Advanta Bank Illegally Raising Interest Rates to 30% Springhouse Pennsylvania
I wanted to mention a situation now occurring I believe due to the tight credit crisis and the banks, such as Advanta, trying to minimize credit card balances and become more liquid due to bad loans, credit cards with too low of an interest rate, etc. and reduce their exposure of credit card losses. I believe this is directly part of the credit crisis and Advanta is giving a lot of their small business credit card holders the shaft.
I have been carrying a balance on my card for several years now and had a decent rate of about 10.3%. On August 13, they claimed they sent me a letter that after a review of my credit report, payment history, etc. and using their own "proprietary formula", decided to jack my interest rate to 30%. I have been reading some of the consumer complaint websites and I have found over 60 others they have done the same thing to and for no valid reason. Personally, I have excellent credit and credit score and over about 10 years or more with Advanta, I had only 1 late payment by 2 days. Fortunately, I have enough liquidity to pay them off this week so they can't steal any more of my money.
This is a sure sign of things to come, especially for the small business owners who need the credit to operate their business. I also believe this is illegal by Advanta and hope someone will drum up a class action lawsuit against them.
I have also been reading that they are accepting new customers at their 7.99% interest rate and then shortly thereafter jacking the rates to their default rate of 29.99%.
Sincerely
Doug
(((ROR redacted)))
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Douglas
Cleveland, Tennessee
U.S.A.
7 Updates & Rebuttals
Normal Consumer
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
What is Illegal?
#8Author of original report
Thu, October 02, 2008
As with most of the other complaints, they claimed they sent me a notice on August 13 they were going to raise my rate to 30%. Looking back at my terms, I believe they had the right to jack the rate. However, the unethical part is they did not send me any type of letter or notice as they claimed and I was not given the chance to pay off the card before they kicked in the 30% rate until 6 weeks later, costing me a lot of money for nothing. Here's the humerous part of it when I asked for a refund of the late fee (the only time I was late in 10 years) right after I made my payment:
Dear Mr. Carpenter,
Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your account fee. As you requested, Advanta is providing you with the following account information.
Because you are a valued customer, we have adjusted the late fee. This credit should appear on the next billing statement. To ensure payment is applied on time, please complete payment transactions by 3:00 pm E.T. on or before the due date displayed on your statement.
To assist you with account maintenance, we have emailed a link that will allow you to enroll in our AutoPay Program. If you choose to enroll, AutoPay will ensure your Advanta account is paid on the required due date every month.
We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and your business needs. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our Customer Service Center. You can visit us online 24 hours a day at www.advanta.com or call us toll free at (800) 705-7255, Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and Saturday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern Time.
Charles Regazzi
Account Manager
Advanta
Normal Consumer
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
What is Illegal?
#8Author of original report
Thu, October 02, 2008
As with most of the other complaints, they claimed they sent me a notice on August 13 they were going to raise my rate to 30%. Looking back at my terms, I believe they had the right to jack the rate. However, the unethical part is they did not send me any type of letter or notice as they claimed and I was not given the chance to pay off the card before they kicked in the 30% rate until 6 weeks later, costing me a lot of money for nothing. Here's the humerous part of it when I asked for a refund of the late fee (the only time I was late in 10 years) right after I made my payment:
Dear Mr. Carpenter,
Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your account fee. As you requested, Advanta is providing you with the following account information.
Because you are a valued customer, we have adjusted the late fee. This credit should appear on the next billing statement. To ensure payment is applied on time, please complete payment transactions by 3:00 pm E.T. on or before the due date displayed on your statement.
To assist you with account maintenance, we have emailed a link that will allow you to enroll in our AutoPay Program. If you choose to enroll, AutoPay will ensure your Advanta account is paid on the required due date every month.
We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and your business needs. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our Customer Service Center. You can visit us online 24 hours a day at www.advanta.com or call us toll free at (800) 705-7255, Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and Saturday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern Time.
Charles Regazzi
Account Manager
Advanta
Normal Consumer
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
What is Illegal?
#8Author of original report
Thu, October 02, 2008
As with most of the other complaints, they claimed they sent me a notice on August 13 they were going to raise my rate to 30%. Looking back at my terms, I believe they had the right to jack the rate. However, the unethical part is they did not send me any type of letter or notice as they claimed and I was not given the chance to pay off the card before they kicked in the 30% rate until 6 weeks later, costing me a lot of money for nothing. Here's the humerous part of it when I asked for a refund of the late fee (the only time I was late in 10 years) right after I made my payment:
Dear Mr. Carpenter,
Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your account fee. As you requested, Advanta is providing you with the following account information.
Because you are a valued customer, we have adjusted the late fee. This credit should appear on the next billing statement. To ensure payment is applied on time, please complete payment transactions by 3:00 pm E.T. on or before the due date displayed on your statement.
To assist you with account maintenance, we have emailed a link that will allow you to enroll in our AutoPay Program. If you choose to enroll, AutoPay will ensure your Advanta account is paid on the required due date every month.
We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and your business needs. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our Customer Service Center. You can visit us online 24 hours a day at www.advanta.com or call us toll free at (800) 705-7255, Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and Saturday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern Time.
Charles Regazzi
Account Manager
Advanta
Ken
Randolph,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Question
#8Consumer Comment
Thu, October 02, 2008
While I agree with your frustration, what part of this is illegal?
Normal Consumer
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Information to Substantiate Why Advanta is jacking their interest rates unjustly
#8Author of original report
Thu, October 02, 2008
http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/StruReportNew.asp?inCert1=33535&ReportName=10&From=EzFind
Check on this site on the FDIC. In the past 12 months for accounts 30-60 days past due, have increased from 11,592 to 17,855 and over 90 days from 11,654 to 17,939. This explains a lot of why Advanta is jacking the interest rates on our cards to 30% to try and make up for these huge losses at our expense instead of theirs.
Normal Consumer
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Information to Substantiate Why Advanta is jacking their interest rates unjustly
#8Author of original report
Thu, October 02, 2008
http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/StruReportNew.asp?inCert1=33535&ReportName=10&From=EzFind
Check on this site on the FDIC. In the past 12 months for accounts 30-60 days past due, have increased from 11,592 to 17,855 and over 90 days from 11,654 to 17,939. This explains a lot of why Advanta is jacking the interest rates on our cards to 30% to try and make up for these huge losses at our expense instead of theirs.
Normal Consumer
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Information to Substantiate Why Advanta is jacking their interest rates unjustly
#8Author of original report
Thu, October 02, 2008
http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/StruReportNew.asp?inCert1=33535&ReportName=10&From=EzFind
Check on this site on the FDIC. In the past 12 months for accounts 30-60 days past due, have increased from 11,592 to 17,855 and over 90 days from 11,654 to 17,939. This explains a lot of why Advanta is jacking the interest rates on our cards to 30% to try and make up for these huge losses at our expense instead of theirs.