Ken and Daria Dolan had a really good post on WalletPop today about the tricks credit card companies play. Yes, they’re all legal. Yes, they’re all outlined in your credit card agreement. But they are a bit sneaky and can catch you off guard.
Unfortunately, if you want to play the credit card game today, it’s your responsibility to know and abide by these rules, sneaky or not.
Here are the seven… if you want all the details you’ll have to check WalletPop:
- Say “Bye-Bye” to Your Grace Period
- Punishing you when you are credit smart.
- Doing you the “favor” of sending you “convenience” checks.
- Psst… Hey, buddy, want to skip a payment?
- Lowering your minimum payment due.
- It’s 5 o’clock… Do you know where your payment is?
- “Over the limit” fees
Tricks you can play on your credit card company – Every six months call them and tell them that your interest rate is too high. At some point, you’ll hit their rock bottom rate and they simply can’t lower it, but if you ask them to cut it, more times than not they’ll knock off 150 basis points to keep you happy.
I play the meanest trick of all on the credit card companies. I pay my balance in full each month. Mwuahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..
Do they need to inform you when they raise your interest rate or when they change anything on your account? I think credit card companies are so scandalous. There should laws preventing them from playing tricks.