Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
"Within the next month, Bank of America, MBNA and Citigroup will raise minimum monthly payments on their cards from 2 percent of the balance to up to 4 percent, not including interest. Other card issuers are expected to make similar changes by the end of the year."
More....
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
Not a problem for me. I pay off my balance in full every month.
Hopefully, this will get will get folks who run up their CC blances liberally to start thinking about using plastic more prudently in the future.
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
Having a credit card balance was probably the worst situation I have ever been in.
I've been free and clean for over 3 years now.
Now I just charge everything on my AMEX because you can't carry a balance. That way i am forced t pay everything off at the end of the month.
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
Quote:
Originally Posted by doc-catfish
Not a problem for me. I pay off my balance in full every month.
This is exactly what I did when I had credit cards. I'd never put anything on the plastic that I couldn't pay in one month. I never understood just paying the "minimum" on anything. You eventually end up paying two or three times your balance that way.
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
Yeah, I pay 80% of my credit card bills because that's how you build credit. I was told if you pay off the whole thing, it looks better to future creditors or for when you buy a house.
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
They are probably raising them because it is giving so many people a false sense of what they can afford. Really if you pay the minimum you'll never pay the shit off! I hate credit cards. I learned that lesson the hard way. :(
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
Credit cards are the debbil! If I don't use my credit cards at all, I'll have them paid off in...18 months. And most of my take-home pay goes to paying them off. That's what I get for spending my 20s trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
They are the fucking Devil.
I have two cards and that is all I am interested in.
One has a line of $250 bucks. That is my internet card. I figure if someone rips off that account, it ain't gonna be worth to much to em or hurt me that badly.
The other one has... shall we say a pretty good line of credit. That is my Oh Shit card and use it very very rarely. Now and then I will put some gas on it to keep it open.
These days, if I can't pay for it withmoney in the bank, then I am not interested in it.
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
Hi. I work for MBNA :).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunny
They are probably raising them because it is giving so many people a false sense of what they can afford. Really if you pay the minimum you'll never pay the shit off! I hate credit cards. I learned that lesson the hard way
Close. We're raising them because the government told us to "or else". It's actually a good longterm move by the government because of what you said, people were in situations where they'd never pay the balance off as it was in a negative amortization.
This has been scheduled and planned by the credit card companies for a long time now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by showgirlschloe
Yeah, I pay 80% of my credit card bills because that's how you build credit. I was told if you pay off the whole thing, it looks better to future creditors or for when you buy a house.
Completely wrong and amusing myth, we just don't dispel this myth because it makes us money. The credit reports are updated by the creditors once a month with whatever balance is on it at the time of the update. Some of the credit reports (but not all) will have the highest balance on there that the card has EVER been updated at, and that can help your credit a little, but it doesn't show what your balance has been every month for the last year.
[edit]
It's also wrong on the exact amount we're raising the payments. For MBNA, it's late fees + interest + 1% of whatever the balance is.
Re: Minimum Credit Card Payment - ALERT
Good, it makes it easier for me to declare Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.