The nerve of BoA!

[HeartCarved]

I received this letter in the mail today:

Dear Customer,

Below is an amendment to your Credit Card Agreement. You do not have to accept this Amendment. The steps you must take to reject the amendment are described below.

IMPORTANT NOTICE OF CHANGE IN TERMS

Annual Percentage Rate Increase

Summary: We are increasing your annual percentage rates. You may reject the APR increase by following the rejection instructions described below.

Amendment: Effective as of the first day following your statement Closing Date in July 2007 your account will have a corresponding APR of 27.99%

Rejection instructions:

1. Write to us at FIA Card Services (address removed). Clearly print or type your name and full credit card account number and state that you reject this change. You must give notice in writing; it is not sufficient to telephone us. Send this notice only to the address in this paragraph; do not send it with a payment or any other type of customer service request. This mailbox is ONLY for the rejection of the annual percentage rate amendment.

2. Write to us immediately or your rejection will not be effective. We must receive your letter by July 10, 2007.

3. You must not use your account after July 10, 2007. If your account is used at any time after this date, the above changes will apply to your account even if you sent us timely notice rejecting the change. Remember use of your account includes credit card access checks, any overdraft protection transaction, and any charges that are billed to your account on a regular basis, such as online services and subscriptions.

***

Now, why would they do this? My husband and I are following Dave Ramsey and we're on BS2. This credit card has an APR of 17.99% and we haven't used it in over a year. It has a balance currently of $5200. We do not plan to use this card ever again. The physical card has been shredded.

This was an MBNA account that we've had for six years.

What do you guys think about this? Is there any reason not to reject the APR increase?

[CoryWM]

Bank of America is the worst bank I have ever dealt with. They charge for everything.. I used to get charged if I walked in, and deposited my pay check. I delt with all these charges. Until I got screwed over on some overdrafts.

I had like 10 dollars in my account. College student/part time job. So I go to tacobell like 3 times and each cheaply for around 2.50 each time during the weekend? Anyways, these 3 charges came through on the same day. Fine right? WRONG! BoA charges fees for god damn everything. So I had 3 fees for 3.00 each come through. for 9.00. Then my taco bell charges went through... costing me an overdraft each charge! means I was 75+ in the minus at that point. Then the next day, the 9 dollars in fees were refunded.

When I went in pissed, they basically said, sir, every 13th of the month these charges go through. You should have been told this happens. And I can't undo any of the overdrafts, as they arnt our fault. I asked to close my account. Of course they couldnt do it that day, because they had to wait for any lingering transactions.

So when I come back in a week to close it again, the tellar asks me why. And I give the story. And she then tells me she could have reversed those fees, if I hadn't paid them. I make a comment like, a little late now huh? And still get my account closed.

They charge out the ass, don't know what they're doing. And don't take care of their customers. I'm now with washington mutual, and they bend over backwards to help me.

[neatdesign]

Since you don't use the card and don't plan to ever again, then go ahead and get that opt-out request to them ASAP. Follow the opt-out instructions very carefully (ie, don't send it with a payment, etc), then call once a week to check that they actually GOT it. Once they confirm by phone that it's been received, ask them to send you a confirmation letter in the mail. Then file that letter away in a safe place and keep watching your statements each month to make sure your APR doesn't "accidentally" go up later on.

As long as you opt out by their deadline, you don't use the card for ANYTHING (this includes automatic charges like magazine subscriptions, etc) and make all your payments on time, then your APR should remain unchanged.

Another option is to try to get a lower APR credit card and do a balance transfer. An APR of 27.99% is a lot, regardless of what your actual balance is.

FWIW, if you haven't used the card in over a year and it still has a $5200 balance on it, it's very possible that your account was selected for this APR increase (called "repricing" in the credit card industry) because your account's just sitting there. A lot of people never read these sorts of notices, or ignore them, and then discover months down the road that they could've done something about it but missed the chance.

The opt-out is there for a reason; utilize it.

~ Jenney

[cptacek]

what if it is a fraud? why would they need your full credit card number? To a P.O. Box that is ONLY for this? I would be afraid. If this came out in an email, you would delete it right away, right?

I would close the account as soon as possible. If this was me, I would raid any emergency savings to pay it off, sell something serious to pay it off, get a personal loan at a credit union, anything, and just get out of it.

If you do decide to send your credit card information in the mail to a P.O. Box that is just for opting out, I would call to confirm, google it, call to confirm again, etc., just to make sure that it is not fraud.

[HeartCarved]

Originally Posted by cptacek

what if it is a fraud? why would they need your full credit card number? To a P.O. Box that is ONLY for this? I would be afraid. If this came out in an email, you would delete it right away, right?

I would close the account as soon as possible. If this was me, I would raid any emergency savings to pay it off, sell something serious to pay it off, get a personal loan at a credit union, anything, and just get out of it.

If you do decide to send your credit card information in the mail to a P.O. Box that is just for opting out, I would call to confirm, google it, call to confirm again, etc., just to make sure that it is not fraud.

I thought the same thing you did.

The letter has the BoA logo (not that that means anything) and also the last four digits of the card number in question.

The investor relations part of the BoA website does list FIA Card Services: Bank of America | Investor Relations | FIA Card Services Securitization

[DayByDay]

Yeah, what nerve. Hope you can figure out a way to transfer that debt to a better place. I've never liked BofA either.

[MonkeyMama]

I would call and check if it was a fraud - but overall sounds legit. My credit card called me and asked me for my mother's maiden name and SS#. I didn't give it to them and when I called to complain/see if it was a fraud they said oh no they had called and needed the info in order to issue me a new card. This was MBNA a few years back. Idiots... Trying to prevent fraud I am sure but then expecting their customers to give out personal info on cold calls. ????

[simpleyme]

years ago I got a letter from city bank raising my interest by like .2 percent it totally ticked me off ,it was at a time everyone was offering low low rates and this card was at 12 percent
I sent the letter saying I did not accept the term change like the instructions said,they changed it anyway when , I paid it off and closed the account only to see on my credit report a couple years later they never closed it .

there probably was nothing in the original posters agreement about this change ,except the " we may change the term of this agreement at any time for any reason with 15 days notice"

[Vapors]

Bank of America will even charge you a monthly fee if you want to download your checking transactions into Quicken, unless you are an advantage customer. They charge for everything they can think of.

[Fern]

get rid of 'em.

[intheblack]

Tell them to pound sand. I'm pulling my last $160,000 out of BoA next week, HSBC pays 5% on savings with no fees!

[briancgraham]

I GOT THE SAME THING TODAY!!!

I have had a great MBNA card with a 7.9% interest rate. It has balance, but I have always paid on time and never had a problem. As soon as I heard BOA was buying it out, I started to worry.

Sure enough, for no reason 'legit' reason, they are increasing the rate to 21.99%. It's really stupid.

This is on top of other stupid things they have been doing lately.

Like starting to charge for multiple accounts if you don't have direct deposit. I only have one job, and thus one direct deposit!! Is it that big of a deal that I have two additional checking/savings accounts to help me budget my money???

So I call and ask why they are charging this fee, and they have no answer.

A few days later in the mail I receive new cards for two of my accounts. Why? I had no idea, and I was pissed because I didn't expect them so if someone had stolen them from my mail I would have had no clue. So I called them up to ask why I received the cards and they had no answer.

I've had BOA since High School and they have been fine up to this point.

In my opinion, something has changed in upper management and changes are trickling down the pipe.

You can bet i will be dropping them as fast as I can..... because who knows what they will do next to me.

I shouldn't live with the fear of opening any letter that has BOA on the front of it, when they are already making so much 'free money' from me.

It's disgusting and wrong.

:-(

[Pattypoundcake]

I got the same letter yesterday. I am rejecting the terms, letter is already written. I would suggest if you do reject the terms (you should anyway, since the card is shredded) that you send the letter registered mail. Clark Howard the other day suggested any time you reject new terms in a user agreement to do this because they are just slimy enough to "lose" your letter. It should be about $3 well worth it.

[Pupart]

Now, why would they do this? My husband and I are following Dave Ramsey and we're on BS2. This credit card has an APR of 17.99% and we haven't used it in over a year. It has a balance currently of $5200. We do not plan to use this card ever again. The physical card has been shredded.

This was an MBNA account that we've had for six years.

What do you guys think about this? Is there any reason not to reject the APR increase?[/quote]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Have you called or emailed the Dave Ramsey show about this?
Maybe he could talk about it and help many who are facing this.

[Ima saver]

I would write the letter rejecting the new rate and send it registered mail as was suggested. Then spread the word about BOA like you have on here.

[JoyJoy]

Well thank you HeartCarved for sharing this and to the others who also received this letter! I'm sure there are other people (like me) who are BOA customers and have an account with BOA who would not take a liking to doing business with people this unscrupulous!

Consider passing the word as done!!

[Ima saver]

I just checked my credit cards. I do have a BOA but now, I will make sure I never use it.

[dribble]

I just got this letter as well.
Needless to say, I am irate. I've been making over the minimum payment on my balance for the last year, and my APR is jumping 9 percent.

Looks like I will be following the advice here - writing the letter, closing my account and seeking credit elsewhere.

[buzz]

Yet another reason not to carry a balance on a credit card. For the life of me, I can't understand why they treat their most profitable customers so poorly.

[boomeyers]

Yikes! I just opened a BOA account for 0% till May of 2008. Hope they don't come after me too! Here is incentive to get it paid off ASAP. My 0% from Chase has been excellent!