Usury
(yū'zhə-rē) I seldom use my Macy's credit card--must have pulled it out by mistake when I shopped there on December 19. Today I got a "red star rewards" statement for the period ending December 21. I charged about $60 (2 presents for my husband and 2 for me!) and the minimum payment is due on Jan. 15. So that's 25 days for a 30 day billing account. If I choose to pay less than the full balance, $1 will be added to my revolving account balance, which inexplicably is recorded as $22.41 even though I had zero balance on Dec. 19. It says in upper right corner of page one that the average daily balance is $5.98, the daily periodic rate 0.05918%, which corresponds to an annual percentage rate of 21.60%. On the second page is the note "A finance charge in the amount of $1.00 will be added to your Revolving account balance if you choose to pay less than the full balance by your due date. If that happens, the actual ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE charge on that account is 200.64%.Anyone with better math and English skills want to explain this, without using the words usury, obfuscation, exorbitant or onerous?
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3 comments:
Murray sez:
Sorry but you have hamstrung me if I can't use usury, obfuscation, exorbitant or onerous. Just pay the thing before the due date and then "opt" out!
Actually, credit card companies have always lost on us--we always pay within 30 days, but now that I read the small print, I see why so many are in trouble, particularly if they are paying the minimum, or missing one or two payments a year. All companies are raising their rates, not just department stores.
I called and "opted out" and asked about the 200% interest rate, and the nice human being at the 800 number explained it, but I told her I didn't have enough education to understand it.
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