Rate Jacking Article Discussion

Cell

Just say no.

These leeches should be hounded out of existence.

There is no miracle except, unfortunately, for the companies that appear to offer you a lifeline. They do very well out of it all.

Pevs

Hi, I just want to run something past you all to get a view.

I've had a Barclaycard platinum for a while. It's got a high balance on it as i'd previously used it for balance transfers.
in the first quarter of 2011 (can't say exactly when as can't find the original letter) barclays wrote to me to say that they were increasing the APR on the card.
I remember speaking to my housemate at the time and saying how shocked I was that it was a full 5% apr increase in one hit.

For that reason I contacted Barclays and cancelled my account citing the reason as being the increase and getting verbal agreement that i would stay on the old rate.

Now, all of my records (pay back spreadsheets etc) stated that the apr for that card was 14.9%. I've therefore been concentrating on paying off some slightly more expensive debts and letting this one tick along on minimum payments until it came to the top of my priority list.

This week I randomly decided to check the level of interest on the statement as it seemed high, and realised that whilst hte account is closed, it's at 19.9%!

I've only got statements as far back as july 2011, and that higher rate was already being applied then, but don't have any as far back as Q1 of that year to check what i was paying at the point of cancellation.

I've contacted barclays who have come back saying that they don't have records of what my APR is and can only get those previous statements to check if i pay them 2.00GBP to retrieve them. Some how I'm not surprised!!

I've authorised them to do this and also asked them to retrieve their original correspondence about the APR going up.

Has anyone else had this though? Thought they've opted out and had the increase go up anyway?

I'm angry at myself that I left it so long to check it (lessons no 1, never never trust a bank to do what they've said they will without checking it) but what are the chances that I'll be able to prove this and my rights / liklihood of being able to arrange for everything to be recalculated from that far back?

TPAOY

Have taken RBS to FSO.

Got a partial result in payment for ignoring my letters, but they are refusing to explain why interest rate is being increased. Doesn't really affect me as I use the card only for 0% balance transfers, but still seems to be a totally unfair and one sided process.

Anyone know if somewhere such as Govan Law Centre takes on card companies when they refuse to explain rate increases?

fitzydec

I recently got close to t clearing my smallest card balance so I paid off what I could afford and tranferred the remaining £400 and a bit to my Mint Card thinking it would look better on my credit file If I closed the account I had just cleared.

Mint were great over the phone when transferring the money over to them but a week after it had gone in they sent me a letter saying my interest rate was going up!

Heres me trying to get myself straight, closing one account and moving my debt to a slightly better interest rate and theres them seeing me as an opportunity.

They are ALL the enemy and Im at war with the lot of em! :mad:

silverb2804

I have just rang Barclaycard to ask why my rate has been incresed from 15.9% to 20.9% and they said it was to cover their costs!!!!!
I have been with them for 5 years and payed by direct debit for 3 years and never missed a payment. Is this a good enough answer from them?
In the 20 years my husband and I have been married we have made some bad decisions financially along with everyone else. We can't all be financial experts. My husband is in a steady job and has just had 2 pay rises in the space of 6 months! I am in a stable part time job and so we are earning more money than ever. It is not an amazing income but it gets us from one month to the next, as long as the telly doesn't blow up!
It just seems that the banks has got wind of the wage increases and have increased our interest rates.
It annoys me that no matter how hard we work at trying to resolve our financial problems the banks always find a way of getting more off us!!!!! :mad:

Balador

I've just similarly called Barclaycard to query and increase from 25% to 30% which I wouldn't have thought to do if it hadn't have been for the latest tip email.

They told me that it was due to increased costs related to risk. I asked if there was any way to prevent this and they said I was eligible to stop the rate increase.

They then did so which apparently will last at least 6 months.

It felt like they had pretty much thought "Lets see if he will notice the increase, we can always cancel it if he does".

teacup47

of the messages i have read about various companies i am suprised i havent seen Marbles mentioned (though admittedly i havent read all posts).

i am sorting my mothers finances as we speak

the card started out at 17.9%, some year ago and we just had a letter to say its going up to 33.5%

yes you read rightly 3 3 . 5 %

paying in excess of £300pm and its not even touching the balance, which is just the same as its been since the card was taken out & not actively used since.

I am in process of getting switched to Natwest at 0% for 24mths and based on current estimates she will be able to clear the balance in less than the 24mths.

it angers me that these companies get away with this.

and i have to say, been a Natwest customer since i was a child, and parents too and no problems with their products & they have always been very helpful at bringing costs down, we are also saving £350+ per year by changing house insurances to them.

STAYING WELL CLEAR AWAY FROM MARBLES

dotdash79

Marbles haven't wrote to me at all.

Claimed PPI from them, they paid it into my account and then transferred it out. Charged me interest for the transaction and then upped my rate due to me having a transaction on the account.

Second letter of complaint is going out tomorrow if they don't sort it I'm referring it to the FOS.

Lotte_h

So I had a conversation with virgin credit cards today after I noticed that for the last 3 months (since they took the card over from mbna) that I'm paying £140 more per month & yet my balance is not reducing at all. In April I had agreed a 1.8%APR on my card with MBNA because I'd come to the end of a 0% deal and so my payments were still manageable for me. Having questioned virgin today it turns out my current APR is now 36.8%! Yes that's not a typo and is more than I would pay should my card be used for purchases. This increase has happened without any prior letter or email from Virgin & their excuse is that my deal with MBNA had come to an end (a deal that was only in place for one month). They are absolutely unwilling to do anything to reduce the APR, I have no card to transfer the balance off to & cannot afford the now £340 a month I'm paying (was paying £200 a month before). I'm thinking I'm going to have to do a debt repayment plan which will affect my credit score which is excellent at the moment & has been for years. Are there any other suggestions?

vix2000

MBNA did exactly the same to me, 16.9% to 34.9%. Very unethical tactics and methods to extort the money from me!!! despite offering to stay on 16.9%, (refused) and offering a good monthly payment, and after I was awarded compensation by the FSA, they took me to court, which I defended. At the 11th hour I was offered a top secret deal, but it has screwed my otherwise perfect credit rating up, despite a score of 996 as there is a big fat red default to the DCA. It is so unfair. I feel so sorry for you as I feel the frustration.