Americans ditching predatory credit cards

I stopped using mine as well. I've faithfully paid my CC's on time and kept them under the limit. Next thing I know, they all raised the interest rates to at least 22%. What kind of BS are these guys trying to pull? I plan on having all of mine paid off within the next 3-4 months. Thank God I kept them low. I really feel for those folks with thousands in CC's. They'll never pay them off without a bankruptcy.

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I am one of those that have recently closed a credit card account. I have excellent credit and I almost always am paid a "bonus" to open a new account. When one of my cards recently charged me a penalty of a late fee and finance charges for scheduling a payment the day the payment was due(but after the cut-off time) that amounted to a 10% charge I called and asked for the charge to be taken off. When they refused to credit me, I cancelled the card ad got another one with another company that gave me the equivalent of $200 to do so. This may have hurt my "score" in some way, but I felt really abused
by this company and had no other moral choice than to cancel the card.

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Credit companies have power over too many aspects of our lives as it is. It influences job search, insurance rates, renting a house--in my opinion, my credit score has nothing to do with any of these things. Unless I'm purchasing an ITEM that they can't cancel themselves, like car insurance and certainly my qualifications for a job!!--my credit score is NONE of THEIR BUSINESS. Thus I have no credit cards--everything is paid for, or I don't get it.

I think it's strange you say "speak with your wallets" and then turn around and say um, pay off your CC's but don't destroy them! In fact continue to use them occasionally.... How is 'whispering' at the CC companies going to be heard?!

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Leaving multiple accounts you're not using, open, is upping your financial risk in identity theft and exposing you to annual fees the credit company decides to spring on you. No account that is voluntarily closed by a consumer should be allowed to have a negative impact on credit score. This idea that we all have to permanently keep gobs of accounts open at all times so as not to 'hurt our score' is not a rule in the consumer's favor and is essentially extortion. We should ALL close our unused credit accounts en masse, refuse to have more than one credit card and let them hear the roar. If we all do it, the rules they've set up won't apply anymore.

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Furthermore, the very idea that "closing an account" is enough to impair your score, and employers of every stripe are allowed to use your private credit score in a hiring decision, the difference between getting a job and not getting a job was *closing your consumer credit accounts,* is immoral and the use of credit scores in hiring ought to be downright illegal. Credit scores have WAY too much power over every aspect of our life, here in the "land of the free." And that's not the government who did that to us; that's "free market." Isn't it great?

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There used to be a time where banks were kissing our butts and trying to accommodate us, so that we take our business to them. Now the situation has reversed and we are at the mercy of banks that do with us whatever they want, and we cannot do anything about it, because they are not being regulated. Over the past 30 years or so banks have gradually been given so much power and have been allowed to just do whatever they want, in the name of progress, capitalism, trickle down effect...you name it, that they have become so big and powerful. Regulating them now seems almost impossible.

It is a shame to live in a country that stands for so many goos things (in theory over the past decade at least), but where in reality the masses are being systematically exploited for the benefit of a few powerful.

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Close your credit card accounts you don't use!
your utilization rate will not affect your credit score so much and this irrational fear of losing any points on your credit score is... well, it's irrational.
as someone else commented, you can't send a clear message to credit card companies by paying off your balance and keeping the card and occasionally using it and the rationale for doing so, it's the same bogeyman of oh-so horrible credit scores that will make your life miserable. your score won't change so much and the odds are that unless you are already planning on buying a house or a car in the next year or two, it won't even matter at all.

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My wife and I decided to get rid of our credit card accounts that were arbitrarily jacking their rates up. We switched to a single credit card with our credit union. Having a credit card account with a credit union presents many advantages, not the least of which is that they are not for profit.

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I am sick to death of people telling me that responsible behavior hurts my credit. Maybe I should just go out and get eight or nine credit cards, buy dinner once a year on each, and pump up my FICO to the max, yo. Seriously, keep a reasonable number of cards from reputable issuers (your credit union should be one of them), and keep the damn things paid off if you can.

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I haven't closed any of my accounts yet because I know that will be another hit on my credit score. BUT, I am one of the people who have been totally screwed by the credit card companies. I have excellent credit, paid everything on time, or paid it off on a regular basis, and then got my spending limits reduced more than 1/2, and rates raised more than triple. And because of that, my fabulous credit score has been lowered. That should NOT be allowed to happen! I have not used them in months, and plan on paying them off as quickly as possible and not using them again. It is disgraceful that they are allowed to extort money from us in this way. I could have gone to a real-life loan shark for a better interest rate and lending terms.

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Credit card companies are an invasion of our privacy and detrimental to our well being. They should be made illegal and charged criminally for usury.
How long are Americans going to put up with this corporatocracy and the bought off corrupt politicians that enable these criminals?

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american express notified us by e-mail that they have lowered credit amount, left us 50.00 open line of credit,paid it off and will never use again. look at site complaints against american express unbelievable!!!!

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BOA and Amex lowered all my credit lines and raised the interest rates. i have a credit score of 740 and never paid late. I just paid off two BOA credit cards completely and I'm in the process of consolidating the Amex one. After 15 years of loyalty I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH BANK of AMERICA or American Express AGAIN!!!! They are crooks and bleed people when they need them the most. Karma is a wonderful thing though. All these scumbags will pay someday in someway.

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It is a joke the way the credit card companies are treating people and the company that comes up with these FICO scores are even worse. If you get into a problem, your credit is destroyed. If you pay off your debts, including the preditory rates they charge, it will take you years to get credit again. If you cancel the preditory credit cards, your credit is severely hurt. How about the person who was financially responsible for many years and, through no fault of his, became a victim of the current depression (woops, recession) we are in. He settles all his credit card debts, pays them off on time, and as agreed. That counts for nothing. His FICO score is just as bad as someone who had to go bankrupt. And, there are no rules to say when, and how, a person may redeem himself. Remember, it is those same credit card companies, and banks, that came up with that system. It is nothing more then another mechanism to keep people paying the maximum they can get from you. Also, these preditory rates that they charge people put those people in the bad position that they got into. If you use your card too much, your score suffers. Use it too little, score suffers. Cancel a bad card (which is the sign of a responsible person) your score suffers. I think Congress didn't go far enough to regulate these companies. A lot more needs to be done.

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I'd love to simply pay off my cards and hang onto them, but what choice did I have when one of my cards sent me a notice telling me my interest rate was suddenly being raised from 5% up to 24.9%?! I had the choice of paying the balance off in full within 60 days (impossible for me at this time), keeping the account open and paying the balance off at the new 24.9% rate (which would bankrupt me), or close the account and pay off the balance at the existing 5% rate. Obviously, my only option was the last, and I had no choice but to close the account. What else should I have done?

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I closed by BOA credit card a few months ago. I did not have a balance, and they had not raised my rate yet, but I think BOA is one of the least ethical Banks. I had no reason to keep the card open.

Chase is #2 on my list of least ethical banks. I have a 0 balance - paid off balance last month and will never again give them a dime in interest. If they try to stick me with an annual fee I will close the card. I contacted Chase last week and asked them if I could switch to their rewards cash-back card. Surprised I was - when they said they could just "switch" my current card with their cash back rewards card. Now THEY can pay be back for awhile. I don't really care if Chase gets the merchant fees for my purchases. Retail has gotten enough of my money through the years.

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Why, don't we all just pay them off and close them. That way we all have bad credit ; in which, jobs can't go by credit score and we don't have to worry about Identity thief. That is what I am going to do! I think you will still get the job you need because if they need a nurse they wil hire a nurse period They will see everyone has bad scores and not have a choice to judge on those grounds. I would never hire on credit score anyway myself. I was much happier when I didn't have credit and I had cash in my hands.I am going back to having a older car and fixing it and enjoying life instead of buying things to put more stress to add to the stress of life dealing with all the con artist in everyday living as it is! Debbie

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I am paying off many of my cards and are not using them for a while. I don't want to close the accounts, just back off of them for a bit. Most cases, I will pay far more than the mininum amount.

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Credit Card Industry Promotes New Card Based on Slavery to Stem Mounting Criticism

http://wp.me/pIP1s-34

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