Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

interest rates

I have a bank account and a credit card through bank of America. My credit card interest rate was about 12%. I recently took my first mortgage through wells Fargo. I have never before missed a credit card payment since I have had the card until last month. I paid less the minimum payment and late but had intentions and did pay 100xs more then min payment on the 15th (rather the 1st) I received a call from BOA stating because I was late (one time ever) they were raising my interest rate as of the 1st from 12% to 46.2%! They stated that I could lower that if I liked and Trans my call to a different department. That department advised me that they would lower my interest rate with my card if I agreed to refinance my mortgage with them. Is this legal? I know it�s unethical but is it legal. I am not sure what I should do next. I have paid now over 1200. On my card and have about 1000.00 left but after tomorrow that will double again. Should I pursue legal action?

Thanks for your assistence.


Asked on 7/01/07, 11:03 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jeff Rosner Rosner Law Firm P.A.

Re: interest rates

It sure sounds fishy to me. You may need to look at your cardholder agreemenr to see what type of clauses it contains. There may be state law claims that you would have such as unfair and deceptive trade practices but those would need to be further researched.

Practically, you may want to transfer your balance to another card really quickly and then look into pursuing legal action if Bank of America pursues this. Also, do more research on the web and maybe post your question on Clark Howard's website (he has a radio show that deals with saving more, spending less and avoid getting ripped off). He also is not a fan of Bank of America.

- Jeff

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Answered on 7/01/07, 9:50 pm


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