As I'm seeing with other consumer complaints here, Advanta raised my interest rate from 7.99% to over 35% over only a handful of months. I received the excuse that my "payment history has changed." Of course it has because I pay bills every month. What a scam that that is all they need to say.
I requested help from the FDIC to investigate this. After the investigation, Advanta gave me an offer to opt out and "let" me pay off my balance at the immediately-previous interest rate 19.99%. I told them I would like to wait to make a decision until I received a reply from the FDIC so I would know what their response was. Advanta refused to even allow me time to get the FDIC's response from their inquiry!
That deadline maneuvering only exacerbated my discomfort with Advanta's questionable business practices: I should have been able to get the results of a decision from the FDIC first. So, cornered by Advanta, and not wanting to pay 35 % interest, I opted out.
If Advanta would have given more weight to my history with the company, i.E. My impeccable payment history, they might have retained a good, solid customer. But I received no regard or appreciation for that. As I continued to be a great customer, Advanta raised my interest rate again and again.
Advanta operates without integrity, without respect for the customers who make them their money, and with the seediest maneuverings I have seen, even in an industry that isn't exactly known for benevolence in the first place. They operate against the spirit of the laws governing credit card companies, if not outside the law. The decision makers at Advanta are disgusting and do not care that they are damaging and destroying their customers. I will conscientiously refuse to ever do business with Advanta again.
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