I'm well aware of what I wrote and from MY experience no promotional rate has been increased. If anybody has had PROMOTIONAL rates increased then please let me know what company so that I can be cautious if I have a balance with that company...... If Chase decides to pump my rate from 2.99% fixed for life to 30%, then I will receive a letter from Chase saying they are changing my rate and if I choose to not accept the new terms I have 30 days to pay the remaining balance at the prior rate and close my account. In which case Chase will receive the entire balance due and I will close my account. I will do the same with any other CC company that decides to change the rules. I am not looking for credit for big ticket purchases so the temporary hit taken from closing credit lines is of no significance. And frankly my FICO will go up from where it is now because I will have absolutely no debt except mortgages and an extremely long and clean credit history. I've already stated earlier that when playing this game you must not miss/late on a payment and you must not make any purchases on those cards thats pretty obvious! The return the OP is seeking is small but its a return he is willing to take. Just because a return is measly to you does not mean the strategy is flawed. Somebody that is willing to assume more risk can just as easily take the cash and invest it in something that returns more than 10% but thats for the individual to decide and does not affect the basic strategy of accessing cheap credit and investing to make a higher return. The discussion is about borrowing money at one rate and investing it to generate a higher return. What people seem to be missing is that even if the credit card company changes the rules, you can simply pay the balance off because you're not spending the cash on cars and ipods. If the CC company does not change the rules which is the case in MY EXPERIENCE, you make a decent return based on how you invest it.
Just deposit the money with your broker buy 100 contracts of ES wait for a 5 point gain, cash in 25K, pay back the loan and go live in SE Asia for a year. If it does not work .... declare BK and get a job. Seems as risky and silly as what you are attempting to do with the CDs but result with futures would be known in 1 day.
This is not a complicated concept. The Credit Card company reserves the right to identify you as a default risk and hence raise your rate at any time. If a different creditor puts a negative remark on your credit report, you are at risk. If some junk debt buyer decides to place a collection account entry on your report (even if it is not yours), you are at risk. If your credit utilization goes too high, you are at risk. The fact that you do not realize this even though it is plainly written in any CC agreement and is even stated (in small print) on the front page of the Balance Transfer offers, shows that you are the classic case of the type of sucker who ends up getting caught up and screwed in these games.
But I would imagine that if one of your CC decides that they are flagging you for too high of credit utilization then they will send you a notice that they are closing your account and you have an x amount of days to payoff the remaining balance. I've never heard of a company that puts a negative remark on a credit report BEFORE they even try to collect the balance from a good standing account. Every single time my terms have changed (my purchase rate is jacked up or a promotional period ends and my rate switches to a purchase rate) I get a letter from my CC company stating they are raising my rate and I can choose to pay off the balance if I do not accept the change. Fine then in that case if the new rate is unfavorable (which most likely it will be) simply take the money out and pay off the debt.....whats the problem? There will probably be a lag of a couple of months before your credit utilization comes down on your credit report. If the other CC companies decide to do the same then simply pay off the debt and pocket the return you've generated. Now if the CC company sends me the notice and I choose to ignore it and continue to pile up debt then yeah the CC will flag you, but why would you want to keep the debt if the terms are now unfavorable. Its been decided by ET that I have an IQ of -9999999999 so please enlighten me. I have credit card debt on multiple accounts and I would like to know if ANYBODY has had promotional rates increased on them and what was the process (ie CC sent you a letter first, or they just jacked it up and hoped you don't notice)? So many people saying this doesn't work because the CC company will jack up your rates yet not a single person that has had their pro-rates changed? With the negative responses on this topic you'd think this would be happening to a lot of people
Just read the cardholder agreement. It is stated clearly. And it has happened, contrary to your belief. Bottom line, you think you have a guaranteed 0% borrowing cost and you're wrong. At the same time, you think your savings/MMA or checking interest rate is guaranteed. It is not, especially when those banks offering 5% on checking will have problems staying in business.
Sorry man I know you're trying to help but asumming I have a 0% rate and put the money into an investment. 3 months later the CC says yeah we're jacking you up to 50% interest (even though nobody has come forward with a pro-rate being jacked up but for this discussion sake I'll give you this). At the sametime your investment generates 1% return on 10K in the past 3 months then you have around $10100 in your investment account, simply take out 10K and pay off the balance and you're done. You still have $100 that you really didn't do much for. The OP is investing 90K so in 3 months he's got a 1K in the bank so he can just payoff the 90K and pocket the 1K. Other scenario, you take out the cash at 0% and literally 2 days later the CC company says yeah nevermind we changed our minds on your rate you've got 15 days to respond. Fine take the money out and just pay off the balance and be done with it. Whats the problem?
Ooops there I go with my kindergarten level math again. On 90K invested he'd have 900 in the bank and not 1000 Actually it would be slightly less than 900 because he'd have to be paying a monthly minimum to the CC company from this account. Either way you get to pocket $800 - $900 for logging in once a month and making a minimum payment.
I just got off the floor from splitting my sides on this thread.... I think it was redneckbank.com that put me over the edge. Now I know how Bernie was able to do it! P.T. Barnum correct? Milton Friedman wrong.... there really is a free lunch?