SoP84

Never have before. Like I said, this was a special circumstance that culminated in my being at a hospital while they performed various radiological scans on my mother.

My mother actually was in the hospital, which is the reason I wasn't home and my due date slipped my mind. I'll give them a call and see if they'll give me a pass this time. I also have a car loan with them that I've never been late with, so here's hoping these two combined might help me.

I'm seriously looking at enrolling in a DMP, after doing more homework. All my cards have jacked my rates, based solely on high balances for the most part (which they loved me for two years ago), and the monthly payments are getting to be too much. My question is this: I know DMP's will mess up my FICO to a degree. It's currently 666 (I know) with no negative marks, only high utilization. Can those that have participated with one give me an outlook?

So there is no current law about giving notice of APR increases? If there isn't, I guess I'm going the DMP route.

Here's a question. I know about the CARD act hitting soon with the tighter regulations on APR jacks, but does a bank have to inform you now by some small degree when it comes to rate hikes? This is one that feels kind of wrong anyway, as I was one day late and had never been late/over before. Advice?

Right, but what minimum score would you recommend I have?

So, I'm looking to consolidate a few of my cards into an installment loan. My FICO is currently 660 and has risen about 60 points in the past 4 or so months and shows no sign of stopping immediately (though I wouldn't expect any more huge leaps). I have no negatives and my only bad mark is high util. I've been with PenFed for 4 years and want to take a loan, but I know they're typically pretty conservative. What FICO would you guys recommend (from experience or speculation) I have?

Great, thanks. This doesn't count as a hard pull because it's merely them retrieving information for me, correct?

I've wanted to snag a consolidation loan on some of my higher APR cards unsecured. What were your FICO scores when you applied with PenFed?

Unfortunately, this card was my "big" card, so I can't transfer it anywhere. Plus, banks in the area are tightening their loan criteria, so I can't get one at the moment. I honestly would have opted out, but I didn't even know about the rate hike until it went through. BOA typically sends such information via USPS mail, but this time they coyly just appended an "Important Information About Your Account" link next to my online statement. Funny, since they tried to jack me once by 3% last February, which I promptly called and complained about last year and they quickly backpedaled on. This time, mysteriously, no actual letter arrived in my mailbox. Funny, ain't it?

So, after 6 years going on 7 of no late payments ever and CLI's out the wazoo, BOA "reclassed" me to a variable rate of 23.99% plus a number they pick (right now it rests at 27.99%). I've called and tried to speak to them, especially since a little more than a year ago I zero'd the card and I maintain a decent FICO score (currently 650, rebounding at about 20 points a month because of a couple of new accounts I opened last year). I told them, honestly, that jacking up the APR did nothing but delay my paying of the principal. They said they didn't care in so many words and tried to offer me the numbers for their credit counseling, saying that would possibly drop my APR back but that I'd "have to take the ding" on my credit. As a result, I'm paying about $100 more each month, which could easily be thrown at other smaller cards and kill them quickly. I'm pretty frustrated, as no other company I'm with is displeased with my accounts at all. Does anyone have any advice? Is my only option to see a credit counselor and draft some alternative payment agreement? I'd loathe to do so, especially since my credit is flawless (just highly utilized at the moment).

So, I'm a 24 year old with too many credit cards. An animal with cancer earlier this year and a costly breakup have left me on the high end of utilization. Never missed any payments (save for the occasional one day mishaps which don't show on my credit reports). Now, Bank of America, my oldest card of 5 years, has decided to put me on a default APR. No reason why, just the typical canned reply of "We use both your (immaculate) history and your credit report in general." Nevermind that I paid the card to zero just last year. Sure, I use my cards more than I should, but I pay them all on time and have never missed anything per my credit report. 619 FICO score, so not so great, but working towards improvement. Bank of America, despite my objections on an ethical level, seem pretty much dead-set on keeping this trend. My other cards, on the other hand, are fine and most are staying where they are or dropping. I'm looking at my options. I'm getting a second job, but even then I'm looking at CCCS and the other options open to me. I don't think I can get an unsecured loan to pay them off (though that would be the ideal to me). I don't want to file BK if at all possible. My budget is already as tight as possible (I've become more responsible now, I'm just paying for past mistakes). This forum seems like it's populated by helpful, intelligent people. I look forward to your replies.

Tweeter.

Ah, didn't know. Since this is a retail card, it's only used for big purchases (television, car electronics, etc) which are annual/semi-annual occurrences. In any case, would it be worth approaching GEMB to see if they'd amend my account to show it was closed in a less damning manner than "by creditor"? I don't have a single negative mark on the account, it's just annoying to see if effect me badly.

Sadly, the only thing that could be impacting my FICO is my usage. Literally no late items on my history (I've checked, just now even), no closed accounts up until this point...it's all usage. That's the only thing that's remotely negative, and my FICO analyzer itself simply says that average age of accounts of utilization are hurting my score. Everything else is positive. Err, the problem doesn't appear to be with inactivity (it was just active earlier this year, I paid it off in March I believe). It's that they see high utilization on my other cards.