Right to reject, has it changed, what should i do ?

Lucid74

I had understood that if a credit card company changes your interest rate then you have the right to close your account and pay off the debt at the current rate you are charged.

I got a letter from Halifax/RBS this morning to tell me they are changing the way they charge interest. They are switching to charge a single rate + UK base rate. So every time base rates go up your interest rate goes up. (they cant really do anything else atm)

Tucked away in the small print is a note saying that from November onwards you still have right to close your account but any future changes to the base rate will alter the interest rate you pay even if you have closed your account.

Does anyone know if they can do this ? I thought the rules where the interest rate is fixed if the account is cancelled.




Reason im asking is they jacked my interest rate from 14% to 25% (on £8000 of debt) and tried at the start of the year to put it up to 30% ( i have never missed a payment on the card they agreed not to put it any higher)

I'm currently a mature student and can only make minimum payments atm. There were and are good reasons for me not to cancel the card. So i am just making minimum payments each month which cover the interest and nothing else. I should have graduated next month and then i would be paying off the full debt with ease. Instead mistakes and delays by a government department mean i wont graduate until this time next year. So i've got to somehow cover these payments for another year.



Given the changes halifax are proposing im unsure if i should just cancel the account now. I dont want to get stuck in a situation where my situation gets worse and i have to cancel my account only to find that the interest i pay keeps rising anyway.