Extortionate increasing interest rates on credit card

anakaday

I have an old Halifax Platinum credit card account.
I have been paying the balance of for a few years.

The original interest rate was normal - approx 16%.

It has now increased to 25% for purchases and 28% for balance transfers.

I could not understand why the balance was not going down.

I have not had a card since 2003!

I understand the laws about unfair charges - their charges are only £12 which is not unreasonable.

But what about they have added 10% to the interest rate?
There equivalent number one card is 15.9%!

There have been a number of reforms lately which go against the consumer.

Can I do anything about this?
I want them to pay me back the excess and reduce the interest rate to a normal amount.

anakaday

Just to clarify - I have not used the card for at least 4 years I don't have one. It;s not as if I have spent money having been notified of interest rate increase.

rbrian

That's the credit crunch for you, interest rates are going up all over the place. Pain in the behind, but the terms and conditions would have said the interest rate is variable, and they can vary it as much as they like. If your credit rating is good enough, get a new 0% card and transfer the balance. If your credit rating isn't so good, you may still be able to get a low rate life of balance card. If you threaten to leave, Halifax may reduce the interest rate, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Dylanwing

If you are not using it, see if you can get a personal loan at a decent rate.