Virgin...up - Citi...down

HeadInSand_2

Virgin have just sent me a letter saying they're increasing my interest rate to 34.9% (from 29.9%), they are my current snowball and I'm paying £100~£400 a month off of it with no missed payments for well over a year now - strange they've stung me with that as I've been paying back a lot on it lately, not used it for around 2 years now. Ah well, only £1400 left to go.

Citi had on their statement "Thankyou for maintaining your account in accordance with your terms and conditions. We have reduced the interest rates on your account to 24.9p.a. for purchases and 29.9p.a. for cash advances"
So 5% up on Virgin and 5% down on Citi, net result is that I'm slightly better off because I have £2800 on the Citi card (just paying £150 a month on that at moment, will be next snowball after Virgin)
I have a loan ending in 8 weeks, another £200 to put towards CCs

Gunning for being debt-free by the end of this year...

YorkshireBoy

HeadInSand wrote: »

Virgin...increasing my interest rate to 34.9% (from 29.9%)... Ah well, only £1400 left to go.

You sound like you are willing to accept this.

Why not ring them, tell them you're not happy, and who knows...maybe they'll put it back (or even lower it further)?

Bismarck

Virgin/MBNA are seeing anyone as fair game at the moment if you don't breathe the right colour air....make any slip and they'll jump on you...I read elsewhere that policy is not to negotiate the rates so is there any way around it for you to maybe transfer elsewhere?

HeadInSand_2

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You sound like you are willing to accept this.

Why not ring them, tell them you're not happy, and who knows...maybe they'll put it back (or even lower it further)?

Realistically I have no choice, I called them a while back asking for an IR reduction but they basically told me to go away (Both Citi and Virgin), so I seriously doubt Virgin are going to be any keener to do me any favours now! (Which also makes it more surprising that Citi gave me a cut off their own back)
As Bismarck points out, the MBNA stable are getting stricter on negotiating IRs it seems. I've since cleared & closed my MBNA platinum card and cleared off a large amount from the Virgin card, I can only assume they're not earning enough from me anymore so are trying to maximise what they can squeeze from me before the balance is wiped out, I guess their computers analyse basic spending/repayment patterns and can easily detect the balance dropping quickly and no more minimum repayments.

jeanmd

If you look through the thread virgin have increased a lot of people's. most are good payers
We've been hit too - Phone them and they will reduce it.

HeadInSand_2

So, after reducing my IR 5% down from 29.9% to 24.9% last month for "maintaining my account well" Citi have now increased my IR 7% this month to 31.9% :rolleyes:
I called and asked why they bothered reducing it in the first place (to which they had no idea, naturally) - I then asked if they'd consider reducing it again, as in their own words I have been running the account well, but no, he said they can only review accounts every 6 months and the last review was in Feb (the 5% drop! :rolleyes:) - (I assume this 6 month wait only applies for going down, going up can happen any time it seems)
Bizarre, the only thing that has changed from last month to this month is having paid ~£900 off my debts (inc. £150 to Citi), still no missed payments.
Gonna be debt free soon I swear (within 1 year). I loathe all of this bullsh1t!

GeorgeUK

Just curious, but when was the last time you applied for credit?

Would it be worthwhile going to one of the highstreet names and asking for a CCard that is currently doing a 0% promotion?

You can usually have 3 credit checks within 6 months before it starts to affect your credit score.

HeadInSand_2

>when was the last time you applied for credit?

Once in the last 2 years, I tried for a Tesco 0% card a couple of months back but was declined. I'll give it one more shot, but it seems likely I'll just have to put up with these guys until I clear the balance.

GeorgeUK

I'd have a look at uswitch to see who the best 0% deals are with and also make sure to choose one with a minimum % rate the same as you currently have so that you are not struggling.

Use the card issuer list to make sure you can do a BT from your current cards. http://www.stoozing.com/cards.htm
No point getting a 0% offer then finding that it is of little use.

I'd still go for one of the well known banks first as they are probably dealing with the credit crunch a bit better than some of the others.

good luck.