Make Money Marketing

First person: Late credit card payments and rising interest rates – Yahoo! News

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case dealing with interest rate increases due to late credit card payments. In Chase Bank v. McCoy, the bank argues that it did not have to warn James McCoy of the penalty increase at the time it was incurred because the penalty was disclosed when he opened the account. McCoy counters that consumer protections require Chase to warn him anyway. Below, a college student shares her story in light of this case.

When I was halfway through my sophomore year of college, I decided to get a credit card. It was a difficult decision because this was my first time, and I was scared about going into debt. I did quite a bit of research into what kind of credit card would be ideal for me, and eventually I ended up signing up for a Chase Slate Visa credit card.

I chose this card because it promised savings on interest and no annual fee. Because of my good standing with my college loans, I was able to get the Premium Pricing option, which put my APR at 17.99 percent after six months of an introductory APR of 0 percent.

I had no issues with my Chase Slate Visa credit card the first seven months of use. Even after the six-month period of 0 percent APR, I was paying back my interest rate and bill well over the minimum payment every month. I had no issues with Chase’s credit card customer service representatives, either, and they helped me with charge issues I had due to two stores not properly charging my card for purchases.

But things went downhill quickly when I received my bill for the previous month. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make my minimum payment in time because of school tuition expenses. I had contacted Chase immediately and asked them about the consequences of not submitting my minimum payment on time. The representative assured me that there wouldn’t be any problems with my card since it was a one-time issue and I had been paying back my card balance on time every month since I first got it. I ended up paying my minimum payment five days past the 21-day due-payment period.

Needless to say, when I opened my next bill from Chase I was furious when I saw that my interest rate skyrocketed from 17.99 to 29.99 percent. I went from owing around $70 in interest charges a month to $120. I was never aware I could have my interest rates go up so soon. I called up Chase again and was connected to an extremely rude representative who told me the 29.99 percent rate would stand and that I was responsible for the overage charges I had incurred due to the late payment. He then referred me to the APR information for the Chase Slate Visa card, and there I read that my APR could go up to 29.99 percent if I had any type of late payment. Had I known this originally I would have never gotten the credit card.

I no longer have the Chase Slate Visa credit card. As soon as I got off the phone with the representative, I cut up the card, and once I finish paying it off completely I’m sticking to using a debit card only. I learned that credit card companies desperately need to warn their customers about APR increases by directly notifying them. It’s evident that a long page, full with legal jargon, simply isn’t enough, and many credit card users aren’t aware of the consequences facing them.

Internet Marketing resources for you:

New York Seo - TMZ Community Member
AOL.com Video - Internet Marketing Strategy : Article Writing

Technorati Tags: Make money marketing