I have a serious Credit Card Question?

Question

I have excellent credit but I missed paying one Credit Card by a few days and just because of this my interest rate went from 9% to 30% because of it.

I cannot afford the Credit Card Payment now because it made it go to like $400 a month and I don't even get paid that a week and I wouldn't want to have to pay that towards high interest anyhow.

I don't want to file for bankruptcy because of 1 card. If anyone can recommend an excellent credit card and the phone # for balance transfers at like 0% and any other advice, I am open to reading all responses. I can't sleep because of this.

They said I have to make 10 on-time payments before it goes down so my payment is just paying interest for about 1 yr.

Answer 1

Awwwww. I hear you hon, credit card companies love to put you in their little defaut interest rate. Here is what my father and I do.

1. Call the credit card company. If you haven't been late before, they may be able to work with you on this.
2. If they are not willing to work with you, get a major attitude and threaten to close the account. See if they work with you then.
3. Still won't work with you? Say "Fine." Hang up. Do an internet search on credit cards and see who's got the best offer. If your credit is as good as you say, you should have no problem finding a 0% interest offer. Wait and see if you are approved. On your application, do the balance transfer thing.
4. Call your other card company, close the account. Tell them to go to hell.
5. Transfer your balance to your new credit card, and be very careful to make the payment on time every month. Credit card companies lure you in with that 0% interest rate, but in fine print they do warn you that if you are late, even once, they will hike your interest rate back up.
6. Get some sleep. You are not alone in this. Everyone at one time or another is late and has had to have dealt with the consequences. For the future, make sure you know what the website address for your cards. Most have a rush payment thing available. I know a lot of people don't like to pay bills online, but I've never had a problem, all of the websites are secure, and it can save your butt.

Answer 2

You can ask to change the due date. That wouldn't be a problem. What you said was right. You may want to talk to their collection department to make payment arrangement. Normally 3 months on time to bring the account current. Perhaps you carry a high balance and that's why they told you 10 months.

In the future, if you know you're going to be late, call them immediately rather than send in a payment 3 days after the due date. Besides paying late fee, you're paying a default rate. How many times were you late ? My company allows twice in 12 billing cycle before they change the rate to a default rate.

How about transfer a balance to another company with a lower interest rate ?. Go on line, most major credit card have on line banking like Citibank or BOA. You can apply on line and get a response in 5 minutes whether you're approved or denied. If you have excellent credit, you shouldn't be worried.

Don't do the balance transfer on line. Call the company, sometimes they waive the transaction fee for balance transfer- not always but why not give it a shot. Get the one with 3% or $75 max. Becareful with the one is minimum $10 that means there is no max. You can pay a bundle for transaction fee if you carry a large balance.

Last but not least, before hit an apply button, read all of the terms and conditions because not all credit cards are created equal.

I work for a bank. Take my advice, threatening doesn't work. Trust me. It only puts more flame into the fire. They have no obligation to waive any fees. If you're nice to them, you can get alot out of them. Everyone runs into a hardship sometimes, major attitude doesn't work for credit card company. They normally have about 80 millions or more customers. You can only transfer so many times because credit card company has record of any balance transfers. You won't be able to get a good rate if you keep transfer around.

Remember you talk to the people who only work at the bank. It only takes less than 30 second to close the account. When they hit that button, there is no turning back. I had customer with major attitude and threatened to close the account. I closed it and she was stunt. She thought I wouldn't.

Answer 3

Gone are the days with 0% APR's on balance transfers. The feature was misused so much that credit card companies thought it best to revoke these offers. The reason could be the loss of revenue to credit card companies but this habit of transferring balances frequently and avoiding the debt repayment was increasing the volume of credit card debt. Balance transfer is a good practice if done with caution and restraint. Here are 2 good credit cards with low APR rates on balance transfers.

1. Advanta Life-of-Balance Platinum Card

This credit card issued by Advanta is very popular among the balance transfer community. The reason being that it offers a low 2.99% Fixed APR for LIFE on balances transferred within 3 months. That is an offer which few credit card companies can match. With this excellent balance transfer rate the Advanta Life-of-Balance Platinum Card offers Up to 6% Cash Back or Travel Rewards. The credit card has No annual fee, and the reward program has no limits on earnings. On the whole a good credit card to transfer the balances. Apply online at: http://www.credit-card-gallery.com/Advanta.html

Answer 4

You probably won't qualify for bankruptcy over that one credit card. It does sound like you are living way beyond your means.

Time to rethink your spending habits. Cut out all the unnecessary stuff, get a second job and put all the extra money toward that credit card. You'll probably have to pay on time for a year before they consider lowering your interest rate.

You might transfer the balance to a new 0% card if you qualify. Of course you may not be able to find one with a big enough limit to transfer your whole balance to.

Answer 5

1. Get on the phone and call your credit card company. It is not unusual for them to have a policy of raising your interest rate if you are late on a payment, but if you are a first time offender, they can usually reduce the pain.

Next, get to bankrate. Compare rates and policies. Look for specials.

Third, get to your bank. If the balance it not too high, and you have an account in good standing, they may float you a loan to cover the balance. It will not be at 0% interest, but it will be a LOT lower then what you are paying on the credit card.

Best of luck

Answer 6

I'm guessing that means you have about $20,000 in credit card debt.

You have to take out a small loan from a local bank, and pay off that credit card.

Put up a collatoral and get a loan for about 10%

Also, your company will scale back the rate after 2 normal payments.

Right now, you triggered the "default rate", and its very bad.

Answer 7

It appears that you have more than one card. Possibly you can obtain cash from some of the other cards to pay off the high interest card. It is a poor solution, but better than paying 30 percent.

Your mistake is using credit cards to maintain long-term debts. That is not the purpose of credit cards, although banks that issue cards love people like you. Even 9 percent interest is high. The proper use of credit cards is to get short-term credit for buying things that you can pay for. You get a free loan for a month. Once you go overboard and buy more than you can pay off in a month, you become a victim of a loan scheme from which there is no escape.

Another option is to get a short term bank loan and pay off the high interest credit card. If you have a home and can get a home equity loan, borrow as much as you can to pay off all cards. Then use credit cards only to the extent you can pay them off each month while you are paying off your bank loan or home equity loan.

To solve your problem by getting yet another credit card is total nonsense. If you cannot control your spending, getting more cards simply gets you deeper into the hole.

Answer 8

Look to another credit card source like a credit union or any other company. Sounds like it is a bofa or mbna card. BofA did this to everyone when they bought out MBNA. We refinanced through our credit union.. (transfer balance) and our payment dropped $175.00 a month...and you can actually see a difference in balance now.Good luck

Answer 9

Have you tried contacting the credit card company by either phone or email? If this was your 1st time being late and you have a valid reason, they may excuse it this time.