posted
I just got a notice in the mail about changes in my Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card "agreement." They now want to be able to permanently, and without formal notice, increase your interest rate if so much as one payment is late, with a grace period of only one day. I called MBNA to verify this.
The notice gives an address to write to, to reject the change, but if you reject the change MBNA reserves the right to cancel your account at any time. I sent the rejection letter, because I feel this is an abusive practice. Whether I still have a Guest Rewards credit card is now up to them. This shouldn't affect the points I've accumulated.
I also wrote to Amtrak Guest Rewards to inform them of my concerns.
This is simply the tactics being used throughout the credit card industry today. It is not any kind of discrimination by the issuer of the Amtrak affinity card, the Maryland Bank - National Association, or better known as MBNA America.
At one time, 18% was simply "the rate". However, of late the marketing strategy has been to vary rates, as well as assess stiff "naughty boy' penalties from anything for being over limit (that can happen even with no intentional act by the cardholder) to (much more justifiable) late payment. Additionally, the issuers can adjust a rate not only if the holder is in arrears with them, but also if they learn the holder is in arrears with any other grantor of credit. They can even raise a holder's interest rate if they think a holder has taken on too much debt elsewhere. Evidently, they are so "wired in' with the credit reporting concerns today, that they can make these determinations without any kind of a public event, such as a Bankruptcy, occurring.
However, on the 'flip side', one issuer recently circulated a promotional offer of 2.99% interest. But I would dare say anyone accepting that promotional offer had best be prepared to accept that one "slip up' regardless of however inococous such may be, and that rate will come to a quick halt.
No issuer is "picking on' any particular affinity card line, be it Mr. Toy's Amtrak card, or my Sister's "Save the Whales'. It is just how they are all marketing their products today.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Pretty sneaky. I always pay on line and pay it off. They don't make it easy. I've requested many, many times for an "automatic TOTAL DUE payment method" to no avail. I'm not talking about the 'put in an amount determined by YOU to be paid automatically' that they offer, I'm aksing for a PAY TOTAL AMOUT DUE AUTOMATICALLY FEATURE. Like most credit cards offer. They won't do it. SO, if you slip, forget to visit the website and pay off the amound due, you'll get burned for the late charges. Sounds like planned extra income for MBNA to me.
Posts: 218 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
They're not the only ones doing this - so when I get that bill I write the check for the total amount that day and put it in the mail. They have raised my credit limit so high I could buy a car - as if I'd do that with the ridiculous rates on credit cards! I used to have an Amoco-BP credit card (had it for almost 30 years). Two years ago the bill got mixed in with Christmas cards about the time I was moving from my condo, so they socked me with a big fee for not paying the minimum due. I called them and asked them to waive the fee since I had paid on time for so many years. They agreed to do it as a "courtesy". Then I told them to close the account. No way to treat a loyal customer. . . .
Posts: 122 | From: Milwaukee, WI USA | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I ahd an MBNA card for a long time, and their wacko fees and penalties resulted in me canceling it a few years ago. I regard them as one of the bad boys of card issuers.
George
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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For me, worst case scenario... I forget to make a payment and they add those fees; I transfer the balance to another card.
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
The credit card industry can pretty much do whatever they want to these days.
I saw a program on PBS (Frontline) that discussed this issue in detail. The reason credit card companies moved to states like South Dakota and Delaware was because these states have few (if any) regulations on credit card practices.
Credit card companies can increase your interest rate even if you pay your credit card on time, but are late with another loan payment (house payment, car payment, another credit card).
I would not use a credit card at all unless I could pay it in full, and on time. Credit card companies are worse than the Mafia when it comes to tacking on penalities and interest.
Posts: 26 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
As best I can figure, some of the changes are not even MBNA's (or other issuing bank's), they're changes instigated by VISA and Mastercard.
Take a close look at the circular you just got listing changes. You always used to be able to get cash overseas, and pay the interbank exchange rate with no fee. NOW they give you a rate one percentage point HIGHER than the interbank rate, PLUS they charge a 3% transaction fee! So be advised, where it used to be a really good deal to get cash in local currency overseas on your credit card, now you may as well go to a commercial bank or even to Thomas Cook (aka "Thomas the Ripper").
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Colt-45: Just pay as agreed and you don't have to worry about it
For tucking away in your store of trivial knowledge;
Did you know that your screen name was also used for several years in the 1960's by a drum and bugle corps from Dubuque, IA?
They ran into a copyright issue with the maker of a certain 'adult beverage' and, by the early 1970's, shortened their name to just 'Colts'. The group is still alive and well beginning their 42nd season as an outstanding youth organization!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I really don't know what all this fuss is about. I probably make less money then any of you and am indebited to the credit card companies, and in particular, Guest Rewards, for their services.
Think of what they do: 1) They consolidate all my purchases into one monthly bill that I pay off the moment I receive it (on line, of course). 2) They allow me to travel all over the country on Amtrak without ever having to pay a penny.
It seems to me that the American public has gotten into the habit of spending more money then they take in. This is, of course, a dangerous habit but I really don't see why the credit card company is portrayed as some sort of enemy.
They're just creative money lenders and they don't (and won't ever) make a cent off of me.
Posts: 324 | From: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I totally agree with you, Mr. Toy. I think it is outrageous that the credit card companies have free reign to do whatever they want to do to customers.
When I moved from Emeryville to Denver, one of my credit card companies neglected to mail my bill to the new address. I was caught up in the hassles of moving and didn't notice that the bill hadn't arrived. The following month, they tried to extort a huge late fee out of me. I fought with them until they agreed to waive the fee, and then closed not only my credit card, but all the other accounts I had with that particular bank.
Things won't change, though, until a lot more people get a whole lot angrier.
Posts: 26 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
>I think it is outrageous that the credit card companies have free reign to do whatever they want to do to customers.
Disagree with this. Credit cards are not one of the basic requirements of life and people can easily get along without them if they follow certain practices.
They are, essentially, a luxury. Private companies, under our national principles of capitalism, have every right to set and enforce any rules they wish. You are free NOT to use their product.
Same thing goes for Amtrak's fares and the price of cabbage.
>Things won't change, though, until a lot more people get a whole lot angrier.
You ARE welcome to get angry and to use market forces to effect change. If enough people refuse to use their product because of onerous conditions, they will change. This is the American way.
Posts: 363 | From: Southwest North Central Florida | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I just wish they had an AUTOMATIC feature that paid off the current amount due. I like that feature, many other cards offer it. I've asked for it many times. They give me lip service. I'm sure they have no interest in it because it will always get paid on time, thus, no late charges for them to reap. I do however like the guest reward points so I always make sure I pay on line on time. But I also always include another request for an automatic total due payment feature.
Posts: 218 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I think MBNA has been trying to get some fees out of me, by shifting the due date around. I normally pay off the bill every month, because the Amtrak points, though nice to get, are not worth the interest MBNA charges, and I get a much lower interest rate on the card I have from a credit union. So to accumulate points I buy things with the card if I'm confident I can pay it off right away.
Posts: 77 | From: Spotsylvania, VA | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Why don't you guys try something NEW---save up your money first before you spend the saved-up money on Amtrak tickets!!?? Condidering the interest charged, the late fees and other sneaky fees your trip will probably cost you, in the long run, 25% less than when using a credit card. What a lovely feeling of freedom to have NO credit card debts (as I now have none!) and a wonderful feeling to use CASh to buy things necessary and not so necessary! Try it, you'll like it!
Posts: 287 | From: Palatka, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Regarding Mr. Pojon's thought, the credit card issuers reportedly have become what the cigarette companys were "back in my day'.
When I first matriculated during 1961, there were 'attractive young things' walking about campus "playing candy man' with the weeds. No doubt these ploys, along with fraternities and their "smokers", were designed to "impress' a young man, who may well whom have never been away from his familiy in this life, that "smoking is cool'.
Well that 'butt" has kind of been stamped out nowadays, but has been replaced with that of the credit card issuers. Surely, their message is that since you will spend all of your working life in debt, why not start learning to "manage debt now?".
Well, I guess that is how the message goes, and no doubt that is how the issuers' student solicitors have been indoctrinated. Reality is of course that "the cards' force young people (and even us boomers who are not so young anymore) into purchasing goods and services that first are not necessities, and secondly only because they have the card that allows the transaction to be effected.
No wonder the median household credit card debt is in the range of $9,000. That means $1350 of non tax deductible annual interest for, what in all too many cases, represents garage clutter if even that.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I agree, Gilbert, that students are the first victims. Both my kids, when they were in college, got into real financial trouble over-using credit cards! They could never remember what the balance was on their credit card account, so spending on they went. Some of the tricky charges and penalties on the original Amtrak credit card were really horrible--I gave up using it after the first year.
Posts: 287 | From: Palatka, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
While the following does not relate to rail travel in any way, it does point out how the system has built in "gotchas' to trap the unwary. Even though I have always thought of having control over my financial affairs, let the following be a warning.
I came this close to being "on the wrongs" with the Illinois Tollway Authority. It seems that I was reviewing a balance indicator on my I-Pass (automatic toll collection for those around here with no toll highways) Xponder, and it showed a small balance. Well, it seems that without any notice whatever, they discontinued the available balance indicator on the X-ponder and transferred that function either to a touch tone phone system or the web. So without my knowledge, the account was overdrawn by some $.55 - and had been so for about three weeks. They explained to me that had a small overdraft gone unattended for one month, they would have suspended the account that would have resulted in a criminal traffic citation.
However, had the account been suspended, they would have offered a non-judicial reinstatement where a $20 reinstatement fee would have been assessed and then would have REQUIRED, as distinct from optional, that I sign up for automatic replenishment by credit card. Unfortunately, I'm one of these folks who likes to effect my payments by a check i have written rather than having them automatically debited against anything (now that I'm on Medicare, that debit for health insurance is in the ashcan - for supplemental Medigap, I write out a check to the insurer). Additionally, the automatic toll replenishment gives the Authority a perpetual "float" of at least $10 as that is the trigger amount.
Just one more "gotcha' that darned near caught me.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I have waited to participate in this thread as I have views that will perhaps upset some of us.
Our K-12 education is almost completely lacking in comsumer economics. We seem to have all of the time and funds for many frivolous topics. So when our young get out into the world they encounter the many things that have been described here, and many more. It now becomes time to "pay for your further education"; and this in addition to college. And by the way, a college education does not usually include any help with consumer econ.
Most or all of us have had to encounter these items and I hope that most of us learned inexpensively.
CAVEAT EMPTOR.
Posts: 467 | From: Prescott, AZ USA | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
MBNA is very sneaky. I got them to lower my interest rate to 9 percent because i pay on time and dont carry a balance. now the rate is up to 14 percent. now i pay off my balance each month so in the end i dont pay any interest, but it still is a rotten thing for them to do. Im going to phone them one of these days to complain about it.
Posts: 416 | From: St. Albans, Vermont | Registered: Feb 2003
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