I had a card with a very fair 12% interest rate. I had some emergencies that I had to deal with on my card. I then had a disruption in my income and missed ONE payment. I now have a 24.99% interest rate. That isn't exactly borrowing money at a rate and then b****ing about the rate. That is taking somebody when they are down and going for the proverbial killshot.
I cannot imagine any scenario with these guys were you are going to be able to miss payments and maintain your existing arrangements. That is the thing with bankers more than any other type of vendor. You have to make your minimum payment, or all bets are off. Nothing the government (dominated by Democratic leadership) has proposed or is trying to propose will do anything to change that.
No, but it will change their ability to do so when your payment is a week late. There will be a 60 day clause. In other words, you must be 60 days late on your payment in order to trigger a hike in the rate. I was a week late. ONCE. All of a sudden my interest rate more than doubles. Wow. Last time I checked, credit cards and payday loans are the only credit transactions in which this type of interest rate does not constitute usury. It isn't right. It is not an equitable result.
A lower usury ceiling would certainly make sense. Maybe 18-21%, somewhere in that range. It used to be 18%. However, that would further reduce the availability of credit to potential borrowers with marginal credit. However, 29% is too high. Or, as you stated, 25% is too high. Apparently Congress decided that the expected amount of the reduction in available credit was too much to justify the lower usury ceiling. I understand the trade-off, but 25% is still too high if you ask me. I do not expect this will provide you with any meaningful consolation, but I would be beefing about this too if I were in your shoes.
That happened with me and my Kay card when I bought my wifes engagement ring, but they refunded me the money because they couldn't find the purchase agreement where I supposedly marked that insurance box. Wells Fargo does a similar thing with my mortgage where they send me an address verification that actually signs me up for some mortgage insurance. Any time a company has tried to scam me, I've either noticed it before they could, or got my money refunded.
These days, an "emergency fund" is little more than a pipe dream for many, if not most, middle class families. I don't have a single credit card (and thus no fees or interest), haven't bought a television in over six years (and it isn't a flat screen), buy my clothes at Wal-Mart, and even when my wife was working full time, we barely scraped by.
