AGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RoadToRiches]

Freaking great.

I was on a payment plan with Citi at 0%. Well, I just got a call and I guess the plan was completed successfully and my account will be under review. Uhhmmm at 29.69% APR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!! I am so mad right now.

I guess I will have to hit my trusty spreadsheet and do some shuffling around. That Citi card might be right after Amex.

This sucks

I need to really bring my FICO up to qualify for a good balance transfer card. Hopefully it will be higher in next couple months.

[wodehouse]

arrg, 30%. That is awful.

But the good news is you are taking action and whittling these down. Good luck with your plan!

[RoadToRiches]

Yeah I know But damn.... 30%? That's crazy!

[DVM gone riding]

you should be able to get that transfered, even if at 9%. I would call next week and talk to someone else.

[RoadToRiches]

Yeah I will have to do that. I have one month at 0% (June) and then new rate kicks in. My scores are in 650's so I still have to get it up higher. Balance on that card is 2800 though. It's up there.
Hopefully my score will be higher in couple months, so I will try to see if I can get a better card to transfer the balance over. Hell, at that rate, I might as well to go Payday place and just pay it off lol (kidding of course)

[debtheaven]

Wouldn't you be better off paying down that card before Amex Blue? (I'm assuming that Amex Blue is at a rate lower than 29.69%.)

What about paying your June 15 payment to Citi rather than Amex Blue, and then transferring the balance to your other, lower interest cards? 30% is really the worst possible interest rate, I'm sure at least some of your cards offer a better rate than that. Also, you should call all your cards and try to negotiate your rates with them.

Last though, might your FICO score go up faster if you pay off the smaller-balance cards completely? Dunno. I know you were all about the interest rate, but it looks like you need a new plan now.

In any case, don't fret it! It's just a small "bump" in the road!

[DVM gone riding]

I would really think about Debt Heaven's advice. Pay a good chunk down on June 15th then call on like June 20th and see if you can renegotiate. If they say no say well that is to bad I guess I will have to close it...get transfered to a "closing agent" guarantee that is a more helpful person then the general person, as long as you have the ability to close the card and transfer the balance they will figure out something that is more reasonable, but they have to see it as an immediate threat and cutting the balance in half is pretty effective at getting that message across.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

It sounds like you've gotten some good suggestions ... hope something works out

[RoadToRiches]

Ok some good news. I called them up and talked to someone.

Basically here is what's happening. I was on a payment plan with them at 0%. That plan is completed and done. So, now...after June 15th payment which is still at 0%, my account will be at 29% WHILE it's going through reinstatement and review, which they told me will be completed sometimes in August. At that time, my account will go to 10.99% (previous rate that I had on that card).

So, it really will not be at crazy 29% forever, just probably for a month or so, and then drop.

If it's at 11%, Citi will stay in it's current payoff position. If not, I have to shuffle things around. Probably re-do my calc and adjust all payment schedules.

I feel little better though.

[RoadToRiches]

debtheaven, I think I might have to think about it. We'll see... Amex is at almost 17% and it's a closed account. I do have little one (Amex Clear - ughhh just paid off) that is open and has 800 limit on it. Worst case, I will make Citi payment on June 15th and transfer 800 back to Amex Clear. That is the only card I can really work with.

I will sit down later today and go over numbers to see what makes sense.

[DVM gone riding]

hmm. this might help you. it calculates snowballs for you after you enter the info on the first page. you can alter your pay off method in different manners. on the second page it shows the payment for each month, and allows you to alter payments for a single larger payment though basically it is assuming you will pay the same amount to debt every month. but it is nice as it does a lot of calculations easily without you having to change much!

Attachments:

debtreductioncalculatorblank.zip.jpg (243.51 KB)

[busymom]

So sorry indebt!! Bet I can guess which credit card you WON'T be keeping for emergencies!

[Deleted]

You know, I have had CC with most of the big players, and I have NEVER like Citibank. I only opened it for some promotion, barely used it, and closed it when they informed me they were going to charge an annual fee.

Citibank just never seemed user-friendly. I have a couple of Chase cards that I pay off monthly and a discover. I even have something tied to Regions, my checking account provider, that I put one bill on. They all seem nice enough although, to be fair, Chase gets the majority of my charges, often to the tune of $500.

But, like I said, Citibank never did anything that really enticed me to use their card and only seemed to punish me.

So don't feel alone in disliking them.

[debtheaven]

Indebt
It's great that you managed to get some feedback!

If Amex is at 17% and closed, I would definitely target that Citi. I don't get that temporary high interest rate, and I wouldn't trust things to go through by August. As DVM said, money talks, so your best bet IMO would be to SHOW (as well as tell) Citi that you are serious about getting rid of that balance ASAP. And then call Citi and the paid-off cards again asking for a better rate. Your score is going up all the time as you pay these off, so at some point, somebody is going to offer you a low-interest card / balance transfer. You just need to be diligent and keep trying.

That is what I would do. But I have to admit, I don't own a credit card, we have only "charge cards" (debit cards) here, and an "authorized overdraft". So my advice comes from what I have gleaned from over four years on WIR and here (YM).

Again, best of luck!

ETA: Your other option would be going to a credit union near you and taking out a personal loan to pay off all the CCs. I'm guessing you won't want to do that because you won't have the "rush" of paying them off one at a time.

[april47]

That's kind of crummy of them to raise it that high for a month while they "review". If that is legal then what's to stop all banks from doing that at any time so they can make a little bonus off of everyone. This practice should be outlawed.

[zuzu]

I don't think I'd trust them to lower it back after 2 months. None of that makes a bit of sense.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I'm sorry you're having difficulties.
I have two accounts with Citi and have not had problems with them, so I hope you end up having a decent experience with them.

Here's a whole nother perspective: This change is just giving you a real reason to play obsessively with your spreadsheets. ;D

Good luck!!!