First USA - Interest Rates

Consumer Complaints & Reviews

T. of Long Island City, NY on April 10, 2003

After reading some of the complaints listed on this site, I was amazed to see how many people had gone through similar things. I was given a First USA Credit Card in college. Having little, if any credit, I was surprised that my credit limit was $10,000. Although I never maxed it out I certainly used it more than I should have.

When I graduated and started working I began to pay off the card (In large sums). Although I had never been late with a payment and had always paid just a little bit more than my finance charge, my interest went from 10.9 percent to 18 percent, at first. I called to find out why it increased and was told that I was late on a payment. I called my bank and got copies of all of my past checks and sent it to them to prove that I had never paid late. They said they would have to investigate and get back to me.

On my next statement my interest was raised to 21 percent. I called again and complained and they said that I was again late with a payment. After sending them copies of my cancelled checks all over again there was no explanation they could give. I asked if they could lower my interest back to the 10.9 percent and they said that was an introductory rate (I had had my card 2 1/2 years before they raised it to 18). I began to notice that every rate increase coincided with each increased payment I made. The largest payment I made was almost $1,000 which I had saved working two jobs.

After going around and around with the company, I went to a local bank and begged, tried to get a loan to help me get out of this vicious cycle. I am still paying off that loan but at a fixed rate of 8 percent. And the happiest day of my life was writing out that check for the full amount of my First USA card and telling them that I no longer wanted to deal with a company like them. Oh, by the way, they charged me $29 to cancel my card. (I guess they still got the last word).

It has made me realize that I never want to deal with companies like these again. I have since consolidated all of my other cards and will be completely debt free (hopefully) in 3 years. Unfortunately, without a credit card you can't rent cars, book hotels, even rent movies for that matter!! So, I guess I'll have to get one some time in the future.

Sara of Danville, VA on July 1, 2002

My husband and I were contacted by First USA Bank by telephone about a VISA credit card offer. We were told the offer included free balance transfer at 0% introductory interest rate. We transferred balances to them at that time. We then received a statement from them showing a transaction fee of 3%. I called them and said the transaction fee was not disclosed to us. Customer service told me that their records indicated all charges were told to us. I disagreed with them and wanted the transaction fees taken off the account. They said they would not do this.

I asked for a supervisor and was transferred to Christopher V. He said basically the same thing. It was not their habit to take off these charges. He was quite rude. He gave me First USA Bank's address to write a letter to requesting they call me and play back our actual phone conversation when we were first solicited. He said basically he had the last say-so on our account when I asked for his supervisor. I was told they have 65 million accounts.

My conclusion is this is why they do not feel the need to provide good customer service to keep an account? If they charge 65 million people $100 or more just in transaction fees imagine the profit from that alone. I was told there was no other numbers to call and the rest had to be done in writing.

I did transfer most of my balances from First USA Bank to another VISA card bank. I was given VISA International number to call by them. I called VISA International at 1-800-VISA911. They said that a balance transfer fee had to do with the bank only and not VISA therefore they would not get involved. I asked them why they would not be interested in what a bank representing VISA was doing to get them customers. First USA Bank solicited a credit card using the VISA name and put the charges on our VISA credit card account. VISA should be responsible when a bank they have a contract with is not doing business honestly. That was not a concern of VISA according to the representative I spoke with.

Juliet of Lutz, FL on Oct. 13, 2001

First USA Bank offered a low interest credit card where I could transfer all my other balances under one "low" interest rate. However once I took advantage of this I noticed on my statements that the interest rate was 23% and out of the $157.00 payment, $125.00 of it was going to interest alone. When I called they told me it was because of a late payment that I had made on an account that had been closed over 5 years ago.

I had never made a late payment to them and they did have access to this information BEFORE they gave me their card and BEFORE I transferred my balances to them. They WILL NOT work with you and state if you do not pay these extremely high interest rates they will ruin your credit. Even after you close the account they will continue to charge you $130.00 a month in interest on a balance less that $6000.00. This company is the biggest rip-off I have ever heard of.

My credit is ruined, and I now have a debt that is impossible to pay off.

Mr of Redlands, CA on June 27, 2001

Richard has had about 7 cards that are primarily in his name. The First USA card is one of them. He gained them first because of their low introductory rate. When we were concerned about cards a few years ago, he contacted them and was able to get almost everyone to drop their interest rates a couple of points. Then we went on vacation at the beginning of June 2001. While we were in Buena Park going to Knott's Berry Farm, we called the different cards to find out how much room we had on them to buy dinner and souvenirs and such. At the time, the phone called revealed that we had $165 before we reached the max on our First USA card. About 2 weeks after the vacation we received the bill from First USA, and we were floored. The bill included a percentage rate that was about 6 1/2% higher, from 15.9 to 22.49 and a penalty for going over the limit. We had been careful, or so we had thought, using a couple of cards to share the bill but still this one went over.
First we called them to find out why the rate hike. They informed us that they had sent out a letter the previous month detailing an immediate rate hike which clients had to respond in writing to in order to avert. Needless to say, we never received any such letter. They promised to send another letter but would not remove the excess charges due to interest. It has been 2 more weeks and we have not received any letter, regardless of the fact that they claimed they were sending it immediately.
We figured that if they were going to engage in such practices, they could do without our business and so contacted another of our cards to get the limit raised there, which they had previously offered, so we could transfer the balance and close the account. Due to First USA's report to the credit bureau, they will not and are telling us they may raise our interest rate as well. We applied for a different card through an offer that came in the mail. We were denied. We received a copy of our credit report from the bureau, and we note that other than First USA, every agency we have dealt with has had a favorable report placed on our record. There are no late fees, no problems reported, nothing.

First USA may ruin us. We have closed the account with them and will never due business with them again.

Terri of Shoreline, WA on April 9, 2001

I took out a consolidation loan with First USA in November of 2000. It was to be a 9.9 Interest rate for 48 months. I have had to call First USA for 11 months in a row to get an adjustment to my account because of the wrong interest rate. Without fail they charge me 23.99% and not the 9.9%. Each month I would get a credit, but each month I would have to send almost $200.00 a month more then my contract called for. Had I sent the right amount, it would have been counted as a late payment.
I am still fighting with them each month and have several letters from several different advisors of First USA telling me the problem would be fixed and the correct interest rate would be on my next bill. It has NOT happened yet. I will be curious to see if they get it right this month. Of course they blame the computer. BUT I am assured that someone would feed the computer the correct information....no luck. They still blame the computer. I cannot afford an attorney or I would have looked into seeing what rights I have concerning this constant hassle of having to call each and every month. My account won't be paid off until November of 2003 if I stay with the original contract with First USA.

I have had to ignore other bills in order to send a much larger payment then I should have had to send...but had I not...they would have charged me with a late fee and been able to actually change the interest rate legally from 9.9% to 23.99%. I would get close to $200.00 credited back to my account each month. Mentally it has drained me....but if I don't stay on top of this....I will be paying almost double the agreed rate. I hope I outlive the loan!!

Dennis of East Brunswick, NJ on Jan. 16, 2001

I have been reading about how many people have been getting their interest rates pushed up because they were accused of making late payments. I am in the same situation. I too was informed that I had made a late payment. This struck me as odd because I normally send out bills as soon as I receive them. I also received a letter saying that their was a class action suit against First USA Bank and that I was eligible to be part of that suit. Although I have not heard anything since then, I know some action is being taken.

The consequences of First USA Bank's actions were that instead of paying an introductory rate, I was now paying 19.9%.