Advanta Business Card Advanta has raised me and probably all customers more then 15% in interest Salt Lake City Utah
Well if you're reading my disgust towards this company Advanta (small business credit cards) its your first, one of many to come, or about your thousandth.
We all need to stand up against this. Class action suit. Who gets the ball rolling I'm not sure of.
If you're reading this and you have time call: 800-705-7255 and just keep complaining. Be rude if you have to from the start cause most likely you will get that. Someone telling you they sent you a letter about this increase. Right.
This company is in their own bail-out mode itself. Hoping this rate raise will:
1) Have people pay their enormous 25% interest rate.
2) If not, transfer to a new card (they get their money quickly)
3) Many from this increase without knowing put them over their limit? Another charge.
4) Pay their balance off and never use them again (money quickly back to them from this illegal practice).
This is outrageous. Everyone I have come across has the same story. Fine credit, fine credit score, paid on time 100%, never late, no major adjustments in their financial situation, paid more then the minimum payment, etc etc.
Why are we now treated like a bad credit holder?
Why lie and tell us you sent a letter. You know you did not.
You can now adjust thousands of small business owners APR's because of the term "ECONOMY" ?
I already wrote them one letter about companies like them taking this country down. There must be action against this company.
I need to study my latest statement but it looks like some crazy extra finance charges were included. Probably cause they erased my promotional rates and charged me a fee that should not have been charged.
I'm just fed up and so are you probably if you're reading this.
Jason
Forest Hill, Maryland
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Normal Consumer
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Rebuttal to My Inquiry to Advanta
#3Consumer Comment
Sun, October 05, 2008
Thank you for contacting us about the terms of your Advanta account.
Your Advanta rates are based on a variety of factors including information about your Advanta account, such as credit line utilization and payment history and information we obtain from credit bureaus about your personal and business credit. The information we obtain from the credit bureaus can include your activity on any other accounts you may have including mortgages and other credit cards.
In addition to factors such your account history with us and your credit scores, our evaluation also considers the economy. Given the current difficult economic environment, we expect accounts with similar behavior and credit profiles to your account to now have a greater likelihood of defaulting than before and your new pricing reflects that higher risk.
Our lending criteria are more conservative and may differ from other financial institutions. These changes do not mean you have bad credit. It means that based on our criteria, this is the APR (interest rate) we are able to offer for you to obtain credit from us with your business card account.
As a result of our review, your Annual Percentage Rate is now LIBOR + 27.59, currently 31.310%, for purchases and balance transfers. The cash and convenience check rate is now LIBOR + 31.59, currently 35.310%.
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.
Amy B.
Account Manager
Advanta
This supports what Business Week says in one of their articles. If you have a high balance, even though you have always paid on time, never been late, have excellent credit, and a good FICO, they're using the economic crisis to screw over anyone running a lot of credit and making payments, no matter what the amount.
I wish someone could file a class action lawsuit against them for lying by stating they sent out notices of the change in terms and did not give any of their customers a chance to close their card and opt out before they screwed all us over with the higher rates. Fortunately I have enough resources to pay the theives off in the next 10 days.
Normal Consumer
Cleveland,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Banks New Policies
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, October 03, 2008
I was reading on Business Week, one of the other big banks is doing the same thing. Apparently if you have carried a balance for several months, only made the minimum payments, and have a lot of other debt, the banks are now jacking your interest rate, probably hoping you will go away, because you are a higher credit risk long term even if you do have excellent credit and such.
They did the same thing to me and I was actually paying more than the minimum balance. Somebody in Washington is supposedly working on new laws or standards where they will cap these stinking high rates to something more reasonable like they used to have when they capped them at like 18%, but they say the banking industry is going to fight it tooth and nail. I doubt we'll see any relief.
I still wonder if they have done something illegal and broken usury law because they keep claiming to everybody they sent out a notice of the change in terms which would have given most folks time to opt out. But this "magical" letter has not seemed to arrive to anyone.
Somebody need to sue these buzzards. Wish I could afford to.