When NextCard suffered financial difficulty they closed my account and stated that they would reopen as soon as they find another buyer for their organization. My credit standing with them was excellent. When they closed my account they doubled my interest rate without my knowledge.
In this way I would not be able to pay down the principle. For the past year and a half I've only paid interest. My original offer was 12%. For the past 1 1/2 years it has been 23.99% of no fault of my own. I have not been a late payer.
I pay all bills on line. They had no reason what so ever to jack up the rates after closing the account. I am appalled. Recently I have been able to get in touch with live telephone operators. In the past the phone would ring indefinitely. If I were an abuser of my credit card privileges including late payments.
This past month (October 2004) I held the payment until they responded by sending me the copy of signed agreement I was told I signed. They never sent it. So I called again to another number and asked what was going on.
They said they (NCO) can offer me a lower interest rate under their hardship program. I said it's not about hardship it's about fairness and what's ethical. They charged me with late charges in the past that were unsubstantiated.
Payments were on time but don't know where the money went first. I was reimbursed for the late fee the first time. This time when I held the money they finally decided to credit me as of today $35 late fee for October but what about all that unlawful interest paid?
What do I do from this point on? Once an account is closed it should have been closed on the original rate of 12%. I figure $810 has been paid in interest over the past 1 1/2 years and only $405 should have been paid.
I want the balance back. What do I do? I will pay the hardship interest rate 12.81% for the balance of $2,802 which last month was $2,714 before $52 and $35 were added as interest and late fees.
It was $2714 for too long. It should be half of that by now. Charges of interest was wrongly imposed on me and I tried my best to keep my credit from being tarnished. Thanks for your help in advance...
Karen
Hyattsville, Maryland
U.S.A.
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