I have a mortgage and a credit card I pay religiously every month to the British People’s Bank of Halifax and to my surprise I received today an ugly piece of marketing literature. It didn’t even come in an envelope, so I almost discarded it, but close inspection made me realise that the content of the flyer was much important than the dress it came in.
Changes to your Halifax Credit Card Conditions
[…] The compound annual interest rates on your credit card will increase to the following:
- Purchases 25.95% p.a. (variable)
- Balance Transfers 25.95% p.a. (variable)
- Cash Advances 29.95% p.a. (variable)
- Credit card cheques 29.95% p.a. (variable)
The charges will apply to your account from your June 2009 statement date. […]
Fair enough, at 20.95% it wasn’t any steal, but hiking up interest rates a whooping 23.87% (yes, that is the increase from 20.95% to 25.95%) on outstanding credit card balances is not what I expected from one of the main British People’s Bank.
For the last few weeks, every time I tried to log in on my online British People’s Bank of Halifax account, the opening window has been welcoming me with “A Halifax personal loan of £10,000 is reserved for you” at 9.8% APR typical.
So keep an eye on the mail for the excellent news, I think they don’t want our business anymore, but from all that matters, “they” is “we”, isn’t it? Should I get mad? I smell fish.
.calvin
Filed under: banking, credit crunch, double standards, halifax, money
