AT&T Universal Credit Card - credt card interest rate raised from 8.9% to 24.9%

# 1 for May 18, 2002

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on May 17, 2002:

From: ~me~ [Email User]

RE: AT&T Universal Credit Card - credt card interest rate raised from 8.9% to 24.9% After my divorce in 1999, I immediately began building my own credit. I first got a car loan, then I opened 2 credit card accounts at fairly high interest rates of 14.9%. I had to do this, because I was just starting out. After 1 year of on time payments to every debtor I had, I received an offer from AT&T card services for a credit card with 8.9%, with an offer to transfer balances at that rate till they were paid.

Of course I took advantage of that, transferred every debt I had to other cards over to AT&T, and closed the others. I have still continued to make payments on time since 1999, and was even offered a credit line increase by AT&T one year ago.

This month, I received my AT&T statement, and my interest rates had been chanced to 24.9%! I called, and was told that they routinely do credit reviews of their customers, and based on credit delinquencies in my past, I was now considered a credit risk, and this action was done in order to warn off any potential delinquent payments. With the AT&T agent on the phone I went on line and ordered my credit report from equifax. There are no late payments on it since 1997. NONE since 1997, and NONE since I opened my account with AT&T. SO basically , in a nutshell, AT&T is running a scam ....a legal scam.

They are offering people with less than perfect credit in the past an opportunity to transfer debts to them, promising a low interest rate. Once you have established a substantial debt to them ($6,000 was what I transferred, and they still offered me more credit, which I didn't take), they then use the delinquencies in your past as reason to up the rates. MINE ALMOST TRIPLED. I have closed the other accounts I had in order to keep my debt ration down, and now in order to get away from AT&T I must open another account somewhere else.

I have worked hard for the past 3 1/2 years to rebuild my credit after my divorce. I did everything as I should have. Worked my way down to lower interest and the reward of seeing my debt shrink. I did everything I was supposed to do. What AT&T did was legal, I am sure somewhere in the fine print there is something that gives them the right. But it was ethically and morally wrong.

I will never do business with this company again. Apparently Citibank has bought this company. This must be where it all began to go down hill, because I have never had aproblem until now.