The Fine Print Behind Credit Card Rewards

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Lets talk about reform, then give the credit card companies a head start to raise the rates. Reform for the interest rates that already went through the roof? The damage is done! How can we fix what is so broken?
Bank of America and Chase Bank has the worst record for Customer Service. I wish we could go back to when the person on the other end of the phone spoke and acted with compassion. I still see this with American Express and Capital one. I hope the remaining companies with a heart stay that way...buy out the troubled companies and replace them with real people that work hard to retain their customer. A woman I spoke with from Amex truely wanted to help and made suggestions that made me want to keep the card open. She said these are tough times and will get better, so hang on! Bank of America and Chase wanted me to close the accounts. Remember this when we vote for another bail out...What did they do to avoid this situation, and they think the the answer is to step on as many good customers on the way up as you will always have new customers applying for credit cards.

John Pawlyk of NJ 2:51PM November 04, 2009

Using 2008 figures, if the interchange fee charged by credit card issuers was decreased (via comprehensive credit card reform legislation) from the current 2.10% to 0.60%, the result would be an annual savings of approximately $34.3 billion for U.S. merchants and consumers. Credit card issuers could retain 0.3% as a processing fee, the remaining 0.3% could be a "tax" used to fund a Natural Disaster Trust Fund (NDTF). In 2008, this would have generated $6.86 billion in funding for a NDTF.
The average interchange fee in the U.S. is seven times the interchange fee set by Visa and MasterCard in countries throughout the rest of the world. The following article discusses this issue and the need for comprehensive, standardized, simplified, and transparent credit card reform legislation.
http://www.csnews.com/csn/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004019107

Brian J. Donovan of FL 5:36PM October 11, 2009

"... missing a payment on a credit card bill meant loosing the rewards points ..."
They let their reward points loose? Or did you mean to say they lose them?

Spellcheck of AL 11:10AM October 06, 2009