The same thing happened with Visa here, but it was across the board (not personal) and by a large chunk all at once, however I called to ask about it and was told that if I wanted to keep it at the higher rate, all I had to do was ask (so I did) but because of their computer set-up, will have to continue asking every few mos. when it auto. goes down again, so I do!

"I called to ask about it and was told that if I wanted to keep it at the higher rate, all I had to do was ask (so I did)"

Why did you repeatedly request that your interest rate be kept at the HIGHER RATE????
If you carry a balance, a lower rate saves you money!

Hi Lucy,

I, too, found it hard to believe my eyes when I read how you were asking repeatedly to have the interest rates that the Chase credit card people were charging you on unpaid balances be returned to a higher rate.

If you want to give away money ...

... I'm sure that several around here would form a line ...

... and hold out our hands.

I'm sure that we could put the money to as good use as the Chase credit card people!

And with us, you wouldn't need to worry about being Chased!

Or is that chaste?

Have a great week ... what remains of it.

ole joyful

Oh $#%)* ! Somedays I should not log in - I mixed it up with credit limit (how much is available to take out). Just ignore these BF's in future please :-)!

Good point. I wouldn't mind having a higher credit limit but I'm afraid the interest rate will go up right along with it.

my credit limited seems to keep going up and up - we could live quite comfortably for about eight months on our credit limit. I really find this alarming as we have had our credit card compromised on three separate occasions. I would prefer a much lower credit limit, but was told we would have to change cards(???). BTW, we pay our cards off each month.

I thought that there had to be more to that story than we'd heard!

That said, I don't want a credit limit away higher than I may want to use.

Most credit card companies will revise it downward if you call to ask. You'll have to call from time to time, usually, as many tend to keep rainsing it ... without asking ... or even notification (except on the regular statement of account when they send it).

Don't revise so far down that you may charge over the limit, for there are major penalty fees when you do. And I think that if you charge up close to the limit, in some cases it may have some effect on your credit rating. Ask.

If you sometimes buy on internet, especially using entities that are unfamiliar, make sure that the limit on the card that you use for that is very low - and insist that it stay that way.

If it's inconvenient to have a low limit on your regular card, probably best to get a different one.

Possibly a good idea anyway, if you use the regular card a lot, as you don't want to have hassles develop over its use.

And make sure that you check the account fairly often on the card thAt you use online, especially if you recently used it to do business with a questionable entity.

Enjoy your weekend.

ole joyful

Okay here is what Chase told me about my rate. Its determined by the Prime Rate plus 3 points. Then the customer service person upped my credit limit, offered me a fixed 9.99 rate on purchases (I accepted) and then offered me immediate cash into my checking account (refused). I never expected them to be so agreeable.

Greetings Eric ... and others,

Prime plus 3 sounds attractive on a credit card, on an ongoing basis.

I'd want to negotiate quite a lot lower on a fully secured Line of Credit, though.

Though I recommended that clients have 3 - 6 mos. income fairly quickly available in case of emergency, once they got that established, and were safely established on a regular program of savings, sometimes I'd suggest my own plan.

Early on, use a money market account or certificate of deposit maturing in a few months as repository of the money.

Have a credit card(s) to use immediately for an emergency, paying off the balance from money market account or when one of the short-term instruments came due but the difference in interest rates meant that one didn't want the interval to be very long or the (taxable) interest earned would be totally eaten up by the (almost always non-deductible) interest on the credit card account.

When they'd established some cushion like that, I'd suggest that they use current savings to get some equity-based mutual funds, having certificates issued for them, taking them to the bank to use them as collateral for a fully-secured line of credit. Then, as the interest-bearing instruments matured, I'd have them gradually buy more mutual funds, using the certificates to increase the limit on the line of credit available in case of need. My plan would be to allow this line of credit to sit unused, available when I have an emergency and use the credit cards, to borrow at low rate to pay off the credit card balance in full when the bill comes in.

When one uses equity-based mutual funds as collateral for a line of credit, seldom will the lender agree to a credit limit more than 50% of the value of the underlying asset, e.g. $6,000. of mutual fund value, they'll lend up to $3,000.

I don't want to borrow near that amount, for if the value of the equities goes down in a falling market, e.g. $6,000. drops 16% to $5,000., ... then the lender will only lend $2,500. If you've borrowed more than that, e.g. $2,700., they'll want at least $200. (usually more like $300. - 400., for some extra cushion) or more equities worth at least $400., (often more like $600.) ... and they want the extra by later today ... tomorrow at the latest. Markets often drop by 20%, fairly often by 25%, even up to 30% or so. No way do I want to put myself at such risk ... and even less do I want that for my clients!

I think it best to buy investments regularly as one makes the savings. When prices are low, an equal number of dollars buys more, and when prices are high, fewer.

After I've built an equity-based line of credit large enough that I think it's substantially more than double the amount that I may need in case of emergency, when I make some more savings, and buy some more equity-based mutual funds, I have the certificates issued. After I have a few thousand dollars' worth, then I may use them to establish a second line of credit.

As I may borrow against this second line of credit to buy more equity investments, the reason for having it separate is that the interest cost is deductible when I use the proceeds of the loan for investing.

When the market is low, I may draw on the line of credit to buy more assets, often agreeing to pay interet-only from month to month, letting the loan run for a period.

As the market recovers, I'm inclined to use current savings partly to pay interest on the loan and partly to buy more assets especially early on.

As the market gets higher, I'm inclined to use more of the current savings near home, paying not only interest month by month, but paying off some of the principal, as well.

The idea is to get the loan pretty well paid off as the market is high, makes a top and begins moving down, with the intention of having it all paid off when the market has partly retreated to a lower level once more.

Then using regular savings to buy more assets again, and possibly using the line of credit again when the market is low.

As this program takes some time to become established, it is my desire that my clients may learn more about the markets and feel more comfortable in using them.

Most mutual fund managers charge management fees of about $1.00 in average growth of the investor's assets of about $6.00. When one considers that about 85 - 90% of them do not manage to outperform the market averages, one feels that there may be a good possibility that the individual investor might be well advised to do his/her own managing, putting at least part of the management fee into his/her own pocket.

As their knowledge grows, I hope that they will become able to buy Exchange Traded Funds, which are similar to equity mutual funds, buying a basket of a number of stocks in various segments of the market ... but at far lower management fees. In this area, they won't issue certificates for these.

Later, as the investor's skill and experience grows, to choose to buy individual stocks directly: a fee to buy, a fee to sell ... but no fees during the intervening years. They can also be used as collateral, if the investor chooses ... but one would want to have them issued only for a stock where one had a substantial holding, for the brokerage charges $35. - 50. to issue each certificate.

Good wishes for increasing skill at making your income achieve better results and making your assets work more effectively.

ole joyful