Friday, October 9, 2009

What Would You Do?

We all make agreements with the full intention of keeping our end of the bargain. What would you do if the company you made an agreement with kept changing the terms, in their favor to cost you hundreds of dollars a month? Credit card companies are doing just that!

I have a credit card with Citibank and they are really pushing me to the edge of my financial ethics. I know the economy has everyone struggling and I know in the fine print of all credit card agreements it says they can change terms anytime, just because. That doesn't mean that I can meet the new terms of the agreement. If you can't meet it, what choice do you have? I've called to talk, tried to reason, and flat out explained that the additional $250 a month with the 29.99% interest rate is just not something I can afford to pay in addition to the $330 I'm already paying as per the 14.99% interest rate I already had (didn't like, but could make the payment).

So what do I do? If I don't make the full $530 payment, I'm in default and fees pile up. If I don't make a payment at all, I'm feeling terrible about defaulting and my credit is being marred. Dave called one more time and was told every one's rates went to 29.99%. Interesting that the new credit card reform takes effect in January. Do you think there's a connection? I do. We don't have the resources to pay the balance off so we either work with them, pay what they want, or we don't. I know what we are going to do, but I'm interested to know what you would do?

3 comments:

Tania said...

OMG this is insane!...move to Canada :-))

I am getting a real dislike for banks lately.

Kathy said...

It is insane and good, hard working, honest people are being bullied and really hurt. It's a bad situation with no good answers.

Anonymous said...

I'd see where I could really scrimp to make the payments, more if possible to pay it off as quickly as possible. We cut out a lot, meals out and trips. I taught the kids there is a difference between needing something and wanting something. A need you can't live without. We eliminated a lot of unnecessary purchases this way and paid off all our debt. Try it. It's actually pretty easy and can become a game with the kids. Good luck! Oh, cut up your card too. You really don't need it. You CAN do this!