Time for a New Credit Card?
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New credit card offers dominate the deluge of direct marketing material that lands in our real world mailboxes. Around these parts, the never ending stream of pieces hawking plastic piles up on the counter until I have the chance to sort things into one of the two most appropriate places … The new credit card fluff goes into recycling bin, while the personalized sheets head straight for the crosscut shredder.
There’s no question that new credit card campaigns play a huge part of the economy. While some folks might deride the effort as being harmful to the environment, I’d like to think that it’s not all that bad when folks deal with the paperwork in the proper manner and the credit card companies use recycled paper.
There was a land mine amongst our deluge of new credit card offers yesterday. It was one of those seemingly innocuous flat folded sheets that blends in with the pile. “Important Information About Your Account,” it read (or something of the sort) in 12 point bold caps above the address.
It should have been printed in bright red 72 point ultra bold, “Hey Loser, We’re About to Blast Your Interest Rate into the Stratosphere!”
Once my initial shock and anger passed, a steely resolve and a plan was formed. If all goes well, I’ll have that credit card paid off by January.
2 Comments
Tracy
August 6th, 2008
at 2:27pm
I’m in college and apparently credit card companies love college students because my friends and I get so many credit card offers in the mail. It’s enough paper to publish quite a few lengthy novels. What’s even worse it that I always get a paper jam in my shredder, when I attempt to dispose of these unwanted offers.
Keith
August 7th, 2008
at 7:28am
Avoid Washington Mutual CC like the plague. This is the WORST rate-jacking outfit ever. I had an acct with them, made EVERY payment on-time and paid over the minimum. They “reviewed my credit” and increased my APR from 14.9% to 21.9%. 8 months later, they “reviewed my credit” again and said they would change my APR to 31.9% AND retroactively charge me back to Feb ‘08. (4 months of 31.9% back-charges!) My only option was to cancel the acct, which I did with a certified return recipt letter so they couldn’t say they didn’t receive the letter by their dealine and charge me this crazy rate. My balance is down to $305 and should be paid in 2-3 weeks. I have other cards at 7.25, 8, 9, 13% so I’m an aware CC user. These clowns are for the birds.
Good sites - debtsmart.com, creditboards.com