Law for changing APR?

[josh821]

I've had a Mastercard through Bank of America and for at least the last 3 years my APR was 5.9% (variable I believe, but it still never changed). Yesterday I called them to find out what my minimum payments would be if I purchased something for a specific amount and they asked me if I didn't use my card much because of the interest rate. I said the interest rate was great and they informed me that it was now 19.9%. I quickly looked back at my bills and found that 3 months ago my APR went from 5.9% to 19.9% all in one shot. She played it nice (while still trying to sell me on things) and lowered my rate down to 8.9% variable. I decided I wouldn't be buying anything with a card that could at any time have its rate quadrupled.

So what I'm wondering, was this even legal? I've had one late payment about a year ago for the entire time I've had this card and I've used it pretty regularly. They even cut me a break on that payment when I called them because they could see that I was a good customer. I would expect creditors to be able to change rates here and there but usually not for no reason and not to such an enormous extent. If this is legal, how do I find a credit card that I don't have to constantly worry about this happening? It makes the card completely useless to me to not even be able to remotely count on my interest rate remaining steady.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[formercap1agent]

It's legal. When you signed and used the card you agreed in full to Bank of America's terms and conditions, which includes their rules on changing interest rates (generally the rules state that your rate goes up if your account is not in good standing, and that the bank reserves the right to change terms at any time and you will be given written notice -- if you disagree with the change you have no recourse but to pay off the balance and close the account).

While working at Cap1 I heard a lot of whining when we raised interest rates this year with all sorts of threats of "I'll sue you" but we just shrug and smirk because one of the terms and conditions agreed to by signing and using the card was to waive your right to sue the bank. Read your credit card agreement carefully and you'll see it's in there, no lender is stupid enough to leave themselves open to lawsuits.

Former Capital One Agent

[AMJ21]

It's totally legal. If you read your T&Cs (in the fine print section) you'll see it clearly (or NOT so clearly) says: "we reserve the right to change the conditions of this agreement at any time for any reason". This is standard for Amex, Chase, Citi, BoA, and all others. It's unilateral.

If you had a variable rate, they can do it.