A couple of weeks ago I decided to transfer most of the balance of one of my Juniper credit cards to a Capital One card with a much lower APR, and I paid off the remaining balance on that Juniper card to bring it down to zero. (Side note: they immediately lowered the APR on the card I paid off from 27.99% to 15.24%.) However, I made a math error when figuring the transfer fee and finance charges on the transferred amount, because I went $12 over the limit on my Capital One card and got popped with a $39 overlimit fee. DOH!! This story has an okay ending, however ... after paying the amount I was over the limit by, I called Capital One and they waived the fee. Yay!!
I also have a second Juniper card, and when I paid it last time I somehow paid $51 instead of the $53 minimum payment (still can't figure out how I did this, and I am sooo MAD at myself!). Even though I made the payment 3 days before the due date there was still $2 due, which they considered late. Yep, you guessed it, I got popped with a $39 late fee ... AND they raised my APR from 27.99% to 29.99%! ARGH!! I called and asked them to waive the $39 fee since I have not made a late payment or gone over my limit in almost TWO YEARS, and they took off HALF of it. OK, half is better than none ... so I went on to ask about the APR being raised. I pointed out how the APR on my other Juniper card is almost half of the APR on this one, and she told me that once I establish a better payment history they will lower it. Seriously? I screwed up by $2, for pete's sake!! I asked to speak to her supervisor, and she put me on hold for a minute, then came back on and told me her supervisor was busy taking "regular calls" and that she could call me back in the next 24-48 hrs. I was so mad by that time I told her "never mind" and hung up on her. I know, that was the wrong thing to do ... but I can't believe that a $2 mistake totally derailed all the progress I made on that card over the past year and a half!!
It's seriously cutthroat with credit card companies right now. No slack AT ALL.
Ticked at myself (and credit cards are EVIL)
May 16th, 2009 at 08:03 pm
May 16th, 2009 at 11:29 pm 1242516591
May 17th, 2009 at 04:29 am 1242534585
May 17th, 2009 at 02:57 pm 1242572221
Please call again.
January 31st, 2010 at 09:09 pm 1264972167
1) Call them back and ask - politely - for a reconsideration on that fee and rate increase. There is no way that a $2 oversight should lead to those outrageous fees...
2) Get another card via balance transfer if at all possible! That rate is abysmal and they are screwing you over. You need some insurance of getting that rate lowered or you will not be able to make progress on that account.
Good luck!
Jerry