Interest rates

I know. Interest rates. What a fascinating topic. But I just wanted to give you a heads up. Make sure you keep a close eye on the Annual Purchase Rates (APR) percentages of your credit cards.

A year or so ago, I applied and got a Citibank credit card with a fixed 8.9% APR. As I was paying off the card last week, I noticed that it now said 11.9%. So I called customer service and sure enough, my rate had been raised. Most likely for carrying too low of a balance (under $500) for most of the time. He was unable to tell me why, he just said that I should have received a “change of terms” sheet, which I’m sure I did. We all get those and, for the most part, trash them after a quick glance.

So I went ahead and closed the account.

I will say that the guy who answered the phone was probably the nicest, politest agent I’ve ever dealt with over the phone (maybe it was his first day, or he was in training or being supervised.)

Posted by david at 5:23 pm | Permalink |

Filed under Observations