Citibank Hiked My Credit Card Interest Rate

I am on the warpath now! I’ve been reading about how the banksters are raising the interest rates on everyone’s credit cards before the new law intended to curb such action goes into effect. You can read about how some corrupt GOP senators are trying to block this bill at: The Raw Story: GOP senators block effort to freeze credit card interest rates. The credit card issuers are rushing to raise interest rates ahead of a new law coming into effect in February that restricts how and when rates can be raised.

My interest rate is now 23.99%. Looking closer I can see that they are being even sneakier than I thought. If I charge more than $1000 a month in purchases I will receive a 10% credit of the total interest charge on my purchase balance. What kind of idiot do they think I am? How does it make good financial sense to spend $1000 a month just to reduce your interest rate by 10%? They are just encouraging people to get deeper into debt at outrageous interest rates. This is flat out usury! You can read about how the math would not add up at: The Atlantic: Citi Offers Lower Interest Rates For More Card Usage.

I hereby declare holy war against CitiBanksters! I intend to blog and twitter about this in protest. Although the banks think we are helpless in the face of their highway robbery, I can think of plenty of ways to bring them to grief:

1. As I said, I will blog and twitter to protest this. Just like Iran, baby!
2. I will social network with other people who are outraged over this so we can coordinate our actions.
3. I will inform many merchants that I’ve decided not to make a purchase because my credit card rate was hiked to 23.99%.
4. I will immediately cut way back on my use of this credit card. In fact, I will cut back on all of my discretionary purchases in order to pay off my balance.
5. I will try to cancel my Citi Card as soon as possible. I may need to take out a loan at a lower interest rate to do that. I don’t care what this will do to my credit score because I already own a house and a car.

I am going to frame their letter and hang it over my desk to remind myself not to use that credit card. I’ve been focused on reducing my debt but my immediate goal has been to pay off a personal loan. Unfortunately December is a bad month for me because I usually need to pay my State Farm homeowner’s insurance, a heating bill, and buy Christmas presents this month. This year I have some expensive dental expenses as well.