October I received my Bank One Visa Bill. And they had doubled my interest rate 12.99 to 24.99! I thought it was a mistake. I knew from the original cardmember agreement that the only reason they would raise my interest rate was to miss 2 payments within a 12 month period. I had this account for 5 years and have never missed a payment! When I called, the reps were rude and said that I should look at my credit report (which I had recently done and I have about a 725 (which isn't perfect but damn good). The increased interest also put me over the credit limit and they charged me a OL fee (which they did give me a credit for). I asked to speak to an account manager who had even less customer service skills than his reps.
They said there was nothing they could do. They said it was due to to0 high of limit on credit cards, too many consumer accounts and that I was a risk (even though I have paid every single payment on time). They claimed to have sent a letter to say that the terms had changed (what I would like to know is how should these scums be allowed to change the terms of the contract? Its not a contract/agreement if one party is allowed to change its terms? Isn't this bait and switch?) I did not get that letter, because my guess is that they threw it in with the statement along with the rest of the junk they enclose (all the stupid stuff they try to get you to buy hoping that you won't pay attention to the important information).
I immediately reported them to the Washington Attorney General Consumer Reporing Agency explaining the situation. Within a week I had a call from the office of the President of Bank One asking me what I would like to do. They agreed to close my account at the previous lower inetest rate. This of course is better than paying 24.99. If I had the means I would like to pursue this further. This is absolutely unethical conduct. I can see doing this to someone who defaulted on their account, but not to people with good payment history and a decent credit report.
I would like to know if anyone here knows how to get a class action suit started and if possible get something like that started. I am sure the feedback on this site is just but a tiny tiny percent of the people out there that were screwed, so to speak.
Julie
Washington (state)
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