Greg
Aurora,#2Consumer Comment
Thu, March 23, 2006
Jake, Having managed a bank branch(not a USBank) for a number of years, I thought I could offer some insight. First of all, credit cards bear the most risk of any loan a bank offers because they are unsecured, or have no collateral to back them incase of default, therefore they are always monitored the closest. These variable rates will always fluctuate with the "prime lending rate." This is the rate that banks are charged by the FED to borrow and cover required reserves based on their customer's account balances. As for the default rate. Any bank that extends you a revolvong line of credit, such as a credit card, will reserve the right to periodically check your credit to protect themselves. What they are looking for is your current sum of total monthly required payments on outstanding debts, divided by your monthly gross income. Otherwise known as debt-to-income. A customer is assessed to see what their probability of default is. The higher the risk, the higher the rate. If you currently have higher balances, than you did at the time you got the card, you may have moved yourself into a higher risk category. The 50% number is a universal figure that banks like to see you stay under, meaning if your limit is $1000, you want to keep your balance under $500. Going over this 50% ratio will ultimately bring your credit score down, even if all monthly required payments are made on time. The reason you appear to be a higher risk over 50% is you are considered "overextended", meaning you may not be able to keep up with your debts. Also, consumers who are planning on filing for bankruptcy will more often than not, max-out all of their available credit. The thought process is that they will ultimately not have to pay for it anyways, and the bankruptcy is about the worst thing you can have on your credit report anyways, so whynot? I would assume if you are 21 and got the card 3 years ago, you may have received a student visa or MC. The interest rates are usually reasonable(considering little or no credit history)and are set there because the bank is giving you an opportunity to start building your credit history. Statistically, these cards generate above average late payment and over the limit fees. This is where the banks makes their money on these, because they also have a high rate of default and non-payment, yielding a loss to the bank. Once the rate defaults to the higher APR, you have a very difficult time getting it reduced or forgiven. All of this information is given to you in your disclosures, in not so plain english. You should read these carefully(despite their ridiculous length) to avoid this in the future. If these disclosures were not given to you at the time the card was issued, that's another story. Unfortunately, you will find similar practices at just about any financial institution. Sorry for the length of this response, but I hope I was able to help in some way.
Stile
Phoenix,#3Consumer Suggestion
Wed, March 15, 2006
Even if you pay your bills on time every month, part of your credit score is based on your debt to income ratio. If this ratio is too high, then it lowers your credit score, so even though you may have more credit history than when you started, you may have a lower credit score which is why your rates went up.