BofA has to pay for Merrill and Countrywide somehow, I guess.

But since BofA is now partially owned by the US Treasury, this might fairly be considered a tax hike.

____________________________

the distance between black & white is much further than i would like until now i never noticed that fascism has many disguises -d. boon, 1981

Wasn't a 25% interest rate considered to be usurious, and hence illegal, at one time?

As for who you should shoot.... I'd call BoA and shoot off my mouth by demanding an explanation.

I have a Citi card that did a similar jump last year. Turns out I was 1 day late on the payment. I called and complained and got it back down to the lower rate. They don't want to lose your business, particularly if you have good credit. They know you could you could get a new card and transfer a balance at any time.

Strange coincidence. I was just getting ready to post a warning about credit card scams. We got one in the mail yesterday for a "pre-approved Chase Platinum Mastercard".

• 0% introductory APR on balance transfers and purchases until Feb. 1 2010

• No annual fee

• No balance transfer fee

• 8.99% fixed APR after introductory period

The fine print:

• The 8.99% fixed APR applies only to balance transfers

• Cash advance APR: 20.99% variable

• Default APR: Up to 28.99% variable

• Overdraft Advance APR: Up to 13.99% fixed

• Variable cash advance APR: Prime rate plus 15.99%

• Variable Default APR: Prime rate plus up to 23.99%

• Minimum finance charge: $1.00

• Transaction fee for cash advances: 3%, min. $10.00

• Late payment fee: $15 min., $39 on balances over $250

• Over credit limit fee: $39

• May change account terms and APRs at any time for any reason. APRs are not guaranteed. APR may change to higher APR, fixed APR may change to variable APR.

• Payments and credits are allocated in way most favorable to them, i.e. apply payments and credits to balances with lower APRs before balances with higher APRs.

The "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008" was passed in the House and is now in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. It would prohibit most of these abuses.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-5244&tab=summary

I think the deal on usury is based on a change to federal law that allows a credit card issuer to charge the highest rate allowed for any state in which it operates, effectively circumventing state usury laws.

I'm citing this from memory, and I could be wrong.

Tamara, your rate actually went up 117%.

I have kept a signature line of credit with my local credit union for many years. They charge 13% and they auto-deduct payments from my savings account. Fortunately it has a balance of zero right now but it's nice to know it's there if I need it.

You may want to consider something similar. You can then do as I did with J C Penney a few years ago when they applied my payment to the wrong account then called me wondering when I was going to be sending them some money. I went online, transferred funds from the loan account to checking, and send them a check for the full amount.

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I know you this will piss people off, but you can thank Joe Biden for this bullshit. I recently received a letter for my Visa card (that sits in our safe) saying that if I didn't use the card or reply to the letter within 30 days of the posting of the letter to me, then they were going to raise my rate from 4.9%APR to 29.99%APR. I called them up and asked under what possible logic this was appropriate as the balance was zero and the annual fee ($79) was paid. They were allowed, according to the rather nice woman at issuing bank, to raise my rate for "no reason" (her exact words) other than my inactivity on the card. I canceled it immediately. She tried to get me to not cancel it by saying that if I merely replied in writing to the letter sent to me and made a charge on the card, and made the minimum payment (not pay the balance off) that the "software that generated the letter" would reset for 2 years. Bullshit. I canceled the card, which STILL requires that you send them a letter (which I had notarized and sent registered mail) to cancel the card formally. I asked her when my contract changed as I had not received notice and she cited two acts, a credit reform act and the Bankruptcy Reform act, that enabled them to do this. Guess who.

I use Amex now exclusively. If you can't cover the balance, which must be paid in full as it is a charge card, not a credit card, you can open a credit account if need be. The points system is excellent and it gets you into almost every Airport and Rail club lounge on the planet for free. Screw the credit card companies. If you aren't leveraged up to the hilt with them, they are trying to FIND ways to get you leveraged up to the hilt with them.

That said, I am still voting for Obama with the added benefit to get Biden out of the Senate.

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler

At this point, the credit card companies are like Lily Tomlin's old phone company operator character -- "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company."

(To the young'uns out there.... there was a day when there was no competition for phone service, and you got your phones and the service from The Phone Company, by cracky, and anyone who had more than two phones in their house was probably a zillionaire and a phone was a big heavy thing that could be used for self-defense if need be, and you actually dialed it, not pressed some wimpy buttons and I'm starting to sound like Grandpa Simpson so I'll stop...)

Interest rates are going up as morals are going down. Oh, wait, wrong post, sorry.

Go through your credit union for credit cards. I'm with USAA (quasi-credit union). I couldnt be happier. I charge about everything I can to get cash back at the end of the year (I pay it off the day after I charge something). I havent run into any letters advising me my rate is going up or my limit is going down. USAA rocks if you are eligible to join.

I'm not that worried about what it does to my credit rating if I close an account.

If you close it, they will usually keep the same APR for the life of the card. This is best for me because it really makes me hot to pay those cards off quick. Some transfer offers are good, others are sneaky as in the post above, you have to read the fine print carefully.

The Congress is to blame for the high rates. They (and this includes Biden) voted for ridiculously high ceilings to be put on what the credit companies can charge. I felt personally betrayed by this.

I think the bottom line is more people have to become enraged and complain a lot.

Some of course blame the victims right away.

$700 billion to rescue banks

For little people like you and me?

NOTHING!

God bless America!

companies are engaging in arbitrary increases in rates and charges, not related to individual credit or payment history. They are doing this in order to make more money (!). Bank of America is the leader in the practice, or so I read.

Recent bankruptcy law changes are said to make it more difficult to absolve youself of credit card debt. I have read it, in relevant part, and this certainly seems to be so. Per the pundits and commentators, Jos. Biden gets considerable credit (no pun intended) for this change. Odd that Obama would have chosen him as a running mate, unless this is the "change" he has in mind.