5 ms·

I thought it was incredibly callous for CC companies to send me emails saying “we’re there for you” without any mention of even the tiniest drop in interest rat

by biohax2015 6y ago

gav 6y ago
Exactly. I tried to do some research into the current credit cards rates and found a spread of numbers but around 20%[1] seems like a reasonable guess. The current prime rate is 3.25%[2]. I'm not saying that credit card companies should lend at prime, but I feel that reducing rates for existing balances to 10 or even 15% could make a huge difference to a lot of people. American Express sent me an email a month ago talking about it being a "difficult time" and nothing is more important to them than their customers "health and safety" but all they can offer is telling me that call volumes are really high so I should manage my account online. That's not really that helpful, sorry! [1] https://www.thebalance.com/average-credit-card-interest-rate-4772408 https://www.thebalance.com/average-credit-card-interest-rate... [2] https://moneywise.com/a/what-is-the-prime-rate https://moneywise.com/a/what-is-the-prime-rate
- dehrmann 6y ago
  Unless the government steps up to backstop the risk, there's no reason for those rates to go down. But the Fed's been doing some pretty interesting things, so maybe they'll start buying securitized credit card debt.
  - dillondoyle 6y ago
    Can card companies raise rates on existing debt? Seems like a spiral where intervention is the best option? more defaults -> higher rates to offset risk -> less affordable then more defaults -> repeat
nostromo 6y ago
I really dislike this new colloquial and overly-familiar communications style. And startups are the worst... hardly a day goes by without an app telling me "we <3 you" or "you're looking nice today." Ugh, no, stop please.
newacct583 6y ago
The last place we should be looking for assistance is charity from businesses. That's never worked, ever. The whole idea of "fiduciary duty" cuts directly against it. Occasionally you can convince someone that charity is good marketing, but that's mostly noise. We literally have a government that is supposed to help us manage these crises. That's what it's for -- blessings of liberty, domestic tranquility, general welfare, all that stuff. We have a government to do for all of us what we can't do for ourselves. And it won't.
reaperducer 6y ago
I thought it was incredibly callous for CC companies to send me emails saying “we’re there for you” without any mention of even the tiniest drop in interest rates, instead mentioning their stupid mobile app or something. I agree. A lot of companies seem to be using this as a marketing opportunity. Any excuse to send spam. Apple Card and Bank of America have both allowed me to defer payments. Apple was actually first for me, way back in the early days of March. And it's allowed two deferments so far. Those will be the accounts I keep open when this is all over. The rest can DIAF.
x86_64Ubuntu 6y ago
You know who I didn't get a "we're there for you" email from? My insurance company. Blue Cross/Blue Shield has been suspiciously quiet on the email blast tip.
- copperx 6y ago
  I naively thought that my BCBS plan, which doesn't offer virtual consultations, was going to begin offering them. I mean, that would be like the bare minimum that one would expect. But no.
TAForObvReasons 6y ago
Semi related: Stripe sent two emails on the same day earlier this month, one about how they are supporting businesses with programs like letting you pre-fund refunds you wish to issue to customers, and the other about how they are changing the fee structure and not refunding the stripe fee. Seemed like they could've delayed or waived refund fees if they really cared about us caring about our customers.
jrnichols 6y ago
This was my experience. I called Barclays US about lowering the rate on a card because I was under-employed. I'm still employed full time but my card balances & interest rates are high (and I've not been late, been paying more than minimum.. aka i'm really trying) their answer was "we are not offering any rate reductions at this time" followed by them slashing my credit limit 3 days later. I'm disgusted at their behavior. It was something they didn't have to do but they did anyway because they simply could. When I can, that's the first card I'm going to cancel.
- WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
  > followed by them slashing my credit limit 3 days later. That's some fucked up shit... that probably dropped your credit score a couple of points too (just because of utilization)
  - jrnichols 6y ago
    it absolutely affected it. it changed my overall utilization to near 99% after they pulled that. I had been working 3 jobs (1 full time with an odd schedule, 2 part time to fill in the gaps) to pay down credit cards, and they went and did that. Not a happy customer.
intopieces 6y ago
Yeah the real message is "We're here for you - please use our website instead of our expensive humans for your support questions, they're overworked right now."
m463 6y ago
I got an interesting broker email on March 23rd: "Make sure you have a beneficiary on file" perfect timing.

gav 6y ago

Exactly. I tried to do some research into the current credit cards rates and found a spread of numbers but around 20%[1] seems like a reasonable guess. The current prime rate is 3.25%[2]. I'm not saying that credit card companies should lend at prime, but I feel that reducing rates for existing balances to 10 or even 15% could make a huge difference to a lot of people. American Express sent me an email a month ago talking about it being a "difficult time" and nothing is more important to them than their customers "health and safety" but all they can offer is telling me that call volumes are really high so I should manage my account online. That's not really that helpful, sorry! [1] https://www.thebalance.com/average-credit-card-interest-rate-4772408 https://www.thebalance.com/average-credit-card-interest-rate... [2] https://moneywise.com/a/what-is-the-prime-rate https://moneywise.com/a/what-is-the-prime-rate

dehrmann 6y ago
Unless the government steps up to backstop the risk, there's no reason for those rates to go down. But the Fed's been doing some pretty interesting things, so maybe they'll start buying securitized credit card debt.
- dillondoyle 6y ago
  Can card companies raise rates on existing debt? Seems like a spiral where intervention is the best option? more defaults -> higher rates to offset risk -> less affordable then more defaults -> repeat

nostromo 6y ago

I really dislike this new colloquial and overly-familiar communications style. And startups are the worst... hardly a day goes by without an app telling me "we <3 you" or "you're looking nice today." Ugh, no, stop please.

newacct583 6y ago

The last place we should be looking for assistance is charity from businesses. That's never worked, ever. The whole idea of "fiduciary duty" cuts directly against it. Occasionally you can convince someone that charity is good marketing, but that's mostly noise. We literally have a government that is supposed to help us manage these crises. That's what it's for -- blessings of liberty, domestic tranquility, general welfare, all that stuff. We have a government to do for all of us what we can't do for ourselves. And it won't.

reaperducer 6y ago

I thought it was incredibly callous for CC companies to send me emails saying “we’re there for you” without any mention of even the tiniest drop in interest rates, instead mentioning their stupid mobile app or something. I agree. A lot of companies seem to be using this as a marketing opportunity. Any excuse to send spam. Apple Card and Bank of America have both allowed me to defer payments. Apple was actually first for me, way back in the early days of March. And it's allowed two deferments so far. Those will be the accounts I keep open when this is all over. The rest can DIAF.

x86_64Ubuntu 6y ago

You know who I didn't get a "we're there for you" email from? My insurance company. Blue Cross/Blue Shield has been suspiciously quiet on the email blast tip.

copperx 6y ago
I naively thought that my BCBS plan, which doesn't offer virtual consultations, was going to begin offering them. I mean, that would be like the bare minimum that one would expect. But no.

TAForObvReasons 6y ago

Semi related: Stripe sent two emails on the same day earlier this month, one about how they are supporting businesses with programs like letting you pre-fund refunds you wish to issue to customers, and the other about how they are changing the fee structure and not refunding the stripe fee. Seemed like they could've delayed or waived refund fees if they really cared about us caring about our customers.

jrnichols 6y ago

This was my experience. I called Barclays US about lowering the rate on a card because I was under-employed. I'm still employed full time but my card balances & interest rates are high (and I've not been late, been paying more than minimum.. aka i'm really trying) their answer was "we are not offering any rate reductions at this time" followed by them slashing my credit limit 3 days later. I'm disgusted at their behavior. It was something they didn't have to do but they did anyway because they simply could. When I can, that's the first card I'm going to cancel.

WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
> followed by them slashing my credit limit 3 days later. That's some fucked up shit... that probably dropped your credit score a couple of points too (just because of utilization)
- jrnichols 6y ago
  it absolutely affected it. it changed my overall utilization to near 99% after they pulled that. I had been working 3 jobs (1 full time with an odd schedule, 2 part time to fill in the gaps) to pay down credit cards, and they went and did that. Not a happy customer.

intopieces 6y ago

Yeah the real message is "We're here for you - please use our website instead of our expensive humans for your support questions, they're overworked right now."

m463 6y ago

I got an interesting broker email on March 23rd: "Make sure you have a beneficiary on file" perfect timing.