it was stated on a news channel that the Mafia never forced more than 15% interest on loans they gave out...

The Mafia...

Gesh then the banks are worse then the Mafia and the CC companies. This is why I only have prepaid credit cards. I just did get my first credit card the other day. Here I am 40 years old and I finally am getting my first one. But, I told Hubby we will just not use it unless if its an emergency. Its only a $200 limit card but one never knows when I may need it. A friend told me once the only way to do a CC was to buy about $20 a month and Pay it off monthly that way you get a good credit score for paying on time. And for Paying it all up that fast.

Originally posted by XxthehoffxX
I recently had a massive hike on my credit card must be with all the defaults that are going on with people becoming unemployed or more likely another excuse to ripus all off

Rip you off? They are going belly up, it's either a) raise interest rates on customers or b) get more money from the government. Which do you prefer?

This topic make sme think back 9 or so years ago, my mom was sick, and father was going through her credit cards...sears card, mastercard, american express, visa.. and he was telling me, how it took like 30 years to pay it all off....from me and my sistes a kids, growing up he used the credit card alot, cloths, school, xmas, things like that.....30 years and $80,000+ over time and interest.

Mind you..it wa the interest, that was the killer in that $80,000.. and he too said dont EVER get a creidt card son..its like a nightmare that floows yuo for the rest of yuor life, all becuase of the interest..

....Or you could do what my Aunt did. She completely eliminated all 6 of her credit cards by challenging the debt. It destroyed her credit, but saved $50,000 in principal, and about 3 times that in interest. We are working to get these negative remarks removed, but the pro's FAR outweighed the con's.

Originally posted by BeyondBelow
I belive the legal national interest rate is 30%. or maybe 29% so there are barely under the legal limit.
line 3

that is robbery

use the rule of 72 to figure out how long it takes for the interest rate payments (alone) to double the total amount (principal) you owe..

24% interest rate ....yup 3 years of compounding interest payments and you doubled you equaled (in interest payments) your original principal

take 9 years to pay it off and you will pay (300%) of principal in interest alone

7.25% college loans with a 30,000 price tag....paying over 18 years will ensure you pay 200% (of your original debt) to interest charges alone!

someone can double check this ...but you get the jist....anything over 4.5% or so is legalized theft IMO....

on the flip side compounding interest can work MAGICK for you if you put your money in a CD....especially a CD that pays (4-5%) and the currency remains the world reserve fiat

[edit on 15-2-2009 by cpdaman]

If you do not like your credit card you do not have to use it. It is a service that they provide you at your request. If you do not like the terms cancle it. I am sorry but I do not see any massive conspiracy here. This is no different than your favorite store raising there prices. They do not have to warn you first. It is then your choice if you still want to buy thier product.

The only problem I see is if you have an outstanding balance and they raise the rate on you without there being some kind of agreement. However EVERY credit card does just that and it is clearly stated in your contract, that if you have an outstanding balance that your rates will be increased. So even in this case it can not be said they pulled a fast one.

In either case I have to say I am on the side of the credit card company on this one. The moral of the story is do not have your life based on your credit, otherwise other poepl will own you. Yes I agree it is very upsetting. I would suggest not using credit so you can increase your economic liberty and freedom.

every morning on the way to work there is a store i stop at to get coffee.it blows my mind to see everyday people buying coffee,muffins ,cokes etc on credit cards.it drives me crazy to wait in line while there paper prints and they sign.the guy that works there says he has never seen so many people buy 2 or 3 bucks of stuff on credit cards .tough times indeed

The reason for the rate hikes is that congress is in bed with the credit card companies. The card companies are making contributions to them. I found this out when I wrote my congressman several times and each time I got brushed off with "Oh there's nothing we can do." The only way we can stop this is to put our own man in there and for him to propose a law to stop congress from taking any contributions from anyone including the oil, chemical and pharmaceutical companies ect...! Or someone might talk to President Obama and let him put the whammy on them. But again there's the fact the the IRS collects taxes from these contributions and that might not go over so good with them.

I have 5 credit cards, 2 of them I maintain a 0 balance on so that I can always perform a balance transfer. Recently the 3 cards I had balances on did as you said and hiked my interest rate up to 28% . So I transfered the balances to my other 2 cards with a 0% interest rate on balance transfers for 6 months. I've already recieved offers from the original cards for 0% interest balance transfers so when the cards hike up their rates, I'll transfer again...

Honestly I havent paid interest in years by using this method.

Originally posted by XTexan
I have 5 credit cards, 2 of them I maintain a 0 balance on so that I can always perform a balance transfer. Recently the 3 cards I had balances on did as you said and hiked my interest rate up to 28% . So I transfered the balances to my other 2 cards with a 0% interest rate on balance transfers for 6 months. I've already recieved offers from the original cards for 0% interest balance transfers so when the cards hike up their rates, I'll transfer again...

Honestly I havent paid interest in years by using this method.

But you have to pay a fee to transfer the money over don't you?

Originally posted by Power_Semi

Originally posted by XTexan
I have 5 credit cards, 2 of them I maintain a 0 balance on so that I can always perform a balance transfer. Recently the 3 cards I had balances on did as you said and hiked my interest rate up to 28% . So I transfered the balances to my other 2 cards with a 0% interest rate on balance transfers for 6 months. I've already recieved offers from the original cards for 0% interest balance transfers so when the cards hike up their rates, I'll transfer again...

Honestly I havent paid interest in years by using this method.

But you have to pay a fee to transfer the money over don't you?

Yes, but the transfer fee is FAR less than paying 28% a month. Its usually around 3-5% and its only a 1 time charge, then its 0% a month. You save a ton on interest.