“Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen”

- Woody Guthrie

CITI raised my rates about 2 weeks after the first bailout. My current balance is $0.00 and I keep getting these blank checks in the mail.

This works as a heck of a stimulus doesn’t it?

Wait until Geitners public private partnership takes hold and a wave of debt collectors hit the streets.

Woody is as timely now as he’s ever been.

I used a dormant credit card to pay my health insurance premiums twice last summer. Each time I did, I immediately got in the mail a “you’re not using this card so we’re cancelling it” letter from Citi. I called and said, “hey, did you notice I used the card last week, about three days before the date of your letter?” And they said, “oh, never mind, we’ll raise your credit limit then.”

They really don’t know what they are doing and can be gamed. Don’t settle for the first answer, or letter, you get. Call and demand better, or more, or some. Speak to a supervisor, and call back when you get disconnected. They are flailing, and their current inbound-marketing scripts aren’t yet set up for the crisis their customers are experiencing.

Just be persistent; you’ll eventually find someone with the authority to give you exactly what you need.

I got a credit line cut back on card connected to big box retailer. I no longer shop there, and will pay the balance as quickly as I can. I never missed a payment. Screw them.

A couple of years ago I used one of those credit card checks. Got the statement and it was at 35% interest. Fortunately, I was able to pay it off, but Lordy, imagine what can happen to folks who can only make the minimum.

This can’t be legal. If it is, it needs to be changed. Now.

Even worse? That balance problem can also drag down your FICO credit score.

An additional “even worse:” when you cancel the predatory credit card for the issuer’s “bad behavior,” that affects your credit score.

Barclay’s Bank did the “credit card limit slashing” to me on a Barnes & Noble card I had with them. I was using it for the monthly payment plan of my son’s college tuition, and racking up the $25 B+N gift cards issued with every $2500 of charges. Paying the entire balance off each month.

Barclay’s cut my credit limit to $1000. [Needless to say, less than one payment of son’s tuition.] When I attempted to discuss this with them, the robot on the other end of the line claimed “the computer did it,” and said, “since Barclay’s didn’t accept any bailout money, it’s being extra careful.”

When I pointed out that the facts would not support equating cutting my credit limit with “careful,” and that indeed, their business was going to be reduced by my no longer using that card, well, . . .

Anyway, I canceled the card via a nasty note to them. I’m sure my credit score will now go down for having done so.

Been there, done that. It all started in October when GE without any warning cut the credit limit on my Paypal line of credit from a whopping $700 to $220 which happened to be the amount of the balance. Now this is a card that was rarely used and was usually paid off within a couple of months if it wasn’t paid off monthly because the interest rate was so high. The letter I received two weeks AFTER they cut the line of credit claimed that my credit rating had changed? Uh, yeah, it had risen…Then our Cap One saga begins. I get a letter stating that they are raising the interest rate on my Cap One card by 10%. My husband’s Cap One account? Not. Then WAMU/Chase-my accounts APR only raised by less than 1%. My husband’s account-raised to 26%! Now to HSBC-my Direct Merchants account credit limit lowered by HALF! The balance wasn’t even 1/4 of the available limit! But my other account through HSBC (Orchard) credit limit raised? Yes, we have too many cards but until this fall (when my husband started having health issues that culminated in a triple bypass in January) we rarely carried a balance and when we did we always paid several times more than the minimum due and have NEVER been late for a payment. I found a card that offered balance transfers at 0% interest for 6 months and then 8.99% after that. I transferred all those balances and opted out of the Cap One account. Those will go into my F you file. I have already been able to take a stand against Cap One by refusing their financing on the Prius I bought two weeks ago. I told the dealership that if they used Cap One the deal was off.. Funny thing I noticed that they lower balance cards are the ones they went after with the higher interest rates or lowered lines of credit.

This whole AIG think has me so furious. This year as tax day looms (and we will have to pay in about $600) all I can think about is how much of MY tax money has already been paid out to these cretins. Wish there was someway to avoid having to pay. Ah well don’t screw with the IRS….

Interesting personal outrage here. Are any of you angry people going to vote for the primary challengers of those in Congress who vote to allow these companies to screw you over? Maybe even throw in a small contribution too?

We do that a lot here — check out the Blue America page and past articles about primary work we’ve done, including our Accountability Now program for the next election cycle.