All Posts Tagged With: "interest rates"
Wells Fargo wants to stand out and raise credit card rates
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Oct 09 2009 | 0 Comments
Wells Fargo wants to be different. It wants to stand out. It wants to raise your credit card rates and it’s doing so right now.
Getting the news that credit card rates won’t be able to just go up and down like an expensive roller coaster anymore starting in either December or February, Wells Fargo has made the decision to raise the interest rates on most of the company’s credit cards 3% before the law goes into effect.
You know, it’s not really fair for me to say that Wells Fargo wants to be different because, in reality it’s being the same. JPMorgan Chase has also decided that it is going to likely raise the rates for consumers. The only bank that has made it public that it is NOT going to raise rates is Bank of America actually. So, I suppose actually it is BofA that wants to be different and stand apart from the crowd.
Wells Fargo is saying that the new rates will take effect November 30th, just one day before new legislation will likely go into effect saying that credit card companies can no longer just raise rates because they feel like it.
“We are raising interest rates up to 3 percentage points for a majority of our Wells Fargo customers due to the current business environment, including rising business costs and current consumer credit challenges,” a company spokeswoman says. “We decided many months ago that it would be necessary to increase interest rates. We delayed our decision in hopes that the business environment would materially improve
Wells Fargo is, at least, giving customers 45 days to decline the new terms, close their accounts, and pay the balance off at the old interest rate if they so choose. However, for someone who has thousands on their credit card, this may not only be a bad choice, but also one that is just not feasible. If someone is that much in credit card debt, then they will probably just have to “grin and bear it” when it comes to the new rates.
This is the kind of practice that led to the new legislation. This is exactly why this kind of legislation had to be put in place. Wells Fargo (as well as most of the other large lending banks) have no one to blame but themselves and their greedy ways for Congress cracking down on them. I’m glad that something is finally being done.
Related posts:What will the credit card companies do?
The chairman of Wells Fargo will resign
Bank of America says it won’t raise fees ahead of new regulations
Tags: percentage points, interest rates, jpmorgan chase
Bank of America reduces overdraft fees: Opting out is now an option!
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Sep 23 2009 | 1 Comment
It is a huge deal when banks charge everyone and their mother huge overdraft fees. Bank of America was one of the worst. The bank would hold your deposits or allow small transactions to go through prior to the larger deposit being made. Of course, this led to many overdraft fees being incurred by the customer. For every transaction that the customer made, they were tinged $35.
Bank of America just announced though that on October 19th, it will begin laying off the serious overdraft fees and only begin tinging the account once it reaches a $10 overdraft in one day. This means accumulated and not that you can continue to overdraft as long as it doesn’t go above $10 (at least this is the way I understood it). The account holder also has to have the account back in the black in five days time.
That’s not the most exciting news regarding the overdraft fees in my opinion, though. I like the fact that customers will soon be able to opt out of the program just by visiting a Bank of America branch or calling a yet to be determined phone number. Of course, the program I’m referring to is the one that starts the overdraft problem in the first place. I would much rather be declined at the grocery store than begin incurring overdraft fees at the bank. My embarrassment is less than the $35 that the bank would charge me for the “overdraft protection”.
Bank of America will also be limiting the number of overdraft fees that can be incurred in a day to four. This is down from 10. The rule that it could charge 10 overdraft fees in one single day was put into place earlier this year. It is nice to see that rule gone and a new, better one in its place.
I don’t know if this will position BofA in a more positive light, but anything helps when it comes to the business practices this company has been doing. I know I talk a lot about the company, but I also hold a credit card from them and have yet to see my interest rates spike or my credit limit reduced. I haven’t had one bad experience with the company (knock on wood, right?).
Related posts:The Fed says that banks need to get customer consent before imposing overdraft fees
Bank of America says it won’t raise fees ahead of new regulations
SEC is going to court with Bank of America over Bonuses
Tags: grocery store, overdraft, fees
The Pitch – Is it time to take some of the power away from the Fed?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Aug 07 2009 | 1 Comment
Is it time for the Fed to relinquish some of its power?
Question:
The United States Federal Reserve has a lot of power when it comes to the economy. They oversee more than just the money the country has, but other things too like consumer issues. So, is it time for the Fed to give up some of the control?
Answer:
I think the Fed needs some of the power that it has. I don’t think it needs to be able to move the interest rates without a longer bureaucratic process simply because the movement of the economy is settled on the shoulders of the Fed.
Overall, the Federal Reserve does good things for the economy and typically works in the interest of the people. However, the economy is more than just interest rates.
Have an idea or want us to use your pitch in the next issue? Then, make a submission on The Pitch Page. Related posts:
The Pitch – Do you think the economic rally has stalled?
Tags: submission, economy, next issue
The government may acutally be leaving the free market
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Jun 22 2009 | 0 Comments
Well…maybe not, but it looks like the Federal Reserve may be stopping any new efforts to “revive the economy” at its meeting this week. According to economists, Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues don’t want to “overdo” the stimulus medicine and that “stimulating the economy” through the Fed may fan the flames of inflation later, so the Fed is expected not to make any new moves this week.
Over the past year, the Fed has done everything it could do to try to help stimulate the economy including putting $1.2 trillion into the economy in an attempt to lower interest rates. The lower interest rates were meant to get consumer spending up.
The Fed is also expected to hold the key lending rate to banks at the record low of near zero percent. It has said in the past that it will keep the rate low for “an extended period.” Economists believe that the rate will stay between 0 and 25% until sometime next year.
It is looking more and more like some of the things that the government has done to help the economy has had a bit of an effect…after all it was just in January when the first stimulus was passed and took effect. Since then, home prices have stopped declining as rapidly and are actually starting to level out in a lot of places, and in the last month, consumer spending has increased and the jobless rate has also started to slow down. Some analysts think that the economy is declining, but at a much lesser rate than the final quarter of 2008. The April-June quarter is between a 1 and 3% decrease, while the final quarter of 2008 was 6.3%.
Of course, some of the problem is that we will not know whether the economy would have recovered as quickly without the government interfering as much. A lot of the government agencies we currently have in place were put in place to keep a depression like the one seen in 1929 from happening again.
A problem that is happening now is that mortgage rates have started to increase again, and while eventually mortgage rates need to go back up, right now the housing market is still hurting and home buyers are still a bit scarce. To help this out, the Fed may decide to start buying more mortgage backed securities as well as government debt to help drive the rates of mortgages down.
Related posts:The number of people who are filing for some kind of debt protection is increasing in the UK
Tags: federal reserve, ben bernanke, mortgage rates
Beware of Shifty Credit Related Phone Calls
Michael Bowler | RSS | Thu, Jun 11 2009 | 11 Comments
Yesterday I received a phone call, I assume a telemarketing phone call, on my home phone number that I knew I had to share with my readers at Lucrative Investing. It was by far the most humorous phone call I have received in a long time, and definitely something worth sharing for the entertainment value and the lesson it provides. The call came up on the caller ID as “Local Area” and the number 1-850-390-4590. When I answered the call, a recording said something close to, “Hello, this is a call from Card Services concerning your current credit card account. We are pleased to inform you that you are eligible for lower interest rates because you have made all your payments on time and have shown responsible use of your credit. To inquire further about lower interest rates on your existing credit card, press ’1’.”
I was curious and a little bored, so I pressed ‘1’ and a man came right to the phone. This is the exchange from that telephone conversation, with “Telemarketer” being the man on the other end that represents ‘Card Services’, and “MB” being myself:
Telemarketer: Hello?
MB: Hi.
Telemarketer: Are you responding to the offer for lower interest rates?
MB: I guess.
Telemarketer: Well, you are eligible for lower interest rates on an existing credit card.
MB: What card?
Telemarketer: Your qualifying Visa or Mastercard.
MB: Okay, well, this call could be for anyone in the house. Who is this call for?
Telemarketer: The primary credit card holder, and you pressed ‘1’, so I would assume that’s you.
MB: Well, we have four credit card holders in this house. If you would like to give me a name, I can certainly….
Telemarketer: [Click]
MB: Hello? [Humorously, having heard the click] Helloooooooo….
He did not have a clue who that call was for or what card he was offering me a lower rate on. Nobody even knows if whatever group or company he works for is reputable. I thought it was humorous that they used the name “Card Services”, considering some reputable companies that you may actually do business with use that when they call, because that is the name of the department that is calling you. When Chase, who I once had a card with, called me, they often said they were with “Card Services”, so I thought it was possible Chase was calling me, though I seriously doubted it as I no longer have that card. When someone says they are with “Card Services”, do not assume it is a shifty call, but do press them to find out what company they are with.
Remember that they called your phone, concerning your alleged credit card, and may ask for your information. Do not assume they are on the level and do not assume that they already know anything about you. Nicely require that they give you some more information about who the call is for, what card this is concerning, or something else before going any further. I will never know if that was a potential scam or not, but I do know that they had no business calling me, especially since we are on the “Do Not Call Registry”, which has long since proven that it means nothing.
Be smart, be aware, and be conscious of the fact that there are thousands, if not millions, of companies and people out there who want your money, and especially your social security number. They are calling you everyday and one false move could compromise your financial wellbeing, either in a small way or a big way. They might have been legitimate, but they might have been a scam, just hoping I would give up the information they were looking for. Either way, they had no business calling me with an assumed guise the way they did, and I suggest that all of my readers be cautious when a call like that comes in.
Related posts:Wells Fargo wants to stand out and raise credit card rates
What will the credit card companies do?
Tags: local area, telemarketing, existing credit card
