.9% last year for no reason, so I have cancelled the card as they wouldn't/couldn't reduce it over the phone.

Now have a Barclaycard coming with 7.8% APR. Considering my card is used day in day out and then paid off in full every month, they have lost a very good customer...

If you paid your card in full every month, why was the interest rate increase relevant?

lisal0u

Hi,

I had a letter from Virgin credit card at the weekend saying they are going to increase my APR from 15.9% to 27.9% :eek:

They aslo would not give me a reason, just that it was happening to a lot of customers! I have opted out so the interest will stay the same and the account will be closed once it is paid in full!

Why would anyone keep a cresit card with an APR of 27.9%?!

Lisa