Credit card companies taking advantage during recession

anewman

Capital One just sent me a letter saying interest rates go up to 32.03% p.a. variable from 22.55%. And I thought 22.55% was bad. The base rate has gone all the way down to 0.5%, but credit card companies are putting the rates up nearly 10%. I have no no doubt the reason is to take advantage of people who have dire finances and will begrudgingly be happy to pay such exorbitant interest rates.

And at the other end the Halifax have sent me a letter saying they will no longer pay any interest at all on my account, and that overdraft rates have been reduced. So the candle's burning at both ends :mad:

Guess all I can do is make a renewed effort to pay off the balance each month.

jonesMUFCforever

Can you not balance transfer to another card or get a loan to pay this off?

rb10

anewman wrote: »

And at the other end the Halifax have sent me a letter saying they will no longer pay any interest at all on my account, and that overdraft rates have been reduced. So the candle's burning at both ends :mad:

Read the whole letter. You will see that all you need to do is phone them, and ask to change over to the Reward account, and you will get £5 credited to your account every month. I bet that's way more than you had in interest previously.

izools

Also capital one are under legal obligation to provide an "Opt-Out" enabling you to carry on clearing the balance at your own pace, at the old rate, if you agree never to use the account again (they close it and block the card if you opt out of the increase).