credit cards

12 hair-raising money tales

Minimum payment monster
Next
10 of 14
Back

My husband and I did a balance transfer to a Chase card that offered a "fixed 3.99 percent" for the life on the loan if you didn't default, miss a payment or make a late payment. We did this twice at Chase, with two accounts.

I always pay online the day my statement is available (about a week before I get my printed copy). One month, I went to pay on one of my Chase accounts and the minimum payment went from 2 percent of the balance to 5 percent. My payment went from $165 per month to $440 that month.

I called and was told they wanted their customers to pay down balances faster. I was rudely told it didn't matter that I had always paid more than the minimum before the due date. I tried to negotiate, but they wouldn't budge.

We were lucky. My husband was unemployed at the time, so I had gone into survival mode already. No extra anything. If it wasn't a bill or food, we didn't spend. It was an eye-opener to discover we had a lot of discretionary income being spent on wasteful junk.
-- Cheryl G.


 

 

advertisement

Compare Credit Card Rates



advertisement
Credit Card Averages
Product Rate
Compare rates:  
credit cards
A new survey finds that women are more likely than men to care that their date has a great FICO score.
advertisement
Is your bank safe? Now you can find out
Look up a bank, thrift or credit union by clicking one of the buttons below.
advertisement