The CARD Act of 2009 not only put caps on penalty interest rates, it also made credit card companies that hiked up their rates between January 1, 2009 and February 22, 2010 have to re-evaluate customers’ credit cards every six months, meaning their rates have a chance of being reduced. There’s a catch, though – depending on how the card is used the interest reduction may not even affect you (for example, if you have an option to do cash advances, but rarely use that option, the credit card companies may just lower the rate for that instead of balance transfers or even your APR). Even if you pay every month on time, after six months you might not get a reduction at all!
So if you’re staying under the limit and paying your bills on time, it’s vital to keep going and pay your credit card off so you can be rid of it forever. Late payments can still mean rate hikes, so making sure payments are on time will ensure you won’t be getting that 29.99% rate. You’ll be stuck with that rate for at least six months, so stay on it!
If you have multiple balances, make sure you know what’s left on each card so that nothing slips through the cracks. Even having one balance with a raised rate can kill your budget. Stay positive! Once the card is gone, that’s more money in your pocket every month without those killer rates.
With all this trickery going on with the credit card companies, the high interest rates and sneaky ways they are able to reduce non-interest rates on your cards just makes it much more of a priority to pay off your cards and get debt-free as quickly as possible!
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