Dirty Credit Card Company Tricks
January 3rd, 2008 by Ana
I know, I know…the “Great Credit Card Debate” isn’t supposed to start until tomorrow…but this is just too much temptation for me to resist! It seems Lynnae over at BeingFrugal.net has a major and valid complaint against that credit card company I so love to hate: Citibank. They not only slapped her around with a fee (for paying early, no less!) but rate-jacked her to boot.
My hatred of Citibank goes way way back… a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…in the fall of 1991 when I was an unemployed college freshman and they so kindly gave me a credit card at the student interest rate (which is of course the highest rate to start with according to creditcards.com). Hey, I was only 18; what did I know? I didn’t even know how little I knew…I was that clueless LOL I finally paid that evil credit card in 1999 or 2000…or was it 2001 when I had to clean up my credit report to buy this house? In my mind, Citibank is firmly entrenched on the Dark Side of the Force!
If you read the comments for Lynnae’s post, you’ll see Citibank isn’t the only credit card company that does this! I recounted my *wonderful* experience with American Express playing “Move the Due Date” with me last summer as they realized I was paying it down and meant business. I am happy to report that I haven’t been rate-jacked recently… although it wouldn’t surprise me if Citibank pulled that with me back in my young and clueless days.
Lynnae, I know you read this, and I know you have been undecided as to whether or not you should cut those credit cards up and get them out of your life permanently…Please, take my advice: KILL THEM ALL!!!! Cut them bad boys up and don’t look back…because they still have more dirty tricks up their sleeve! If you can’t get this episode from showing up on your credit report (even though it was Citibank’s fault!) your other credit cards might pull out their nastiest trick of all: universal default. Credit card companies are NOT your friends… and if they were who ever need enemies with “friends” like them?
Everyone else, stay tuned tomorrow for the official credit card debate with Madison from My Dollar Plan 
Posted in Uncategorized |
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Fortunately this is the only card I have a balance on, so I’m not worried about the universal default. But it did cross my mind that if I had another balance, I could really be up a creek.
Oh the pressure! Between you and glblguy I may just end up shredding the cards someday…..maybe….
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I love the “credit card companies suck” alt text on Lynnae’s link lol
Do what you need to do Lynnae.
I still have to post PT’s controversial choice #5…. why I still carry the cards in my wallet lol. Hopefully it’ll get done for tomorrow. Pressing matters discussed in a post going live later this afternoon have derailed my schedule. I wanted to be ready for the cc debate but, well… heh.
I do still agree that the cc co’s suck though, even if I carry my cards
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
PaidTwice: Oops, I’m busted LOL Yeah I have too much fun with the alt text
Now you’ve just let the cat out of the bag and folks are gonna go through every post to see how much of a smartaleck I really am!
Lynnae: (chanting) KILL THEM! KILL THEM! Join me GLBLguy!!! We have almost gotten her brainwashed…er…converted
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Well, you may have typed it, but I was thinking it. LOL
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
What’s this? A day early…. so it begins!
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Credit cards DO suck! Really, I can’t think of one single good reason to have them, if you are in control of your money.
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
[…] credit card debate…. however, Ana at Debt Free Revolution tried to slip in an early post: Dirty Credit Card Company Tricks. It seems she’s trying to convince Lynnae at Being Frugal to get rid of credit cards after […]
January 4th, 2008 at 7:52 am
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January 6th, 2008 at 8:36 am
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January 6th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Go ana! Go ana! Go ana!
I got some ice cream!
I got some ice cream!
You can’t have some!
Cuz your mom’s in debt up to her ears!
(Apologies to Eddie Murphy)
heh heh heh
January 7th, 2008 at 6:00 am
[…] Dirty Credit Card Company Tricks at DebtFREE-Revolution. (make sure to hover your mouse over the links, too…funny stuff!) […]
January 7th, 2008 at 8:31 am
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January 9th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
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May 19th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Run–don’t walk–away from Citi! They are more than vicious and unethical. They pulled ridiculous stunts when we had credit cards with them. This gets worse: We had our mortgage with Citi for a short time, and they harrassed us non-stop even though we never were late with ONE payment. When my husband and I tried to phone them about this, the representatives generally hung up on us (we were not combative in any way). I told them we wanted to switch to another bank, and the reply was actually, “You’ll never get away from us.” Moreover, they wanted a $15,000 pre-payment fee if we tried to leave. We contacted the Department of Banking, FTC, and ACORN, and one of Citi’s top executives finally said, “Okay, ‘call off the dogs.’ You can go with no fee at all.” They sicken me. God help people who aren’t proactive with them. They’re consummate predatory lenders!