Fleet Credit Card Services
Raised interest rate by several percent

I got a standard piece of mail recently stating that the Fleet company had done a credit check on me and found me to be high-risk, and so now my rate, which had been as low as 8.99% is now 14.99%. I would have canceled my card on the spot, but the little piece of paper mentioned nothing about what I could do if I wasn't satisfied with the new terms. So I'm doing what anyone else who has good credit would do - I'm not complaining to the corporation, I'm just looking through my recent mail for another credit card that has a zero percent intro rate and a reasonable rate thereafter, and some other bank can collect on the 2 1/4 percent MasterCard fee per transaction, or whatever it is right now, plus any interest that accrues to my account. I have already found a card that meets my goals much better and offers better rewards as well.

On a related note, the Fleet Rewards program has gotten stingier. The program is similar to a cash-back program, except you accumulate points per transaction. You get one point for every dollar charged for a purchase. It used to be that 100 points equaled one dollar on a gift certificate card that you could redeem with enough points. However, looking at the most recent catalog, the ratio is now 100 points gets 80 cents worth of gift card. And anything else, like phones, radios, etc., is nowhere near the value implicit in the gift card, even now. Good thing I read the fine print, and redeemed a Sports Authority Gift Card while the ratio was still more favorable. If I recall, the terms could be changed by the company at any time with 30 days of notice. You could even lose all your accumulated points if that was what the company decided.

I really don't expect any action to be taken on my behalf, since I've already created my own resolution to the issue. I'm simply stating what happens in the credit card industry, and what has happened to me specifically, for informational purposes. As they say, "Caveat emptor", or let the buyer beware. It holds even more true for borrowers, I've been finding out.

Company: Fleet Credit Card Services
Country: USA
State: Massachusetts
City: Boston
Site: www.fleet.com

  <     >