28 Oct
They Must Be Catching On – Wells Fargo Tricks Instead of Treats
Have you ever watched a person or a business do something self-destructive and just stood there in disbelief shaking your head?
Two letters came this week from Wells Fargo, the holder of our first and third largest debts. One contained the annual new credit card. Yay! A new card to destroy. Got to come up with a creative way to do that.
The second letter was the mind-boggling one. Apparently they have caught on and we aren’t fooling them anymore. We are obviously evil, debt-hating people and must be stalled as long as possible. Despite the fact that we haven’t missed or been late on a payment to any creditor in almost a year, they nearly doubled the card’s rate to 26%.
Seriously? Really. That is going to win you my business? My loyalty? It’s so laughable I cannot even be mad about it.
Since we have been closing accounts as soon as they are paid in full our FICO score has been dropping so I don’t think we have a hope of moving that balance (our largest) to a new lender, but I will look into that anyway. Perhaps 26% won’t be hard to beat.
The reality is that this interest rate hike only delays our debt-free date by a couple of months, but it really flabbergasts me. How can anyone think that this is good business? How can any business think its customers will clamor to be treated this way?
What a bunch of asses.
As to the new card, I’m thinking draw-and-quarter. What do you say?
the Dad
Posted by Brandi on 10/28/09 at 2:42 pm
Sometimes you can opt-out of increases if you close the card. I’d look into the fine print and see if you can do that.
Posted by Perky on 10/28/09 at 6:10 pm
However you decide to destroy the card, be sure to film it and post on YouTube! That’s a video that could very quickly go viral!!!! THAT would teach them!!! LOL!
Posted by jpkittie on 10/29/09 at 3:03 am
that is crazy — I have gotten a few of those in the past week — one went from like 14% to 29.99% — I definately called & said that I did not agree with the terms… card closed & debt to be paid off by old apr… FICO score just isn’t on the top of my list right now if it is going to mean me paying more on current debts!
Posted by pafaff on 10/29/09 at 4:02 am
The more and more I understand the FICO score and how it is calculated and how it affects us if we don’t “play by the rules” (aka … keep going into debt), the more furious I get.
Good luck ~ knock those people out of here.
Posted by Sharon on 10/29/09 at 4:10 am
I would not be able to sleep at night with that injustice…they are just trying to get it in before the new law goes into effect when they can’t do that anymore…
As Brandi said, try to close the card and not agree to the new terms.
Posted by Brian on 10/29/09 at 4:56 am
This happened to me with Discover… It was funny 1 month after paying it off they dropped the rate drastically (3 months after they raised the rate). Like Brandi and jpkittie said usually you can close the card and pay at the previous rate (as long as you aren’t late or anything). Most credit cards are doing this due to the new rules going into effect next month. Proof that the Debt / Banking industry is the most evil and insidious industry today.
Posted by the Dad on 10/29/09 at 7:08 am
You guys are all so right. I will call and see if closing the card will help. I couldn’t care less about my FICO score either.
Posted by Climbing Out » Blog Archive » Reader Mail #1 – A Little Cursing Never Hurt Anyone on 11/12/09 at 1:52 pm
[...] a loving observation…….near the end of the Wells Fargo missive you, for the 1st time I believe, shifted blame in a slightly vulgar vein by referring to these evil [...]
Posted by Tam on 11/17/09 at 4:32 pm
Look for that “opt out” clause. I was able to do that with my Citibank card with the understanding that when the card expired they would close the account (next August). Then, last week, I get a letter that they have reduced my limit by $20,000 (that is NOT a typo) to just $150 more than the balance. When I called, they said it was because I was close to the limits on several of my other cards…WELL NO KIDDING since you just lowered the limit to the balance you big dummy!! So, with absolutely no regret, I closed my Citi Advantage MC that I have had for 18 years. We have closed 6 accounts in the past 8 months…and I just cannot wait to close the very last one because it is PAID OFF! By the way, throwing the cards in the fire pit, while enviromentally unsound, feels so good and they burn pretty colors. Love you guys!
Posted by Climbing Out » Blog Archive » Credit Card Déjà Vu – Oh Yeah, That’s Why We Don’t Get Along on 01/14/10 at 8:13 pm
[...] Paging down the statement, sure enough, our APR had gone from 16% to 23%. This is in addition to the rate increase of last October on our third largest [...]
Posted by Mysti on 07/28/10 at 3:17 pm
I had that happen….not to the same degree, but I should have just let them close the card and paid off the debt. Dumb.