What not to do with credit cards
There’s an article out there, “Ohio Man Tells Senate Panel About Confusing Credit Card Practices”, that I found interesting. Here’s the short version of this story:
An Ohio man whose $3,200 credit card debt mushroomed to $10,700 with interest and fees told his story Wednesday to senators who denounced the industry for confusing billing practices and shifting interest rates.
This guy charged himself a little over 3k on his credit card and now owes 3 times that amount. Credit card debt affects some of us in extreme cases, but what this guy did is beyond irresponsible.
Those from Citigroup Inc. and Chase Bank USA said their companies were eliminating some practices — including the one that hit Wesley Wannemacher of Lima, Ohio, with over-limit fees on his Chase card account 47 times although he went over his credit limit only three times…..The interest charges and fees on Wannemacher’s account more than tripled his debt despite his having made payments averaging $1,000 a year over six years, noted Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the subcommittee’s chairman.
This guy made payments of 1k a month a year ago over six years, but was late 47 times and over limit 3 times. There isn’t much detail about whether or not he was just paying this account off or if he was continuing to use it. Taking two steps back and three steps forward does not pay down the account. The credit card company felt his pain though:
Richard Srednicki, the chief executive officer of Chase Card Services, apologized to Wannemacher in his testimony. “In this case, we simply blew it,” he said.
What was he using the credit card for and where did the fees come from?
Wannemacher used a new Chase card in 2001 and 2002 to pay for expenses mostly related to his wedding. He had $3,200 in purchases, interest charges of $4,900, 47 over-limit charges totaling $1,500, late fees of $1,100, for total charges of $10,700 as of February. He paid $6,300, leaving a $4,400 balance — which Chase agreed to waive after he contacted the subcommittee staff.
So half of the total is interest charges, part of it is over limit fees and part late fees. After paying on it for years and years Chase decided he paid enough and waives the balance? I wonder if I could call up one of my credit card companies and just ask them if they could waive my balance due because I paid them for a few years.
When credit cards are used, for whatever reason, you usually know you’re going to pay more for what you’re buying than if you had the money to buy it. Don’t have the money to buy it? Use credit and just pay more later, after all that’s the way people have to do it, right? I do think there are credit card companies out there that put so much in their fine print that if you trip up they will sock you with a world of hurt.
I have been late before paying a credit card online by an hour because they changed the time frame a payment can be processed in. They still took the payment but I got dinged with a late fee. Called the company up and got the late fee refunded, and figured things would be fine. One hour late even with having the refunded fee got me a penalty rate which I had to deal with for, get this, 13 consecutive months of payments! Now that it is a year ago I don’t have that lousy rate to deal with, so if I were to continue paying the same amount towards that card more money will pay the principle balance faster. I will eventually get it paid off, it just takes some time and higher payments.
