Absolutely furious!!!

Sorry everyone, but I'm just gonna have to vent here because it's Sunday, which means there is no one at the offices of HSBC for me to scream my head off at until Monday.

So I've had an HSBC Platinum Mastercard for over 2 years now. Although the balance is high, I have never gone over the limit, nor have I ever paid late. For the past 2 years, my apr was 12.9% Last month, my APR was 12.9%. However, I just got this month's statement in the mail, and I noticed that my minimum payment required had increased by almost $200. I thought that was odd, seeing as since I am trying to get out of debt, I haven't used that card since April, and I've been paying the balance down. Why a higher minimum all of a sudden?

So I look further down and see that my APR is now 26.99% !!!!!!
WHAT THE....WHY!!???

Can credit companies legally do this? If you always pay your bills on time and never max out the card, can they honestly decide to raise your APR by 14% whenever they feel like it with no legitimate reason??!!!!

I am absolutely FURIOUS that I am an on-time, honest consumer, and they pull something as greedy as this!!!!!! What- do they want me to claim bankruptcy on them!???? You know, I have taken a second job, and I work 14-16 hours 7 days a week to pay down my debt without settlements, consolidations, nor bankruptcies. I am busting my butt to do what I feel is right. However, if companies are still just going to take advantage of me, I might as well pull the plug on them.

Someone PLEASE tell me they can't get away with this and ease my absolute anger and frustration!

Wow Amaranth, something is wrong with this picture! I honestly have no clue what their legal rights are as far as increasing your interest rate out of the blue for no good reason, unless your contract states something to that effect I would venture to say they are trying to screw you. If I were you I would be doing some research at the DFI site to find out just what the laws are regarding interest rate increases! Keep checking back, as I am sure that someone with more knowledge in this area should have some information on this subject. Doesn't it just irk the heck out of ya when you receive news like this when nothing is opened!

Have you by chance been late with any other creditors recently? Many CC look at your CBR and if you are late with others, they raise your apr....NOT FAIR, But legal-- thanks to our lovely government, however I did read somewhere that there is a bill on the table to make that illegal, but who knows when that will take place, Reny

Hi-

I am not late with ANY of my creditors, nor have I ever again. That's another reason why I am so furious. I have 0 negatives on my credit report; 0 collections, 0 charge-offs, 0 over-the-limits, 0 lates. I just have a crappy FICO score because I have SO MUCH debt. So it really makes this situation seem like they are doing it for no good reason other than that the banks are really hurting now, and just because some consumers crap out on them, they think they can make up for the missing money by finding ways to sneak it out of those who have worked so hard to keep their credit clean.

Thanks for your input so far, guys. I know most creditor contracts say in the fine print that it's at the creditor's discretion if and when they increase your apr, but how can they possibly justify raising an account in perfect standing by 14% APR? That is outrageous!

The government is so busy bailing out the banks and lenders that they aren't paying any attention to the unfair lending practices that completely paved the way to this crisis. American credit needs a SERIOUS reform. I feel like I am playing this giant game that I can never win. Sure, here's your credit, consumer! And whether or not you are an AAA+ or major Fail, we'll still make it absolutely impossible for you to get treated fairly or scored fairly. We'll tell you how to make your credit good, but we'll do everything possible to hinder you, and then go back on our word and still find ways to rob you blind!

Grrrrrr......

Mine was increased on my only card a few years ago due to high utilization and only having one credit account other than my mortgage. When I called to complain, they made it seem like it was my fault that I only had one card. I thought I only needed one card? Anyway there was nothing they would do to bring it down, I had to pay it down substantially to get them to drop it. I was much better off in the end, but it still pissed me off at the time.

When you call, stay calm, be nice, and work your way up the chain of command until you can't go any higher. It still might not do any good, but it is worth a try.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Yeah, Amarath, that's the only reason I can think of as to why they raised your apr so high; you had either been late with HSBC or another creditor. I would definitely call them on Monday and get a logical answer why.

Good luck with that. Sometimes you would get more of a response from a wall than you will talking to the majority of front-line customer service reps on the phone. I know, I used to do that kind of work many years ago. Sometime all the required you to have was a pulse to work on the phones.

Not knocking all CSR reps out there at all. So please don't anyone take offense.

As for your comment on the bailout: you are so spot on. We make bad decisions about our credit or get behind for reasons beyond our control and we get hounded and harassed by OC's and CA's, or even sued. Financial institutions do the same thing the government bails them out.

Now, here's how I think this bailout thing should pan out. Rather than giving the money directly to the financial institutions, why not find out exactly how much each person is in debt, or rather past due on, and then give them that amount, with the requirement that is be used to pay off your bills that you are behind on or have defaulted on. We get our past-due debts taken care of, and the financial institutions still get their bail-out. Win-Win for all involved.

Of course, for logistical reasons (too numerous to list here), this will never happen. It's nice to dream, though.

You may want to make sure the cc company has all your payments listed Timely. One of the well known CC is notorious for saying you paid late (maybe one day) and will deny giving you credit increases or jump your payments. I was paying on the website and the jokers still insisted I was not paying on time. Now I am in a boat load of trouble with them. Just beware because most cc companies can be devious about collecting late fees, over the limit etc.. I will never want to see another cc after the experience I have had.

BOA did me the same way, they raised my interest rate from 5.99% to 15.99% for no reason, when I tried to get them to lower my rate back to what it was, they refused but lowered my credit line instead. I stopped making monthly payments because the payment no longer covered the interest. My account was then charged off and sold to a JDB and another, and another, etc.

Actually, I have an idea for the bail-out, too. Why don't we offer the financial institutions a loan with an apr of 99.9%, have the first several "payments" only go towards useless "rollover fees" and not the principle, have an early pay-off penalty, and then "accidently" debit their account 2 days before the agreed due date, thereby overdrawing them, and then threaten them with jail time the moment they miss a payment. I think you all get the picture.....

Have you called the credit card company yet this morning?

I did. They told me "too bad, so sad". They said I was sent an "opt-out" notice in the mail, which I never received. I just want to scream.

They said, "we can't reduce the rate. We can't."

And I said, "Yes you can! You can reduce the rate at any time! Some people let their accounts go late 60-90 days and you guys reduce their rate for them just to get them to pay again! I could go to a debt settlement company RIGHT NOW and get a lower percentage rate out of you!"

The supervisor went dead silent for, I'm not kidding, more than a minute, until he finally stuttered, "well, we would hate to see you do that...."

So I said, "Well, then reduce the rate now!" and he kept saying, "We can't do that."

I am in absolute tears. I am trying so hard to pay down my debts and get ahead and I'm working a second job I absolutely hate to do it, and I feel like I am being cheated and robbed. Why is there not a law against this kind of credit abuse? I will never be able to pay off a $7,300 balance at 26% apr, especially with all my other debt I am juggling.

I am so angry I want help. Is there someone or something I can report this to?! What can I do?

I used to do this years ago, but does the old 'I want to close my account' trick still work? I used to always get amazing apr's by doing that since they don't want to lose a customer who always pays.

Nope- didn't work. I started out completely friendly and all, too. I reminded them repeatedly that I have never ONCE been late, or overdrawn with them or ANY of my creditors. And all they said was, "Well, we can close your account. But you're still gonna have to pay 26.99% whether it's open or closed."

Household Bank is a greedy bunch of pigs. Out of sheer frustration, I've been looking online, and am finding tons of complaints from other cardholders claiming that their interest rates have hiked up as high as 29.9% even though their accounts are in perfect standing with HSBC and that customer service is rude and of no help and had no valid justification as to WHY the rate was being raised as high.

Seriously, if my account is IN GOOD STANDING, and they are going to raise it to 27%, I might as well stop paying them altogether because that's pretty much the rate of an account that is past due!

That's a shame, the only time a credit card company actually closed my account without offering me a low rate to 'stay' was Direct Merchants and they were the biggest bunch of lowlifes in the world.

I really hope that bill passes that stops credit card companies from penalizing you for mistakes made elsewhere.

The sad part is, I have not made any mistakes anywhere. My credit history is 100% clean and free of any negatives. The one thing that is counting against me is card utilization and high balances- things I didn't know adversely affected credit until it was too late.

how long have you had this credit card?