Egg card Interest rate

tubby210

I have an Egg card that they have stopped me using and they have put up the interest rate to 26.9 per cent from 19.9 percent can they do this and is there anything I can do to stop them

CannyJock

tubby210 wrote: »

I have an Egg card that they have stopped me using and they have put up the interest rate to 26.9 per cent from 19.9 percent can they do this and is there anything I can do to stop them

Yes they can, and no you can't.

What you can do though is apply for a 0% BT card (Virgin Money would be my first choice) and move the balance onto it and avoid paying any interest for up to 15 months.

_Andy_

tubby210 wrote: »

I have an Egg card that they have stopped me using and they have put up the interest rate to 26.9 per cent from 19.9 percent can they do this and is there anything I can do to stop them

Yes - it's a variable rate as per the agreement you signed up to.

Paul_Herring

It still smacks of opportunism on Egg's part.

"Lets say they're a credit risk, stop them using their cards, and put up the interest rate on those who can't afford to pay off in full... and make them an increased credit risk if they can't afford it..."

Sort of a self fulfilling prophecy really.

NickX

Egg's reputation must be at an all time low, I wonder what life must be like in their marketing department.

CannyJock

Interest rate rises could be to pay the recruitment fees for their new chief exec?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7290702.stm

benf90

What recruitment fees?

Egg is owned by Citi and the new chief exec is moving from another part of Citi.

Unless I'm mistaken the last time Egg changed their interest rates was back in September 2007... way before any of the closures came to light.

I'm not agreeing with what Egg have done or the interest rate, because it is high. But, presumably they must not have an ideal credit history to have had their rate so high due to the risk based pricing... so maybe stopping the spending is a good thing?

Paul_Herring

benf90 wrote: »

But, presumably they must not have an ideal credit history to have had their rate so high due to the risk based pricing... so maybe stopping the spending is a good thing?

Someone clearly didn't see the news when it was announced that Egg were stopping 161,000 cards, and the reaction to Egg's announcement.

benf90

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Someone clearly didn't see the news when it was announced that Egg were stopping 161,000 cards, and the reaction to Egg's announcement.

I saw the news and followed it with interest as I myself am an Egg customer. The people who complained were those that said they had good credit records, there were people who had one of Eggs lowest interest rates (10.9%).

In this case the OP has had their interest rate increased because of risk based pricing, and as I said... unless I'm mistaken the interest rate would have been increased long before Egg started to give notice of the cancellations.

The two issues are separate incidents so I was just pointing that out. One look at the poll on here tells you that both those with good credit histories and bad credit histories have had their cards withdrawn. However, I've not heard of anyone having their interest increased to 26.9% when they've got a good credit history.

My post wasn't meant to cause offence to anyone, just simply to imply that maybe in this case Egg have actually done as their letter says... withdrawn the card because of an unacceptable credit risk.

For the OP, the only way to help avoid interest rate rises is to ensure your credit history is managed effectively. By 'managed' I mean that ensuring all the information the credit reference agencies hold about you is correct and you do your best to ensure the information provided by creditors is favourable - i.e. making payments on time etc.

If you haven't already done so then taking the time out to read the 'Your Credit Rating' article on here is well worthwhile. It can be found here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/credit-rating-credit-score