Advanta

I have never been late. When Advanta was shut down, they raised my rate from 7.99% to 26.99%. That was the only change. They go under and I pay? It is not right. Isn't there some regulation against that?

Advanta received and processed payment of $500 on September 17, 2011 before the due date of September 19. They are claiming payment was not received despite the proof of cancelled check sent several times from myself and my bank. My bank representative called on my behalf to rectify with no success. Interest rate has gone from 7.99% to 33.99% with late fees. Advanta will not recognize the issue and is demanding an immediate payment. This is absolutely absurd! I have never missed a payment or have been late with this company.

Advanta is at it again! Beware! I am on automatic recurring payments so that Advanta can't take Advantage of me. But they found two ways: first, the "computer" took the payment 3 days past the due date and forced my account into late land. Then, the next month, they took out the "past due one " and the current payment. They now had three payments for two months and I was charged late fees. Wait, it gets better. So, I called them. They only saw two payments made. I argued with them and I noted that my bank shows three payments. They said that I can contest the debit of the two payments. But I told them I owe a part of that. Well, they then stated that I would get debited again for the missed payment. So, I did what they had suggested with my bank. Then, the collection agency called. Advanta charged me another late fee and a returned check fee, plus raised my rate from 7.99% to 32.99%! I did clear it up, Thank God. But just when I thought I was safe, they did it again a month later.

Here is the second way they messed with me: they canceled my auto payment for that month. Their excuse is that I did it. Yes, I want terrible credit and a 32.99%. My bank account had been erased from the computer. When I called in the account number in again, the rep said the computer couldn't take that number. The rep said, "I've never seen this in a thousand years." Yeah right! I tried to input my bank account information in the computer. It said it was a "negative" account. What the heck does that mean? The computer tech had no idea. So, I wound up giving them a different account number for the recurring payments. Why was my account erased from the system? Maybe so that I would have to start writing checks and they would claim they never got the payments and raise my rate. Well, they did raise my rate. Today I found out that Advanta scheduled next month's payment. It shows two months payment due, late fees, and the increase interest being taken out of the rejected account. That means they didn't log the other payment. Plus, they didn't get the memo on the new bank number. If I had not checked my account, I would have had another mysterious cancellation of my automatic recurring payments. This is now snowballing! The wild thing is that we are victims of Irene and the Attorney General, and it is adamant about anyone scamming the victims of hurricane Irene. It's just another fight.

I received a promotional material from Advanta, which says that I could get an establish credit in my company's name. I filled out and received credit. Later, I was forced to close the company and Advanta is showing me personally liable, and they show it as a charge off. It was not what they have promised at all. My personal credit score is down to 642, because I have this "Charge Off" from Advanta.

Advanta takes up to two weeks to post our payment. In the meantime, we incur late fees. We paid them off on 7-7-2011 zero balance. I then checked again a week later and they charged us 6.73 for cashing our check. We sent them 6.73 in pennies priority mail track number 9101 9690 1038 3334 6484 37. Payment arrived 7-20-2011 but as of 8-02, they still have not posted payment.

Advanta Credit Cards are crooks, plain and simple. I have read dozens of complaints from consumers and I as well want one filed and would like to be part of any class action being pursued. I have never missed a payment to anyone, but Advanta has on more than one occasion processed my payment one day after the due date and then charged me a $39 late fee. Each time, this has been done on weekends. This last time claiming they received my payment on Sunday? The mail does not deliver on Sunday so they received the payment earlier than that, claimed one day late, $39 late fee. I called and talked to an Advanta supervisor who basically said too bad and slipped, and told me that they should have shown the payment as posted on the following Monday, not Sunday. Anybody going to do something about these **?

I have a business credit card account. I was never late or missed payment. They have ridiculous interest rates and they're holding checks until the day they are due. Just the same complaints you hear every day about these crooks. FDIC says their trying to help but Advanta just ignores them. Advanta needs to pay back all the people they've cheated and balances need to be wiped clean. How can a company have so many complaints and nothing be done?

I had to leave town due to my father-in-law's illness, and missed a payment, because my wife and I were so involved with the situation. As it turned out, my father-in-law passed away after 10 days in hospice care. I returned home the day after the funeral, and got a message on my answering machine about the missed payment.

When I contacted Advanta, they informed me they raised my interest rate from 7.99% to 29.99%, even though I never missed a payment in the three years I had the account. The only way for them to lower the interest rate was for me to pay $2178.00. No matter who I talked to, they did not care. I am at a loss, how a company can be so mean to someone, who had to deal with so much, and took immediate action to resolve the situation, especially since I have an outstanding payment record with Advanta.

I was three days late to make a payment, so I called Advanta to see if they were going to raise my interest rate. The person I spoke with, a rep in India who answered the Advanta phone number, said no. On my next statement they had raised my interest rate from 3.99% to 24.99%, a difference that month, of over $200. Luckily, I had other resources and was able to pay off the principal, plus late fee, plus interest at the original rate, but not including the interest differential.

Since then they've been dunning me, charging me $39 monthly late fees, and interest at 32.99%. Because I refuse to pay, they've inserted a negative report in my credit file with Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. But so what? A credit score is just some computer's best guess, based on the information it was fed with. Intelligent creditors will consider the source, and as more and more creditors realize that they don't have to pay something just because Advanta has lied or manipulated the system, the credibility of this failed bank will continue to diminish.

Today at 10:45 AM (EST), I spoke with customer service representative Amy, making her aware that effective immediately I will no longer tender payments to Advanta Bank Corp.

During 2010, by way of several letters, I attempted to have the onerous interest rate modified downward to no avail. My concerns merely fell on deaf ears. After reviewing the December statement, the interest I paid for the year was over $2,000. Given Advanta's unreasonable stance, I've decided to channel what resources I have to paying down the obligations of creditors who have opted to be of service and help rather than a financial drain and hindrance.

As I stated to Amy, any and all follow-up Advanta inquiries attendant to this matter should be done so in writing (letter or e-mail), absolutely no phone calls.

On May 30, 2009, Advanta canceled all Advanta Business Credit Cards. So I make much larger than minimum payments to get my account paid off through online monthly payments.

In late November, I received a notice that I missed my November 2010 payment. I went into my account online and saw that it was scheduled on November 12, and had never been taken. Now I incur late fees because the payment was not made. I called to open a ticket on the matter, and several days later the late fee disappeared. I also scheduled an online payment in twice the amount as normal to cover both the Novemeber 2010 and December 2010 payments. Several days later, I noticed that the payment has not been taken out. So I canceled that online payment, and on December 2, I sent a check for the payment.

On December 14, I received by mail a notice that I am 2 months in arrears. I went to my online banking account and I saw the check sent on December 2 came back through my bank, paid on December 2010. I called Advanta and told Zuri, who couldn't care less about Advanta's errors, that I paid and all she could do is give me a fax number to send my cashed check to to resolve, which I did, after she could not get me to a live manager. She just wanted to stick me in voice mail like the last guy did in November - but the voicemail was full and could not accept any more messages.

So I called back and he stuck me into another voicemail who never returned the call. My question is, isn't there any attorney firm doing a class action on these guys yet? If so contact me! I want in, I have never seen such a bs outfit dealing with my credit ratings and fees.

I made payment online. The website set my payment for a year later. The payment just sat there. I called several times to inquire why it was not being deducted. I was advised that no one in the company had access to the website. My interest rate went from 7.99% to 29.99% as a result. This company has been bankrupt for over 2 years and my account has been closed. I was offered to pay a little over $900.00 to reduce the rate to 16.99%. I did so and they never changed it.

This company keeps calling my cellphone, looking for someone with Houston Smith Construction in Reno NV. I have given the number to Houston Smith Construction, but they persisted in calling me. I am not connected with this company, and I don't know how they got my number. It eats my airtime on my cellphone and is annoying.

Advanta is intentionally not depositing our payment checks. The last two payments I sent to Advanta for October and November 2010 was sent on October 7th 2010; check was deposited by Advanta on October 22nd. Fortunately, I saw that the check wasn't going through and called and made an extra payment, making the payment three days late. They charged a late fee of $39.00 which they later removed. I was also charged $12.00 for the extra called-in payment that they wouldn't remove. The check sent on November 1st has still not been processed (it is now November 18th 2010).

After many calls, I got them to treat the original October payment that by the time they processed it, was the second payment for October as payment for November. Next payment will be sent out on December 1st with a return receipt.

I'll be interested to hear what they say when they find that they haven't received payment when I have proof in my hands. By the way, I checked a few months ago and my credit score was 750 and displayed no late payments. So far, I have not checked our credit history to see if this has affected our credit rating. To date, it appears that they have not increased the interest on a remaining 2K loan.

I think it is quite important, though, that anyone running into this issue, to advertise Advanta's (now FDIC) fraudulent practices. I would find it hard to believe that I am the only one running into this problem.

I keep getting phone calls from this company on my cell phone. I have called numerous times but cannot get any help. What can I do? This is costing me cell phone minutes.

Advanta Bank is a predatory bank. They are very slick. They are deceiving customers with their crafty devices, and they need to be put out of business. For many years, I have been paying my bills electronically through my bank. For the second month in a row, they are assessing a late payment fee even though I always send my electronic payment on time. I just found out today what their game is. The trick they are playing is that all of a sudden, they are not accepting electronic payments from the other banks, so this forces the banks to send the payments by mail. Since the banks have to mail them, the checks for payments, they have changed their payment mailing address without notifying the costumers. This causes the checks to arrive late every time. I wonder how many thousands of costumers are being taken to the cleaners by these thieves.

This company is a joke. They increased my APR from 7% to 27% overnight. This happened years ago. I was never late on a payment. The company sent me a check for $300.00 as a settlement. I never cashed the check. It was nowhere near what I feel they owe me. I was charged the 27% for over a year. I suggest everyone write to the President and complain. Who knows something might work. I cannot believe this company has not had the money taken from it to give back. It is legal stealing. Read from the thousands of people this happened to. The real story is that the new CEO raised the rates within his first week on the job then dumped the company. Where did the money go? I am still paying on this card. This is an absolute shame a company can do this and get away with it for so long.

This company has been calling me for over 18 months. Each time they call I tell them I have never had an Advanta credit card. The Karen ** they are calling lives in NJ. I live in ME and have never lived in NJ. They have agreed that it is not my SS number and yet they keep calling me. Several people, including today, Zoe, have promised to take my number out of their system. They have automatically put my number in to be called early in the morning, mid-afternoon, and late in the evening. I am so disgusted and discouraged by this.

If it isn't, it should be against the law, I will add this letter to my file. I don't have much hope at this point of it ever stopping. It is harassment. Please help me stop it! They have agreed it's not my state, not my SS number, and apparently there is a business involved. I am a real estate broker and work for a real estate company, no company of my own. Yet while readily acknowledging all these, they still continue calling me. I have absolutely had it! I work 2 jobs and don't have the time to deal with this, but am making it a priority to have them stop calling me.

I thought it was important to make readers, inquiring about Advanta, aware that Avanta does not require a signature in order to open a credit card. They allowed a business card to opened in my mother's name with a credit line of $16,000. The individual who opened the card maxed out the card over a year's time and then the creditors started calling my mother. The reason my other did not see it beforehand is because a business card is not shown on a credit report. They harassed my mother for months, not believing her and like a typical corporation, they pass it off to collection agencies that are even further removed from the situation. It is 3 years later and they are still calling. What I would like to say to Advanta is you deserve every penny lost Advanta, for not checking a signature and for not even cross-checking the address where the individual lived. The IP address of where the card was opened was in MI. My mother lives in CA. Get a clue!

Even though I have made payments on time, the interest rate is 29.99%. In these times, it if very hard to get ahead with almost 30% interest.

I was late on 2 payments and my interest rate went from 3% to 34.99%. They also hit me for a late fee of $39.00 and they count that as an cash advance and are charging me another $13.57 dollars which is unheard of. When you call and try to talk to them, they just say pay the bill and if you refuse, they will ruin your credit. This is not right and should have the government do something about these people!

These are the people that our government should be going after! They actually scammed me out of the blue with an interest rate of 34.9% and just hand the accounts over to ** in India who just are told to give smart ** comments and can't do anything. I gave them warning to repair or I am not paying another dime. We will see who wins in the end. We must take a stand here or this will continue to be the trend.

I mailed my check on December 21st 2009 with a payment due date of December 29th 2009. Advanta did not post my check until January 7th. I didn't know the check had not been posted and on January 8th, Billy called from Advanta to tell me that my payment wasn't received. I authorized an immediate electronic payment. Billy said that he would reverse the $39.00 late fee, and when I asked if there would be any adverse effects to my account, he said that there wouldn't be. The $39.00 late fee was credited back but my interest was increased from 7.99% to 24.99% without notification.

I have tried for months to work with consumer service (just outsourced Indian workers with no authority to do anything). I sent Advanta a copy of my check dated December 21st, and they said that it is not sufficient to change my interest rate. Why is it that Advanta can just claim that they didn't receive my check until eighteen days after I mailed it, in order to jack up my interest rate with no accountability at all?

I have a perfect payment record on this and every other loan that I have ever had--and I am 55 years old. Does Advanta really have this kind of arbitrary power? Also, every month, the dollar amount charged for interest varies by as much as ten dollars; sometimes going up, even though I am paying my account (less than $4,000) down by $200 a month? This is flagrant exploitation and it has been impossible to talk with anyone who can correct these practices. I am just now sending letters to FDIC, FTC, Utah BBB and Utah Department of Commerce.

I feel that I am being held up and robbed every month. This will have possible impact on credit rating with associated lost dollar value in future loans. Approximately 100 hours was spent fighting this and the cost was around $400 in interest thus far.

Do not use this bank ever, poorly run bank, rude 'supervisors', and they won't care about you at all; same experience as others with their late charges. They won't give their full names then will hang up on you. They all seem to be from India, too. What a horrible bank!

As a small business owner, I was originally thrilled with Advanta's low interest rate. That was "yesterday". Today, I am saddled with an interest rate of 29.99% which the Advanta rep claims cannot be adjusted because this is an inactive account (their doing, not mine) and I note that they bill me every twenty-six days, giving them fourteen times per year to calculate that outrageous interest rate. How the hell does this continue? Is this even legal?

I am unable to lower my bill due to the economic hardship my business is suffering. Advanta, in the meantime, is gouging me every twenty-six days. I welcome any input from an attorney on this issue. I'll happily join any class action available.

I had this card for many years, then it was canceled. Payments were always made on time. I continued to pay off the card and will pay it off this month. I would never use Advanta Bank for any reason. Service is outsourced so no one can answer any questions. It is a terrible company to work with. I am not looking for an attorney, but I just wanted to share with others.

Small business credit card and I could not get any help from India (that's where the calls are going) or FDIC to get the interest down. The FDIC took over Advanta months ago and it is impossible to get anything worked out! You are far better to deal with a bank than the government. They tell the banks to work with people but they will not! I was able to work a deal with Chase with one phone call!

After reading the complaints from other Advanta card holders, I see I am not the only one who experienced the same issues. Our interest rate went so high it is taking forever to pay this account off! I thought the government was going to go after crooks like this? People in India could care less what Advanta is doing to their card holders.

They are telling everyone the same thing as they were instructed by their employer to do. I don't dare not pay it and spite myself by letting them ruin my credit. Is there a class action suit against Advanta I can join? Something needs to be done to stop them from ripping business owners off. The interest rate they are charging me is outrageous. How can they be out of business collecting all these funds from people? I feel they owe me money for the fees and interest they have charged me!

Has anyone ever noticed that Advanta charges interest on an amount higher than what your balance is? At one point, I had over paid them by $31 and they charged me interest on the money that they would have owed back to me! Every month the interest is for an amount higher than what my balance is. They also jacked my rate up due to a glitch with the method in which my online banking operates. They never cooperated until I was a couple of months late in paying them and then they reduced my interest to 3.99% for one year. After I signed the agreement, they continued to harass me to pre-pay them for the first 3 payments until I proved that I was going to pay them. They were extremely rude and refused to abide my the letter that I had sent to them requesting them to stop contacting me by phone and only by email or conventional mail.

I want to file a complaint on a company named Advanta business credit card. On my June statement, I had a late fee posted. I pay by online payment. I paid on June 1, 2010. But for some reason, they did not receive my payment on that day. Two days later, they said that I was late on my payment. So I tried to explain to them that it was not my fault that the payment was late and they said that they would credit back the $120 for me. But now, they have sent me the bill with the $120 late fee. Then I call them up and I asked to speak to a manager and he indicated he was the manager and knows everything about what is going on with my account. I indicated he was very rude and a poor manager and hung up. I left a message on their website with no response. Now I have a delinquent payment on my credit. My record is worse.

I have an Advanta credit card in my corporation's name. It is a business card that I have had for several years. The card has always been paid on time. Advanta deactivated my card due to their lack of investors. My business still had a remaining balance on the card and continued to pay. Due to an oversight, the card went delinquent over 30 days. After being brought to my attention, the account was paid immediately.

However, Advanta reported the delinquency on my personal credit. It was not ever reported on my personal credit and should not be as it is a corporate credit card. My personal credit is flawless with not one other late on my credit my entire life. I contacted Advanta several times to remove the negative item for my personal credit and they refused and were inconsiderate and unreasonable. My personal credit was unjustly and negatively impacted. They destroyed my personal credit that is protected by my corporation. I just want the negative item removed from my personal immediately.

This company increased my rate and is now moving my due date around, so they get you to pay a late fee. If the FDIC didn't just in... This would be the Enron of credit cards. This company is evil.

I've never been late in making payments. I forgot and made immediate payments one day later. My interest rate jumped from 6.99% to 34.99%. I tried to call and correct the situation. I talked to Brian in India who read a script many times over. I asked to be transferred to a manager but he just repeated his script. I just transferred my balance from Advanta to another credit card for which I have to pay a fee. I would like to recuperate the $500 which I was overcharged by Advanta.

Advanta keeps changing my due date on my credit card by one or two days just enough to keep me guessing and late.

As of December 2007 Advanta Bank Corp raised my APR to an astronomical rate of 37%. I repeatedly called customer service to no avail. Every time I called they said they can not do anything for me. They essentially said at first they had sent me a notice of the rate increase, which I never received. I have kept every promotional letter of lower balance transfer rates prior to the economy melt down. I have diligently paid my account prior to this and thereafter. I have really struggled the past few years to pay my bills and to survive in this horrid economy. As a small business owner this has really put a strain on me mentally and physically. To have this on my mind 24/7 has put a burden on my finances both personally and business practices. If I were not to pay this bill, each and every month would result in bad credit scores! And we all know how important that is nowadays.

The company was very rude and unprofessional to me when I asked why they raised my interest rate and closed my account with no notice. If they are going to close my account, they should have offered me a lower interest rate. I have never been late with my payment. Isn't this against the law? My interest rate has doubled and my business card was closed. This was the only business card I had for my business.

Advanta raised my interest rate on my business card to 34.99% even though I had been paying on time. In the tough business atmosphere last year, it was becoming increasing difficult to make payments with such a high interest rate and eventually my card was given to a debt collector. Though I finally paid it off in July 2009, Advanta has continued to report that I still owe them money as is written on my credit report. While trying to recover from last year's losses, this has damaged my credit rating greatly and there is no one to talk to. A low credit score when Advanta has been paid! Unable to secure lower interest on existing mortgage and one other financial institution. Reduced spending power and higher interest on my remaining credit card. Shame on you Advanta!

I am a victim of Advanta Bank's deceptive and unfair practices as well. Has anyone seen the FDIC press release PR-109-2009 and the cease & desist order which was the result? Can I use this to get treated more fairly?

We are also a victim of Advanta's tactics here. Since we are an LLC, I cannot even just stop paying the vipers, but my comment here is something I have not seen come up. Has anyone else noticed that the Advanta statements (and collection practices) violate current Federal requirements? Where can we file complaints?

Advanta has jacked up my interest rate to 34.99% from 6.99% although I've paid everything on time for many years. No one that I have talked to speaks much English, very hard to understand, but they don't have a manager to speak with (they are all managers) and won't put anything in writing for any new payment plan until payment has been cycled for 1-2 months. How can they do business like this? There are tons of people they are taking advantage of, yet they are still looking for investors!

My May statement had a late fee posted. I pay by bank bill pay on April 27th. My bank indicated Advanta received a corporate check on April 30th. My account was not credited until May 7th, 4 days past the due date. When I called customer service, and explained what I just indicated above, the first question was, "Do you have proof? Because I have proof, we post the day payment is received unless received after 3:00 PM then it posts the next day." I asked to speak to a manager and he indicated he was the manager and knows everything about what is going on with my account." I indicated he was very rude and a poor manager and hung up. I left a message on their website with no response. Although the $39 is tough, having a delinquent payment on my credit record is worse.

I opened a credit card account three years ago with Advanta to use for working capital for my business. The balance on my account one year ago was approximately $9500 and in the past year, I have paid the account down to $4696. The interest on my account is currently at 30.74% and I did not receive any prior notice to the rate increase. I requested that the interest rate on my account be lowered by phone and by email. I have been told that the institution is no longer in business and it is not possible to negotiate my rate. I have paid the monthly payments on my account in a timely manner. I have been a good customer and feel like I am taking a hit at the hands of other customers who didn't/couldn't make their payments.

2. $125 or more in interest a month, finance charges.

I paid 140.00 dollars to lower my interest to 9.99% for 60 months. They said they would take off / waive 200.48 from my balance. They did not do either one, instead added a lot of fees.

I get 7-10 calls a day from these people. Most times, they do not leave a name of the company just call MS sos or Mr sos and sos. If you answer the phone no one is there or it is the robot message. I have emailed them trying to explain that I am just struggling right now and I would be happy to pay them as soon as possible. I have even ask what would they settle with but no answer to that. I have received 2 calls threatening action against these messages are just left anywhere. They also call my office. I told them I would not accept calls here but they say they have that right because it is a business debt I have. Most times I get a call at home then the office phone rings. These people may be within their rights but it is sorry service considering they are bankrupt and having troubles too. Mental stress, embarrassment.

I started using the Advanta Credit Card when the card had an interest rate of 9%. I always paid my payment on time. When the economy started going down, Advanta raised my interest rate to 34.99% which is fraudulent. This was done without warning. When I called Advanta about lowering the interest rate, I spoke to an overseas representative which could hardly speak English. Since that time, I have called them several times about lowering the interest but they have refused to do so. With the interest rate this high, paying off the principal will take some time and they know this. Many other consumers have had the same problem with this Advanta Credit Card and what they are doing to consumers is unjustified. I just want my interest rate lowered to a reasonable rate.

I received $27,000.00 at a low interest, and after the promo, it was supposed to be up to 7.99%, but in December of 2009, my interest rate jumped to 34.99%. I called and them and no one could tell me why my rate had changed. I have never been late until now (March) by 7 days, but they called me about my payment and offered me $200.00 off my interest charges for that month and no late fee charges.

I asked them if they could lower my interest rate so I could pay them off. He asked me what rate I was needing and I told him no higher than 14.99%. He told me the lowest he could give me was 16.99%. I told him I would take that because that is better than paying 34.99%. Today, April 21, 2010, they are not honoring what was told to me on April 7, 2010. I talked to Debra today (4/21/10), she hung up on me because I wanted some answers about why they lied to me about changing my interest rate. If there is a lawsuit against Advanta, count me in. Can someone please help me?

After complaints were submitted to FDIC, my interest rate with this company went from 36.99% to 16.99%. This month, I received a 29.99% interest rate. When I called, the company said that my interest rate was raised because I was seven days late with my payment. The website I paid my payment on was not available due to the company changing it. I did not know this until I tried to make the payment. The company has just published a new website where you can make payments. Their own people did not even know what this site address was when I spoke to them in early April.

I carry a smaller balance on my Advanta card - only $2,500. In March 2010, I was late with a payment by 48 hours. This was the first time that I ever was late with a payment. I always paid on time over our 3 year relationship and always paid more than the minimum payment. I explained all this to the call center rep but was told no less than 4 times that "late means late". There was nothing they could do for me. My interest rate was raised from 2.99% to 34.99% along with a "fee" of $39. These practices are abusive at best all from a bank that went bankrupt and was closed by the Feds in February. Ironic!

We have a small business and used the Advanta credit card for expenses, etc. We have been with them for almost 5 years and always paid on time. We were not aware the promo of 2.9% had expired and they raised it to 34.99%. We made 5 attempts to resolve this. All were ignored. When we now make payments, they apply it to the 34.99% rather than the remaining of 7.99% remaining. They are extremely rude and obnoxious. We are now paying an extremely high APR, which is causing extreme financial consequences for our small company.

The rep from Advanta continues to call me with threats and rude messages regarding my husband's schedule. He will not give me a supervisor or tell me his name. He will not let me talk. It is not even my account.

I took out a business card/cash advance and fell behind on a few payments; however, I have paid my balance from an original $30,000 in 2007 to $8900 now. My interest alone last year was $4500, all due to my rate skyrocketing to 34.99%! They won't even talk to me. My original line was suddenly reduced and then I was charged an over limit fee!

My experience is exactly the same as others. They even ignored registered letters from my attorney. We didn't sue because of cost; must be filed in Outer Mongolia or some such. But I have complaint with Office of Comptroller of Currency. We were looking a class-action lawyer to sue--clear case, says my attorney--but bankruptcy may make that moot. Update soon. 35% interest rate speaks for itself.

Advanta offered me an interest rate of 9.99%, then increased to 14.99% and finally to 34.99% around September 2009. For no reason whatsoever, I was never late on any payments. As stated in all of the other letters and complaints about Adavanta, I too have contacted them numerous times to no avail. Does anyone know of any other avenues to fight back?

It is loan sharking and bait and switch which is unfair business practices from 2.9% interest rate to a 39%. I may be forced to file BK as a result of the 39% interest rate and monthly minimum payment that is five times the amount that it was.

I had taken out a business loan with Advanta about a year ago. I have faithfully paid down this balance, more than the minimum payment monthly, never late. The interest rate was 7.99%. In my February statement, my interest rate jumped to 34.99%. I called Advanta and after being on hold forever, I was routed to a call center in India where they informed me that the 7.99% was an "introductory rate" and that the rate has expired and was now 34.99%. I could have gone to a loan shark and gotten a better rate. I have an $11,178 balance and the interest alone on that amount is $311.38.

They allegedly sent a late statement out (December 23, 2009, Christmas Eve) for a payment that was due January 17, 2010. They did not provide enough time, and now I'm stuck with a late fee. I've had problems with this company before, when they tried to get rid of the 0% introductory rate during the promo period. It was ruled in my favor. And now, they're refusing to reimburse me for the late fee.

Much like all the others here, my interest started out at 7.99% and raised with no notice to an incredible amount. I tried contacting them several times via email and telephone, to no avail. Then I just quit making any payments, and that's when they finally contacted me. I asked an account manager to explain to me why the interest went up, and he gave no reason. Here's my current situation: I sold my business in June of 2008, however I continued to use the card personally.

The account rep. states that if I don't pay, then the business is responsible. I was the business (sole prop.), and the new owners had/have nothing to do with my debts. My question is this: Does Advanta has the right to collect from the new owners? Also, at time of closing the new owners paid off my balance to Advanta, although we never sent written notice to them - we did however phone them for payoff amount and told them I had sold the business. The person we talked to never mentioned or instructed me to put in a written notice of sale.

And no, I guess I didn't read the fine print in the original agreement. But still would this hold up in court? Could they attack my former business and the new owners? The best offer they could make for me was to pay off in 5 years at a rate of 9.99%. I like them to charge me my original rate of 7.99%. Current rate is 32.99% please if anyone is a lawyer or knows for sure, let me know if they can go after the new owners.

My story is the same as all the rest of you. Six months after I decided the heck with them, I'm not paying (about a $7500 balance), I am now faced with many negative reports on my personal credit and facing a lawsuit from an attorney claiming to be working for them. Be forewarned, they will come after you every way they can.

Very encouraging and discouraging at the same time to read of so many small biz owners being harassed and mistreated by the corporate credit card power. It is encouraging in the fact that so many people seem to have had it with them and have stopped paying. That is the next step I am considering. I have a small balance with Advanta, approximately $3000. I closed my card about a year and a half ago when they inserted in my statement the new "terms" stating they were going to raise my rate from 6.9% to 27.99%.

I "opted out" by sending a certified registered letter. I have since been paying it down and I always pay more than minimum and always on time. In the past year, I have mysteriously not received two statements in the mail. (I am old-fashioned and pay my bills from paper copies in a pile on my desk.) I was informed from India that I was late. The first time I confirmed they had the right address, checked with the post office, etc. Nothing happened to my rate.

However, the second time my rate was changed to 27.99%. I had all the same experiences with the litany of collection calls. I was assured I could negotiate with the customer service department but only when I made my account current. There was no negotiating. Most of the Indian reps sound like they are reading straight off of a screen and have no negotiating power whatsoever. The "supervisor" who returned my call was about the same. Again, no contact info for stateside except a P.O. Box.

I am currently drafting my letter to said P.O. Box. My credit is good or at least was but I am at the point that I feel like the company consists of a bunch of unfeeling extortionists that are trying to get all their money now by jacking up interest rates and are putting good people in bad situations. I have always taken care of my debts. However, in this case, if they do not reduce my interest rate and charges stemming from it I am inclined to not pay them ever. It actually gives me great satisfaction to think about that. Jonathan from CO is right. We need to fight them in numbers. Only that will make a difference. It is astounding how they don't realize that lower rates may actually help them get their money faster. The whole bankruptcy issue is another cryptic piece of this puzzle. Their website mentions nothing of the sort. One would think a company in bankruptcy has very limited resources for collecting their debts.

Ok. I get it. We all got **. What I want to know is when the heck is the government going to step in and put these jerks in jail? What small business can afford a payment 5 times higher than what was promised? Why are they allowed to trash our personal credit scores when we can't afford such an increase? President Obama, are you listening?

In May of 2009, we received a notice our rate would increase from $16.99 to $29.99 unless we opted out in writing and stopped using the card. We opted out according to the instructions and received a confirmation letter. However, our rate was increased anyway, and they have refused all efforts to resolve the matter. I've incurred approximately $2000.00 in excess finance charges so far.

They jacked up my rate and canceled my card. Then I was [upset] and did not pay my payment. They sent me an offer to drop my rate if I caught it back up, which I did. However, my rate stayed sky high, and now I can't even talk to that department. These guys in India are trained to slap you in the face. Where is the government when we need it with these things? I guess their new policy is to wait it out and see how much we can take. Credit problems across the board are a disdain for the system in play.

I had the exact same problem as others reports. I got one payment behind and they charged a lot of fees. The minimum payment went really high. They sent me a letter about working it out. I called and they said I needed to bring the account current before they could do anything. They increased my interest rate from 7.9 to 32.99 percent. I made the payment and called and they said that they could no longer offer me a work out because the account was now current; it is a bait and switch to get you to make the payment. Now I would have to let the account go late again, incur the fees and the bad report to my credit, and they probably would do the same thing again anyway. It is a scam.

I have perfect credit with a middle credit score of 755 as of 02/2010. In January, the prior month, I went over the due date on a payment by several days. About 7 - 8 days after the due date, I logged into my account to make my payment and to my surprise, they had changed my interest rate to 32.99% from 7.99%. I was furious as I had never been late or missed a payment.

I called Advanta no less than a half dozen times and they also called me constantly. I explained to their call center in India that it was abusive and that I was willing to continue making my payments if they lowered my interest back to the original rate. After many calls back and forth in January, they called me to tell me that they would be willing to offer me a 17.00% interest rate instead if I made a payment, I elected not to make the payment because I felt the rate was still abusive considering my credit is perfect and no late payments had been made in the past with several years of payment history with them.

Finally, in February, I receive a call from their call center in India which asked me some personal information to confirm my identity, then transferred me to a local office in Pennsylvania where I spoke with Dan C. He called me to find out why I had not made my payment and explained as above. I also mentioned I had to close one of my businesses due to our economic situation. He asked me if I could make a payment of $ 517.00 dollars and offered me three solutions, one was to send them 50% of the balance and they would offer me 0% interest on the remaining balance for the life of the credit line, the other was 30% of the balance and they would offer me a 7.99% as was originally, then they offered me a hardship option which did not require me to make a payment until March where I would pay them $780.00 dollars and they would match my payment, credit my account for the total of $1,560 and the interest rate would be 9.99%. So I agreed and made the $ 517.00 payment on Tuesday 2/9/2010.

He then proceeded to tell me before the conversation finished that we would speak again in March. Concerned about my perfect credit, I called all day Wednesday and could not reach Dan C. I left 2 voice mails. I called Thursday and left another voice mail stating I wanted to bring my account current to please return my call ASAP. Finally, Friday morning 2/12/2010, I called and reached Dan C. who I spoke to for over 45 minutes pleading with him and even offering to send them a few thousand dollars to show them good faith and not report me as a 30 day late to the bureaus because my recent credit report is spotless and I wanted to protect my credit and have it remain the same way. He proceeded to tell me that since I made the payment he had reset my "clock" and that now none of the options he had originally offered me were available.

I then called him back about an hour later and asked him once more about making another payment on my account. His response was that he could no longer help me. I was to contact his Manager Tom C. I left a voice mail and then received a call back from Tom C. regarding my voice mail. I asked him the same question about making another payment to show good faith and elect one of the original options and that I would send them a few thousand dollars. He proceeded to tell me that because I made the recent payment, I no longer qualified for the original options offered to me and that my interest rate would remain at 32.99%.

A warning to all those out there, they used a bait and switch technique to collect the $517.00 and then went back on their word. This becomes a downward spiral because now, unless I do not make the February payment and make my account past due, they will not offer me any assistance as they had originally offered and deceived me incredibly. So now, I am forced to withhold payment, take another late payment on my credit report before they will potentially offer me any other help, if any at all. It is impossible to make payments at 32.99% when almost all your money is going to finance charges that are and your minimum payment is impossible to keep up with. I am looking for every possible place to file complaints against this ruthless, callous organization that operates like a mafia.

Sadly enough, my perfect credit is going to take a dive and they could care less about any of us as individuals. These kinds of credit card tactics from these companies must be illegal for them to offer you programs and then retract the offers. They are deceitful and I was betrayed unbelievably! The consequences of this abusive treatment will now cause me to affect my credit severely when I have never had a problem with my credit history in 22+ years of established credit. I never had a single late payment or ever going over 30 days. I was betrayed by them after making the payment they wanted and they don't care about anyone's credit or helping anyone!

Many years as perfect paying card holder. Rate raised to 37%, and payments over $700 with almost all going to interest. Repeated calls requesting adjustment were met with no, no no, just pay your bill. I finally quit paying, and they have offered to lower rate to 16% but based on what others have said, it is apparently a lie.

Also checked out http://www.** and found others in same position. But it looks like Advanta will settle the debt if you wait them out with no payments. Obviously, they are cheats and thieves, and only care about how much they can squeeze out of us.

They said, they would lower my interest to 16.99. I have paid them 633.39 in interest in 2009, on a balance of 1500.00. Raised my interest for no reason.

I've had the same experiences that many have described previously. What we can do? Harass them back? Write "Return to Sender" on any bills they send. Bounce back e-mails to them. Call their 1-800 line 1x a day to make a payment, then hang-up. Answer their calls, take their time once and say "No, thank you". All of this will take up their resources. "Death by a thousand cuts". If enough people do this, then it will make a difference. I've stopped paying them. If they post something to your credit report, dispute it. If they don't respond, it has to be removed from your report.

This company is the most disloyal and despicable organization. I have also been affected the same way as all these other good people. I would give 100% support to any lawsuit or legal actions towards these thieves. Where is the justice? This has been a complete and total financial hardship on my family.

I have received an email today from Advanta saying they will lower my interest rate. Not sure If I should go ahead and accept this agreement. Any thoughts from anyone and has anyone else received this?

I have been following this saga ever since it pulled me in back in June. Folks everywhere want to know what can be done. Before I give you the truth, please understand I had perfect credit. Middle credit score was 808. I thought I could reason with these people and provided two years of electronic payments to dispute the claim I was ever late. But no luck. I sent certified mail from my attorney and copied the FDIC; no luck again. That was when I stopped paying them.

They are about to be extinct. The remaining assets after Advanta Corps November BK will be settled to pay its investors 20-40 cents on the dollar. The Bank "Advanta" cannot file bankruptcy, as they are FDIC-insured. Instead a junk debt buyer (JDB) will come in and take over the debts still outstanding. That's approx 1.1 million people/small businesses.

Keep in mind, JDBs pay only pennies on the dollar. This means you get ready to settle and payoff your account for 10-30% of the alleged balance. If this still does not meet your needs, then file suit in your home county small claims court. But not yet, wait! Have the new debt owner substantiate the debt (Validate it) or ask the judge to dismiss the amount allegedly owed and correct your payment history with all three credit agencies.

I will bet you a dollar the Junk Debt Buyer doesn't even show up to dispute my complaint. Trust me, I feel the same pain as you. I really worked to elevate my credit scores, but I feel if crooks such as Advanta can easily manipulate my information by forcing me to pay 35% interest, then they can shove it where the sun does not shine!

I will have my day in court, and I refuse to reward Dennis Alter for crooked and deceptive business practices. Did you know he is the CEO of Advanta and he built a $83m mansion with our 35% interest rates?

I have had the same experience with Advanta. My rate is also at 30%. Is there anyone out there to help us?

It seems like there is so many heartbreaking and furious stories but there is no one out there to give guidance or to help. I have written to the Mass Attorney General, who referred me to the Consumer Assistance Group, who then referred me to FDIC but nothing. I have now written a letter to my senator in hopes of something. Does anyone know anything else we could do?

Closed my account. Up my interest rate to 34.99% for no reason. Will not stop calling my job.They call about 6 times a day.

I have had an account with Advanta Cards for several years now. About 2 years ago my interest rate was increased to an astronomical 33.4%. Upon questioning the company, I was told that they did periodic scans on all customers, and adjust their APR accordingly. Now, I have never been late, always paid more than the minimum payment, and never had an outstanding balance of more than $3,000 out of a $24,000 credit limit.

I have contacted them numerous times via phone and the postal system with no results. I am always told that there is nothing they can do! Out of desperation, I have contacted a consumer advocate group affiliated with WPVI/ABC TV in Philadelphia, Pa, and they are also having problems with a resolution to this problem. I need help in restoring this APR to what it was before they decided to increase it, with retroactive adjustments accordingly. Is there anyone that can help?

I will make my concern brief. I share similar stories as prior complaints, APR of 29.99%, 1st month late (19 days because of becoming unemployed, Dec 2009). I had every intention of making a payment. They harassed the heck out of me and my family with dozens of phone calls every other day. Then on Dec 28, 2009, the person I talked with seemed genuine, and offered me an APR drop to 16.99%, and he'd put in a hardship request of a further drop to 9.99% like my Discover Card did, and well, I'm stupid and there is no such mention on my Jan 2010 statement like he promised (I had read these comments prior to this incident and I questioned him as to the validity of his promises and if in fact the phone call was being recorded. He assured me it was and all would proceed as he stated) and I made my Dec payment.

All who have called since see "no documentation of this" and that of course I must be making this up. I just ask that they review the call, and of course they won't. I now have a higher monthly note after no charging anything for 1.5 years! My finance charges in 2009 alone were over $5900.00! They have filed bankruptcy? Are they getting bailed out? Someone please advise me!

This is not to complain but to praise. Advanta did jack our interest rate up to 39.99%. I then called, got nowhere. I then proceeded to write all the board of directors. Some of them had left but responded. I then got a letter from Leslie ** saying "Nonetheless, in good faith effort to assist you, we have reduced your interest rate to Libor + 14.59% for purchases and cash transactions, currently 16.99%". I am very happy with the reduction. This has helped our business. Snaps for Advanta.

I would like to bring to your attention an issue that I am having with Advanta who raised the interest rate on my credit card. I have been unable to resolve the issue with them directly and would like your assistance on the matter. Is there an agency that I can go to help me get this resolved? Below is my second letter to Advanta. Thanks.

Back in October of 2009, I noticed on my statement that my interest rate has been raised from 2.9% to 29.99%. I called your customer service to mention this obvious error only to find out that my rate has indeed been raised. I was told that my rate was raised back in June of 2009 because I had a late payment. Previously and since that time, none of my payments had been late. I was aware of the late payment in June because I called your customer service people before the June 7 due date (call was forwarded to India) and told them that I had recently moved (my mail was slow in forwarding) and had been traveling overseas and that I was sending payment.

I asked them if my rate would be adjusted upward because of this late payment and they said, "Just send the payment, and since you had never been late before, your rate would not be adjusted upward." So I sent the payment and did not think anymore about it until now. I am asking that my rate be adjusted back to the original balance transfer rate of 2.9% and that the excess interest charges be deducted from my account from the June time period. Thank you for your time.

This is a follow up to a letter I posted late last year. After closing my store in February of 2009, I let Advanta know that I had closed and would still pay my bill. I was working from home, and in August, they raised my interest rate which made my monthly payment more than I even make. I called and called with no help. I ended up not making any payments since, and even if I send in the $420.00 a month that I normally paid, it wouldn't even cover the interest each month. Every month I would get a late fee and the balance would keep going up.

After 4 months, I actually got to talk to an American. Funny thing is when they wanted to talk about a payment plan, it just so happened that my husband lost his job and we are living on 1/5 of what we were before. Advanta doesn't seem to understand my house and utilities are more important than them. Now I have been turned into a collection agency. I did receive a letter from Advanta that if they choose not to pursue my debt, I will be getting a 1099 form to claim on my taxes as income. Again, I have to say I don't care if these crooks get nothing. By the way, if anyone is getting constant calls from a collection agency, all you have to do is send them a letter telling them to stop calling you and they have to honor that. You can find more information on the Internet. Good luck to all.

I see that we have all been ** by Advanta. The question is what do we do about it. They filed for BK last month. Should we keep paying them in order for them not to slam of credit reports? I got a 25K balance with these guys. These guys hit my personal credit report because I refused to pay 37% interest.

First, they closed the line of credit with no warning. Billing date was changed from 17th of every month to the 15th by Advanta. I have been an outstanding customer, always paying on time or before time and always more than the minimum payment amount. I was honest with the customer service supervisor stating that I did receive the monthly statement but presumed that the billing date was the same. I call in every month to make my payment. They acknowledged that I was a good customer and had complied as agreed. However, they refused to waive the fee.

credit line to. I was foolish to believe it. They asked that I continue to pay and no change would be incurred. Question? How can they close the line and make changes to a contract that we both agreed upon and that was a $2.99 rate for the life of the loan? What are my legal rights?

I have been in business 29 years and the month that I took the advance, they closed shop. So I am faced with a "teaser" rate and not a true business credit line, which I hoped I could raise since I have excellent credit. We have not been late and when I initially called, they stated they did not need to notify me, which obviously they knew they were going to do since it was right after I took the funds. Yet to be seen, but I can't access the line for the amount I was given since they closed all the lines out.

My interest rates were raised without due cause to anywhere from 24.99% to 37.99%, though my payments were timely, and my payments were for more than the minimum amount due. Repeated calls to customer service revealed no just cause on my part for such increases. As a result, there was no possibility of paying down my balance which caused much stress and anxiety.

I have been able to open other credit card accounts over time and pay off my balance with balance transfers. However, before I was able to accomplish this, I paid $1,318.94 in interest alone in 2008 and $1,318.86 in 2009. This is tantamount to extortion, as I had these high interest charges forced upon me. On September 25, 2009, Advanta sent me a check for the amount of $127.65 as reimbursement for unfair charges with the stipulation that my cashing it is a release to Advanta Bank Corp from any claims and actions that might exist. I feel that this is too low a sum and would like to be included in any legal proceedings against Advanta for fair reimbursement. As to date, the check remains uncashed.

I had abusiness card with this company in good standing always paid on time. All of a sudden this company closed this card or all cards as they say. I then noticed interest rate jumped to 34.99%. I called and asked for a copy of the letter they sent out in regards to the rate change, they said that basicly no. I have fallin on hard timesas have most, no work in 3 months. I am a self employed concrete inspector.

So I called this company to try an inroll in a hardship program like other of my cards offer. To help me stay in good standing and also pay my responsbilities. This company said "no such program, no rate adjustment due to all cards being discontinued" I told them thanks and not to be looking for any payment from me, due to their unwillingness to work with me. They just became last on the list of bills to get paid. And they did send me one of those checks to relese them from libilty but i did not cash it so should any case come together against Advanta Bank Corp sign me up.

As all complatints before me mine are the same. What I want to know is what do we have to do to file or get someone to do something. Are we just out here on our own. I have kept a detailed papaer trail of this and would just like to know can anybody do anything other than just complain.

Was Adavanta on the bailout list? Do we write letters to the editors in thier local newspapers, Washington Post New York times. Wall Street Journal. Maybe if we inidate them some one can do something.

Went from 6.99% to 39.9 but now down to 32.9 according to my statment, but according to the Indian Custmer Services my interest is still 6.99 and also according to Donna they (the Indian CS) has been told that under no circumstances are they alowed to negotiate, or give any US numbers. As per Donna the Indian Customer Service is a Third Party Bill Collection Agency and nothing else.

I utilize my Bill Pay Service through my bank to pay my bills. On May 27, 2009 I accidentally clicked on my AAA Visa payee and paid them $70.00, instead of clicking on Advanta to make the payment that was due in early June. I was not aware I had paid the wrong payee until I received a call from Advanta stating I was late. Upon hearing this, I discovered the error and immediately sent a $100 payment to Advanta on June 23, 2009. When I received my Advanta bill in late June, I immediately paid $142 on July 1 to cover my July payment to make sure I was current. I am shocked to find that because of this error, they have increased by interest rate to 36.99%. I tried calling several times and spoke to people in India, asking for supervisor.

They kept saying one would call and noone ever did. I finally told them I would no longer make payments until a supervisor calls me. Still no supervisor call, so I quit making payments. Then I started getting verbally abusive calls from the same people in India (who contantly change their name) asking me to pay up. I kept telling them i would not pay a dime until a superviosr called.I have even sent two letters (one addressed to their so called President Kevin Walsh),but to no avail. I finally got a letter from their Litigation department telling me they are going to sue me. I kindly mailed them a letter back telling them that I have made several attemtps to rectify this with them and send copies of my prior letters. I told them if they were not going to go back to my original agreement and rate, and no late fees than I would resume paying, but if not- SUE ME because you aren't getting another dime.

Anyone looking to contact Avanta Bank Corp in PA, call 215-. Ask for Trina H. who is a executive assistant, and probably as high up as you will get. I have called her several times. Not that she did anything for me. Maybe a flood of phone calls will do something.

I have been a good standing customer of Advanta for a few years, paying on time. This summer, all of a sudden they closed the credit line without warning and jacked the rate to 35%, not returning any phone calls. I became unemployed for 3 months and made a double payment to catch up n July. They have returned NO calls or requests to negotiate a lower rates or discuss my account. I fell behind one payment again, and extremely rude and persistent Indian people began to call me, sometimes as early as 7:30am, as much as 3-5 times a day, refusing to discuss anything and shouting at me that they need my checking account number.

When I tried to call corporate headquarters and insisted on speaking with a manager from the US, I was given a voice mail for "Tim Winters", who never called back. All the Indian people call themselves "Jim, Bob, Janet, Donna or Samantha" and say their last name is "Smith". Finally, I agreed to make an automatic draft out of my checking account to pay them for December and January in the same payment, on December 21, 2009. The screaming one named Janet said the phone calls would stop if I did this. She gave me a confirmation number for this agreement, but would not send any written confirmation or email. The phone calls HAVE NOT stopped, and yesterday, again, they called at 7:30am and pretended they were in Pennsylvania. I was informed that the phone calls WILL continue until they get their money and that as long as I am paying, there is no need to review my eligibility for "special rates". Please help me, I am at my wits end.

As we go back on our statements I notice that up to Nov. 2008 all finance charges information appeared on the face of the statements. As of Dec.08 they changed the format and the balances and rates info now appear on the back of the page. That's when my my higher rate balance began to grow . Could that be a coincidence ? How can your balalnces grow if you are paying at least minimum??

On April 28, 2009 I received a email from Advanta bank Corp Stating that if I issue a balance transfer/deposit fund into my own account. I will be offer 0% apr through october 1, 2010. Which I still have the copies of email.

Which I did, and they charge me $285 process for advance of $9500 which is fine.

However, I notice Advanta start charge interest charge oct, 2009 statement. I contacted their customer service, in which they admit they send out false advertise email, but won't not take any responsibillties on their action. now I am charge about 8% interest for something should be 0% interest.

I am already struggling to stay on top of my financial obligations. An increase in the interest rate will add to this burden. I'm making a sincere effort to maintain my good credit rating. Companies like this are pushing our economy deeper into recession with these types of efforts!

Like many here I was never late with a payment. My interest rate was suddenly jacked up from (I think) 7.99% to 34.99%!! They've then sent a check for $165 telling me that if I deposit that, I renounce all possibility of future action against them. These crooks and liars should be in jail.

They jacked up my interest rate from 16.99% to 29.99% for no reason and then lied to me that they would lower it back to 16.99% if I "prepaid" my upcoming monthly payments before they were actually due. I then found out that my "agenT" Sam P had no authority to make such a deal and they refused to lower my interest rate as they originally agreed to. You MUST deal with a bunch of flunkies from India and it is impossible to talk with anyone in the states. I had my account for years, never missed a payment and now they are charging me loan shark rates.

They are scamming and abusing their customers!! I too have been a customer of Advanta for a long time. I had never ever missed a payment with them. They contacted me 2 weeks before closing my account (with no sympathy I might add) leaving me to decide what to do with my business transactions due to this card being my sole business card. My interest rate is now a whopping 29.99 percent!!!! Due to the economy, I like many many others had to close my business of 7 years.

You would think that Advanta would have been willing to assist. Not at all. I even begged, cried and pleaded with them for assistance. Not for forgiveness of the debt, but just some assistance in lowering the interest rate. Every person time after time phone call after phone call cry after cry was the same cold hearted person as the next. This is sad that a company can do this. My credit is great and like others I have never ever been late on ANY of my bills. But that may have to change, because I can not allow a company to rob me at a 30 percent rate causing my payments to be $900 a month and I have no income. I will just pray for relief later from a judge or class action suit.
Good things happen to good people,

those that do bad, well... you get my point. Advanta customers, hold on, and lets keep each other in our prayers. Victory will be ours!!!

I have an Avanta account that I closed because of horrible customer service and high interest rates. I have been making ontime payments and they are telling me now that since the account was closed, they cannot change the current rate! 34.99% is outrageous for any card.

Card was in good shape till 2008 when they had troubles and payments get lost or not processed by their automated account. The web is loaded with advanta complaints and similar issues from small business owners as myself. A class action suit may be in order as many of us need an attorney to address this.

Nearly each month when I attempt to pay my bill on line advanta's site says my (previously registered) ID and/or password does not match Advanta's records. Then I have to call its customer service to complete my payment. I believe the error message that prevents me from access and making my payment is intentional to delay my payment so that a late charge can be added to my account.

My husband had an advanta credit card for his business. Advanta dropped the credit card last May, it was paid off, cut up and closed. Unfortunately, when he got the credit card for the business he had to put his name on it also. About two weeks ago they started calling my husbands work and our home 3 to 4 times a day insisting there is a balance on the card. My husband has asked them several times to fax a copy of the bill showing the balance the business supposedly owes but they do not. He told them the charges would have to be verified with his controller before anything will get paid.He told them to stop calling our home and they continue to call. They are boarding on harrassment.

Upon closing my account Advanta raised my interest rate from 7.99% to 30.99% after calling they lowered it down to 16.99% but now they are doing something else to scam your money if you carry a balance and or Purchases and "Cash Advances" which they say were convenience checks, balance transfers, and now fees and charges. Now heres what they are doing, you have a balance of purchases and Cash advances, when they get your payment they apply all the amount to the balance of the purchases only, now they charge you the interest and the fees for cash advances on the remaining total balance which they then tack on to the Cash advances balance which slowly increases every month if you pay the minimum payment. After callng Advanta and speaking with Neil from India, I was told there was nothing he could do and that I should seek credit help elsewhere, I asked can I pay off the "Cash Advance" balance, He promptly said no, any and all payments will go purchases balance first at the current rate and any fees or charges will be applied to the cash advance portion, which is at the higher interest rate. This is a scam!!! Advanta sent me too settlement checks $101.00 and $26.00 and by cashing I will not hold them to legal settlements later, I'm still holding the checks and do not intend to cash them, At this Point Advanta means nothing to me.

Advanta has slowly increased my interest rates to the now 31.99%. I have called them repeatedly and asked for consideration on their rates and I can't get them to cooperate. I have never been late or skipped a payment to give them reason for the increase.

It happens every statement! They arrive very late in order to make the payment in time. For example, I received the last statement today, November 12 and the bill due date is November 17. As I am on the West Coast and the payment is processed on the East Coast, chances are the payment is not going to be processed in time. And this is not the first time, I have complained to the Advanta Card in person and was assured that they will mail the statements on time. By the way, sometime in the past they jacked up my APR from 7.99% to over 30% without any explanations given, so I closed the account.

Advanta is a scam I had a 12.9 interest rate and accidentally paid another credit card twice. When I realized what I had done, I immediately paid them but the next bill showed they hiked my rate up to 35%. I asked to speak with a supervisor. THey kept telling me one would call but one never did. I have written two letters asking to have a supervisor call me to put my rate back down, and they never do, so I notified them that I will no longer pay my bill untis a supervisor calls. They (people in India) keep calling me to pay my bill, I tell them "not until you put a supervisor on the phone." They never do and keep calling all hours of the day. MAJOR THIEVES!!!!!!!!! I was a honest pay on time person, but now... they can just charge the rest of this balance off. I just don't give a damn anymore.

I have used my Advanta business card for over a year for my small business. Recently the company closed all credit lines and with no notice increased my interest rates to above 30%. I made my payments at regular intervals and the same payment each time so without notice I had paid less than he amount due. I called to clarify the issue and was told I would receive paperwork to sign to reduce the interest but have yet to receive said paperwork. I was outraged by this and wanted answers and thus refused to pay until I received some sort of action at which time a report was sent out against my credit. When I asked a representative on the phone if having an interest rate above 25% in NY was illegal he responded with, "we are based out of Texas" How does the law account for such loopholes? and where is the fair and just action?!

I have (had) a credit score of 780, and never in my life missed a payment on a loan or credit card account.

Fortunately, another card of mine had offered me a balance transfer offer that same month of the increase and I transferred the balance with no knowledge of the increase. Fast forward a few months and Advanta offers me a 6% balance transfer offer with no fees by email. With no knowledge of the rate increase, I transferred $4000 back onto my Advanta card.

Subsequently a few months after that they closed the accounts and in August of this year my payments on my balance transfer skyrocketed. Confused on what happened, I checked my paper statements for that month and I saw the 34% APR number. With the new interest rate and the payments, I couldn't afford to pay my account.

I called up Advanta and spoke to a Brian recently with a thick indian accent, who informed me that I wasn't allowed to settle my account, and the only interest rate they could offer me was a 16.99% or credit counseling with an outside company that COULD settle or negotiate with them (Why can't I negotitate my own account, I AM THE ACCOUNT HOLDER AFTERALL), as well as notifying me that they had sent me a rate increase letter by certified mail in August of last year (Which they hadn't, but how do I prove a negative against them, I don't know?).

I have saved every piece of paper that credit card companies have sent me, I have a filing cabinet full of these things.

I plan on contacting my states attorney general's office and wish to find a way to get this company honest on their accounts.

Advanta Bank Corp closed all credit card accounts May 2009. I have been making regular payments and on time. The interest rate on my account is 16.99%. For the past 3 months my balance has reduced by $191.30 Aug, $189.00 Sept, and $187.55 in Oct. On each statement following a payment my interest charges and fees have gone up instead of down. With these 3 payments on principle of $567.85 a reasonable person would expect the interest charge to go down somewhat not increase. from August to Sept. the interest charge went up $4.40 and from Sept to Oct the interest charge and fee went up another $14.45. They tried to tell me it was due to the change in amount of days of the billing cycle. I don't buy that as a correct answer. Even if the amount of days in the billing cycle differ, somewhere it would show some type of decrease in the interest charges since the balance is now $576.85 lower than 3 months ago.

opened up a business account with them. Now they are out of business and my account closed. this brings down my credt score and i need good credit for my business. my credit score has dropped.

I have decided to not make my payments which is something I have never done. I get calls from India about 5 times a day. I only pick up the phone about every 2 weeks. I will either have to file bankrupcy or wait for them to turn me into a collection agency and work for a settlement. If I could find a bank to lend to me. I have been depressed about the whole situation. I had about $26,000 in debt from my business and had planned to pay it off. Now I really don't care if Advanta gets a dime from me. May the owners get what they deserve.

My company is financial distress so I am calling all my buisness creditors and trying to assure that I can keep paying on time, its that bad , I dont even have money to pay my taxes this year. I asked the gentlman if we could at least reduce the rate so I can assure that the payments are paid on time. I was given a number to a credit councelor. I am a buisness owner and dont need counseling . I explained to him that we are trying to reduce our rates with all creditors. we know what to do its just that Advanta does not want to hear it , Soon I will not be able to pay them. Also they are the only creditor that is not willing to talk to you. The conversation goes like this after you have explained your case , They say. You need to call this numberand talk to them , I ask who is this management, what can they do for me?.

Then Im told Just call this number We are instructed to give this number out to any one who needs assistance. Its not till you call the number that you find out that they had you call a credit counselor.
There is also a web site I found if you go to advanta.com you will find a segment page thar has testimony after testimony about how their Advanta acc. was closed down as was mine,after which their rates were drastically raised. So not only did they shut down all of their buisness accounts they raised the rates after.
We are a professional company Liscensed insured , small operation we are honest people trying to do the right thing.
Is there any one out there that can help.
Frustrated

Ps.Our acc. has always been paid on time

I feel so badly for many of you! Your stories are so similar to mine and it is heart breaking. I am fortunate in the fact that I was able to pay my balance off in it's entirety when they closed my account.

Obviously they did not take into consideration things like POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE as well as loan sharking. or predatory practices!

On May 26th I received a letter informing me that they were closing my account as of June 1st. This left me with 4 days to scramble and make arrangements for my business purchases. As if I have time to read their wordy contract for a loop hole allowing them anything less than 30 days to close my account.

Today I received a check as well for $26 and change. My letter also had the standard hold harmless paragraph when cashing the check. Keep in mind my account has been closed for 4+ months and was paid in full at that time. I am NOT going to cash this check! I feel certain that there will be a class action suit regarding their practices and predatory policies. Stand firm people!

Never late but will not lower interest rate of about 30%. The would cash check and not credit acc. for 3-5 days later so you would be in default.

They closed my account and raised my interest rate to an unfair 34.99% and now tell me because my account is closed, they cannot lower the interest rate. I have been an excellent customer and they even agreed with that on the phone. It will take an incredibly long time to pay this off since 2/3 of my payment goes to the finance charges. We are a one income family and it is hard to make the payments.

Advanta small business card. Started interest at 7.99% now over 23.% Never been late. Carry a balance of over $20,000. This is sickening. Please help.

I have been an Advanta credit card user and like many others have had their accounts closed and interest rates raised to unjustifiable criminal rates. I have contacted Advanta many times and get a overseas (India) representative which is a stone wall. I can get no where with these people trying to get an interest rate that is within reason. My interest rate was 7.99 and has increased to 34.99% which to me is criminal. These credit card companies are getting away with loan sharking and something needs to be done about it immediately. It is creating a hardship for too many individuals and small businesses that are already suffering due to a dismal economy. What can be done about these high interest rates?

As with all other complaints I am reading here, Advanta raised my credit card interest rates to 34% with no just cause. No late payments, no over-limit charges. Nothing. I called and asked why and they said their contract stated that they were free to raise my rates at will. I then asked for the payoff amount and payed the balance in full over the phone directly with a representative just to be rid of them. Next thing I know, I have a statement with an interest charge of $6.00 and a late fee of $39.00!

Because I had cleared and closed the account, I didn't look at the next statement that came in the mail. They showed my account having interest charges between the time I payed the balance pver the phone, and the time the bank draft actually completed. Their collections people called me every day for about two weeks and everytime I answered phone I let go the wrath.

Finally I guess they got tired of being yelled at and agreed to remove all activity from the card that had posted after I called my payoff in. My balance was only about $2000. I feel really bad for those trapped and unable to escape these criminals. I just received a "reimbursement" check for $9.37; by cashing I would release these idiots from any and all claims or actions.

I say bring on the claims and actions...I don't see much to gain personally, but will participate on principle and on behalf of all the other innocent victims caught up in this. I would like info as to what claims or actions are being taken and how to participate.

first allowed charges from triple c- some kind of insurance that i did not authorize i 2009. asked it be stopped. advanta said they could not stop it or remove it. i called triple c which is owned by advanta, they put it on your acct. triple c said that they could not remove it, i stopped making a payment so they woluld remove it. finally 2 were removed. i had to argue and argue like crazy. that was some time ago. now i noticed only 2 were taken ooo and not the other 2, so i called them again, same thing. advanta, and triple c. then triple c said they would take the two off and this week i noticed on one fee of $ 14.99 was removed.

these people will argue and argue with you. i told them i was reporting them to consumer affairs and attorney general of illinois and the state where they do business out of , their main headquarters. then i spoke to them about the interest that has skyrocketed to 34% or 36%. this was after they said the account was going to be closed. i sasked them to lower the interest and they said that they could not make any changes on the account, yet they could raise the interest. today 10/09/09 i receive a phone call saying they will lower it to 16 %, and would I like it, of course I said yes, but i have it no where it was w when i opened the account. also i make payments on line, and get a confirmation #, and then later it comes back that it did not go through, and the funds were there. they think that they can do anything because the acct is closed by them. i have not been offered a check for $ 200 or so like i read some people have, but i will try another complaint offered thank you

I called and was thanked for my excellent payment history, which led to my question of what's going on? They said something must have happened with the way I was managing my debt.? What? She really didn't know, couldn't explain, and didn't much care. I then received a notice in the mail that my interest rate was being reduced to 28.9% (Wow, what a gift).

I decided a couple of months ago to use the bill pay option from my checking acct. I set it up to pay that months Advanta bill. Being the first time I used this, I apparently did not go far enough in the program to actually "pay" the entries I had made.
A different creditor called me, which is how I found this out. I then called the other creditors I had "paid" in the same event, one of them was Advanta.

The other creditors had no problem removing the late fee, and resetting, if applicable, my promotional low interest rate. Advanta, on the other hand, said they could not adjust the interest rate because the account was closed. They did, offer me a $200 credit (?) and give me the number of Consumer Credit Counseling? What? So, the end result is that my 2.99% interest rate is now 25.99%. My payments are outrageous, and most of it is interest.

I have continued making my payments to this company, but have felt abused and helpless in doing so! I have never missed a credit card payment with any of my creditors, and every month I seriously consider doing just that with Advanta, as I don't know what else to do. I recently received a check, like others here, for $298.30 stating that if I cashed it, I release Advanta from any and all claims or actions that might exist, or existed on the date of this letter than involve any Reprice Event.

This is not my area of expertise, but something just smells bad about this. That said, I don't know what to do. Thank you for the opportunity to share this difficult and stressful experience.

In March of 2008 we took Advanta up on their credit offer for our business. The interest rate at the time was 7.99% In October of 2008 our interest jumped from 7.99 to 30.08%. We called and asked them why as we had never had a late payment and they told us we now had to much credit card debt. So that was their reason. We felt like we were duped! We ended up having to take out other credit lines to pay off the balance of this unheard of % RATE.

Today we recieved a check for 157.00 and a letter that said by cashing this check we relieve Advanta of any further action. NOPE! we won't cash their little offering after having paid soooo much interest. We are certain that a LOAN SHARK would have been cheaper than what they did to us. At least we would have known what the shark was going to want in return for the loan. Anyone else being given this dangling carrot? We had to hurry to use other credit sources to pay off the majority of the credit balance. Have been paying on the remainder of the ADVANTA credit every since! BEWARE do not do business with ADVANTA!

They closed the account on May 2009, then a month later raised interes rate to 28.99%. Can they close and then change the rate? Doesn't close mean end of contract and nothing to be added or changed?

A couple of days ago I got a check for a little over $500.00 stating the FDIC said they owed this to me and they want me to cash it and relieve them of all liabilities. These people are crooks and I feel confident that if I cash the check I would be screwing myself out of what I am actually owed.

I have a small business credit card with Advanta which was opened 3 years ago to help with start up cost. At the time they had the typical low apr. rate promotion that I took advantage of. After the promotion was over my rate was 7.99%. I have paid on time, above the minimum amount due, and now my account has been closed with my apr going to 34.99%. We are being financially raped by these Advanta CEO's. You can NEVER speak to anyone who speaks English properly!! We need to fight back!!!!! They are not going to put my business under!

I have had an business account with Advanta Bank Corp since 2002 and have always been in good standing. I always paid more than the minimum and always on time. In December I was late by a couple of days and now Advanta has raised my interest rate from 7.9% to 35.17%.

I have attempted to resolve this unfair rate over the phone and sent several letters however the people in New Deli really don't care and all they can do it state that the account is closed and they can't adjust the rate.

I then refused to pay because all I was paying was the interest and I would never get it paid off. Since then I was contacted almost daily and I always answered and again requested they work with me on a more resonable rate.

I was then contacted by an agent saying he was with Advanta, I have to wonder about that, and I could agree to a contract to pay in 12 months at 3.9. I went for it then I found that they put this business account on my personal credit file and listed it as late. This is a $33,0000 business line not something you want on a personal credit file. The agent also told me that by making my first payment on the new plan I would not have a payment due until November and he would call me when it was due. I called them and was told by another agent that I was past due already! When I logged in to pay I had two payments due and was only able to make one payment, then i had to wait 3 days to make another.

this is the worst company I have ever delt with. They have gone out of their way to make sure I defaulted and have really affected my credit score. Since then i have had and American Express credit card closed because I haven't used it, Chase has lowered my credit line, and BB&T has reported my business line on my personal report as well.

How could 6 days late in 12 years ruin me this way. I have always guarded my credit and had a score of 840 and my business score was also high. Now I would have trouble buying a car!

Advanta offered recently Autopay as a means of paying our monthly bill. We signed up. According to our Account Review on line we were "Enrolled in Autopay". Later we noted that that autopay process did not draft the payent from our bank, we were elevated to 24.9% interest plus charged a late fee. Coudl this jsut be a human error? Not likely.

- all calls go to overseas call centers, we are helpless to find a decision maker or a person of authority.

This appears to be a deceptive practice by Advanta. Be warned.

I called back and gave the next Induan a chance then asked for a manager, and she would not give me one. I have explained to them they gave me too much credit and of course I used it, so can we make they due date at the end of the month b/c my wife and I are payed at the end of the month. Of course they want you to be late. I have been charged a fee I think only once because I generally find or borrow the money to pay them a day or two in advance. I never had this problem before Advanta closed all accounts

We have had this card for years and had 0% interest for the life of the card. OUr las payment was due Sept 2nd 2009 and my husband used the bank account I had just cloes to try and make the payment. Neither of us knew it did not go through properly. One week later I got a call form India for a payment and was told out interest is now 29.99%. I asked for a superviser and was told that would not help me. I called 4 times and each time got someone from India who told me there last name was JONES. This is an outrage. Something has to be done with this company.

Advanta is a horrible company I have never ever spoken to anyone that is from india!! Our business closed because of a illness,I never ever missed a payment until 1 last year because in hospital for several month!! they raised my rate to 34.99% won't work with us at all,said they would lower interest never did,Tried to do a balance transfer wouldn't take it because it was from another bank!!said I needed to check other credit cards I have for balance options with a check.Thanks god for bofa for at least taking a settlement deal from us with low interest,they were very understanding but not this company

All doing business with the remaining bank should pull out and take the business elsewhere.

A few months ago, my payment to Advanta arrived a few days late to them (this was the first time ever that it was late) and they charged me a late fee of $39.00, took me off of the zero % promotion I was on and raised my interest rate to 29.99%. After calling numerous times and originally being promised that the late fee would be removed as a courtesy and it not being removed, I was told by someone in India who said she was a supervisor named Annie that she would not remove the late fee or give me a reasonable interest rate.

Ongoing, as so many others have reported, the Advanta Credit Card Company had ratcheted up their interest rate any chance they could get, then they closed. I believe that in the six or seven years we've had activity with them (about 80 months), we had missed payments by a couple of days nearly three years ago. BANG - now 36%, they close and we're stuck with the rate which is continuing to be serviced by someone. I sent emails each month since they closed asking for a reduction in the rate (and did before) but keep getting turned down. Now an ultimate insult: Their "customer service" people provided me with a 800 number to call. I called it and it was a credit consulting firm! How so very insulting. It is Advanta's actions that have put me into this position, and they have the audacity to refer me to a credit consulting firm. What a horrible bunch of people with no conscience. Anybody willing to bundle a class action suit against them or their assigns, I'm ready to jump aboard!

I have read all the complaints and all same is true. So, what recouse do we have. You can not speak to anyone that is in the U.S. The rates that are being charged are up there with LOAN SHARKS. Is there no law to govern these tactic? I am paying double what any other credit card I have.

In May, they closed all accounts. In July, I attempted to set-up automatic payments but this did not take and two days later when I checked the website, I found no record of payment or automatic payments. I immediately put through a payment and when I received my statement 10 days later, I had been charged 17% on the balance plus a late fee(for a total of $184.38)

Despite numerous calls, all of which ended up in India, could not get anyone to listen. I wrote but had no reply. On July 28th I called to get the balance and decided to pay it in full--it posted on August 5th. Today, August 24th I got my statement and there's another $58.69 charged supposedly in interest fees. I called again and once again landed in India. These are predatory practices that need to stop. I have read that Advanta agreed to pay restitution for these practices yet I cannot get them to delete this last statement. What can be done?

Advanta agreed to pay restitution for the rate hike. They said that they would be mailing payments 60 days from June 30. Has anyone received their payments? Advanta is supposed to compile a list. If I do not get my payment, I 'll just take it up with the small claims courts. What are you guys doing? My rate went from 2% to 38%! for no reason.

Advanta closed all credit cards and then raised my interest rates to 37.99 when I never was late on payments. They have applied this large interest rate to my previous balance which is unfair credit card practice that is not allowed when Obama signed the bill in May 2009. They are now reducing my credit card limit even though the card is closed and charging me over the limit fee everytime I reduce my payment with a payment. I have emailed them and send them a letter and still no response.

I've never been late with payments of any kind, and have a credit rating in the 700's. But personal circumstances including the economy and injuries sustained in a car accident have depleted my savings, and I was, in June, late with my Advanta payment. At 1 day late there were 11 phone calls on my caller ID from them. This continued on a daily basis. Then two weeks later, when I was all of 16 days late, they raised my rate from 7.99% fixed to 32.9%.

I have had perfect credit history, never a day late, and now have a quadrupled interest rate. What is being done about banks like this getting there last "dibbs" in during the interum period before the Obama changes take place? Is there relief for the victims? Advanta has now offered me a "medical" program where they lower the rate to 8.5% for one year for me to recover. Then they boost it up to 16.9% thereafter. I have not yet agreed because of he 16.9%. In the meantime, the account is a mess with all the extra interest, and the higher payment due. Is there anyone who can help us with this?

My card expired. I paid the balance on time. I never received a new card. A year later I received a bill for the yearly fee for around $40.00. I did not have an Advanta Card, I did not use an Advanta Card, and I will not pay for a card I do not have and did not use.

I received a phone call from the individual calling himself "Bob S" saying I was late on my Advanta account and asked how much I was going to pay today. I informed him I was not in front of my computer and would have to look at my accounts. He quoted amounts to me, and I again told him I would have to look at my accounts, that I was not in front of my computer. He asked what site I paid my bills through. I told him it was my bank - Bank of America. I told him it is possible that I already had the payment scheduled, but I would have to check. He said he would make a note on the account saying that I was going to pay $(amount) on Monday. I told him that is not what I said, and if he put that down, that was his words, not mine.

He then began to talk over me, which aggravated me, and I told him to let me finish. He continued to skew what I was saying and continued to interrupt me. I told him to check his recording for what I said if he wanted to put what I said on the account. I told him I would like to file a complaint for the way I was being treated. When I had asked his name he said it was "Bob S". From the accent, I doubted his name was Bob S, and asked his real name or company ID so I could file a complaint. He said they don't have a company ID or give out their real names.

I asked to speak to his supervisor, and he then gave the phone to a lady standing next to him. I asked her name and she said "Venus." It took several attempts for me to understand this due to the background noise, which sounded like numerous loud conversations, and due to the accent. Venus tried to blame it on my cell phone. Venus reinforced what Bob S said about names and ID's. So I asked for a number wherer I could file a complaint. The number she gave me was routed back to the same place apparently.

This time I was talking to "Jeff". I asked Jeff to give me a number where I could file a complaint, as I knew he would not be able to help me. He gave me a different number, but it was also routed to the same place. Only this time I was taking to "John". I told John I did not think he could help me either, and asked for a supervisor or a number to call to file a complaint. He said he was the person to talk to. I told him that the person who first answers the phone is not who I needed to talk to. I asked who was in charge, and he said they were a team. I told him even a team has a leader, and asked who that was. He was silent, then he said he was checking. I asked how he did not know who was in charge? He then hung up on me. I called back, and the previous "Jeff" answered the phone. I told him I had just spoken with him earlier, and I would do my own research on where I could file a compalint, and hung up.

After paying off the balance, Advanta took, through electronic transfer, 780.00 dollars out of my business checking account

I obtained an Advanta Business Card to assist with establishing my small business. Advanta has provided poor customer service for several years. I have contacted Advanta on several occasions to request removal of falsities remarks on my credit reports that states that I have paid 30-60 days late during the past 12 months. During March of 2007, I made arrangements with a supervisor from your collection department to pay a least $118 a month. The supervisor stated that my account will be considered current as long as I paid as agreed. I have honored the contract by paying the minimal or more per month; I paid a few days late, perhaps two times. Also, I received a letter from the collection department documenting our conversation concerning the special payment agreement. According to a recent review of my credit report, my account shows 30-60 days late from March 2007 to March 2008. My credit report should have stated paid as agreed.

I have contacted Advanta representatives on several occasions; unfortunately, they gave us many reasons as to why my account was reported late although I paid monthly. In addition, while discussing my account with Advanta collection representatives via telephone on several occasions, the telephone was suddenly disconnected when I asked to speak to a supervisor. I am extremely disappointed with customer service at Advanta. Advanta representatives have continuously given me inaccurate information. It is truly disappointing for good and loyal customers to receive such poor customer service. For the past year, I have paid my account monthly, despite Advanta's erroneous credit reporting. I have been spoken to in a very rude manner on several different occasions when we've called in to ask for help. I had been paying my money to someone who I can't trust, and who doesn't appreciate my business. Furthermore, Advanta's supervisor refused to return my calls after leaving several message via Advanta's representatives and their online website.

I plan to contact my states AG, US Representative, US Senators, Louisiana Attorney General, local media outlets, FDIC, and the Better Business Bureau and ask for their help to deal with Advanta's unscrupulous business practices, as I feel I have been treated unethically in regards to our Advanta's inaccurate credit reporting.

After months of calling customer service, I finally emailed Dennis Alter, CEO at Advanta Corp. Headquarters, Welsh and McKean Roads, P.O. Box 844 Spring House, PA 19477-0844. A supervisor from the office called me within three hours to say - we reported the information corrected and the agreement we made stated that you had to make 6 consecutive payments to bring your account current. I was misinformed and plan to fight for justice.

As others have reported, I too was enticed by Advanta's "0% interest for 18 months and then 7.99% fixed APR" on balance transfers when I received several of these promotions for a business card in 2007. I was given a card with a credit limit of $23,000 and used the card to get a balance transfer of $18,000. I didn't receive the first month's statement. I phoned the company asking about it and was told because I hadn't made the payment when it was due, I forfeited the introductory rate of 0%. The next statement was received with an APR of 7.99% and not 0%, but not a bad rate either. I do most of my banking online and in the beginning, I seemed to have a lot of difficulty logging on to the Advanta website to see and pay my account. It has been easier to do that in recent months after the fact. At first, they did not have an option of autopay to make sure the minimum payment was received by the due date. The October 2007 statement had a rate of 7.99%, but after that the rate started to escalate, becoming 8.31% in November 2007, and staying around 8.5% until the end of the year, while all bills were paid on time.

Then in January 2008, the rate was doubled to 16.99% for no reason on my part. When I phoned Advanta customer service (and this was before they were using a call center in India), I was told that they have the right to charge anything they want, but they agreed to lower it and following month it was lowered to 10.09%. The statement of March 4, 2008 also offered the first chance to view statements online, something that wasn't available previously. In looking on the two years of payments, I can see online it appears I made all my payments online and on time, except for payment that was due on April 4, 2008. I had trouble getting onto the Advanta website. It seems they were working on it at that time which made it inaccessible at times, and the payment was not credited until April 10, 2008, after I phoned customer service and paid amount due plus late fee. Except for that one instance and through 2009, there were no other payments that were not credited when due. In September, the rate was 10.08%, and then it went up by 1% each month through December when it was 12.18%.

The December statement had a payment due of $302. That's when things got really bad. Without warning, the January 2009 statement had an APR of a whopping 37.18% and payment due of $569. Through the rest of the year of 2009, the APR has been around 35% and payments due and paid of over $500 each month. When I phoned and got the call center in India, I asked if there was a way that my rate could be lowered to something reasonable, that I couldn't afford to pay this and I wanted to talk to his superior at the company. I was told that there was no way that the rate can be lowered and I was given the phone number that turned out to be for a Credit Repair Service.

I opened an Advanta business credit card account almost 2 years ago at 0% for 15 months. This was the best promotional rate I could find on the web, and following the promotional rate cards interest rate was 9.9%. during the first 15 months. I was two days late with one payment, and Advanta reinstated at 0%. Following the introductory rate, I continued to make payments at the 9.9% rate for approximately 10 months and was late with a second payment. This time, I could not believe it when I called to maintain 9.9% rate and was informed that my current rate was 34%! I could not believe this was even legal and was informed that the state of Utah allows such practices.

To make a long story short, I only learned about the increase after calling. I promptly took out a loan and paid off the card believing that I had only been scammed for the high interest rate for two months(approximately $600). Despite the fact that they have closed all the card accounts, I called recently to explore my options for challenging this theft and learn from the Advanta representative that my interest rate was actually at 34% for nearly a year! I am backtracking on the math to accurately determine my true loss; however, if anyone has a suggestion on my best route for redress please contact me. One similarly situated bargain hunter suggested a complaint with the Utah FDIC. You, folks, concur or feel free to advance other suggestions.

In 2004, I was tasked by my former employer to obtain business credit cards for the officers and owners of Huntley, Nyce & Associates, LTD. We decided to open up a business credit card account with Advanta because it offered a nice cash-back feature. The account was advertised as a corporate card and there was nothing in the web-based application form that indicated otherwise. I filled out the form with the company's information as well as providing information on each of the card holders. I left Huntley, Nyce & Associates on July 25, 2008 with the account in good standing. In October 2008, I received a phone call from Advanta at my new place of employment. Apparently, Advanta got the number from my former employer. Paul ** of Advanta told me that the account was past due and wanted to know when I was going to make payment. I told him that I no longer worked for Huntley Nyce and that he needed to contact them. He then informed me that I had guaranteed payment on the account and if payment was not made timely it would impact my credit. He indicated that they would sue me personally if they had to.

My complaint is as follows:

1. The account was advertised as a business credit card.

2. The application itself did it make it clear that person filling out the form was also guaranteeing payment. I assumed that since it was advertised as a business card and I provided the business information on the credit card, the business was responsible for the charges and not any of the individual card holders.

3. There was a hyperlink to the lengthy agreement that I failed to read that did mention I would be the guarantor. This was pointed out to me in October 2008 by Paul **. The agreement states the following: "In addition to you and the business, any person to whom a card is issued is also personally liable for all transactions made with that card."

4. I am not an officer or owner of the company. I was only acting on behalf of the company to obtain a business card for the company's use.

5. There were six cards active when I left Huntley Nyce on July 25. The account was not closed because I was under the impression it was a corporate account. At the time of my departure, the account was current and in good standing.

6. The balance due relate to charges put on the other cards after my departure from the company. These charges were made without my knowledge. I did not authorize any of them and they did not benefit me in any way. I told this to Advanta and they indicated that I am still liable for the charges.

I feel that the whole credit card application process was deceitful. It was not evident that the person filling out the application form was guaranteeing payment.

Advanta hiked our interest rate in August of 2008 without notice! They state that they sent a letter to us giving us the option to either close the account and maintain a 7.99% interest rate or that the account could remain open but that our interest rate would rise to 19.99%. We never received this letter. Upon receiving the next statement we called to inquire as to why the rate was increased and were told that they sent us a letter giving us the above option and refused to help us in any way. Conveniently, in April of 2009, they closed the account anyway, taking away our line of credit and sticking us with the 19.99% until the account is paid off. I called and spoke to a supervisor. Again, conveniently, once an account is closed, they will not work with anyone regarding rates. I am extremely pissed off about this situation and would recommend that no one do business with Advanta! I sincerely hope the company goes completely out of business. That is what they deserve.

I dealt with the arbitration department at Advanta when my usual $78/month payment suddenly jumped to over $300/month due to an interest rate increase. The agreed that if I made a one-time payment of $1200, they would lower my interest rate again and my payment would be around $55. I took the money from my college fund and asked for the agreement in writing. I never received it, and my minimum payment continued to be around $300/month. I paid the $55/month I agreed to just to continue payments. Now, they threaten me with a lawsuit and want to "negotiate" with me again.

We are a small business that has installation crews throughout the country. Advanta credit was the means for which we paid all expenses, lodging, meals and gas. We were shocked to get the letter cutting off our card in less than one week. This news left our employees stranded out of town with no way to pay for their living expenses, no food or motel. Imagine being 1,000 miles from home and not being able to get there. We really had to get creative in order to get money to them, no checks because most places won't take out-of-state checks.

Advanta is now hounding us to make payments and stay current with them. We will pay off the balance and have never refused to do this. However, the importance of staying current with them is no longer the priority it once was. We now have to pay cash for expenses instead of waiting for the income from the project to pay off the credit card.

Around March or April of 2009, I noticed that the interest rate jumped from around 7% to 31% on my Advanta Business Credit Card account. I have always paid on time and more than the minimum. They said they sent me a letter, but I never got one. They told me it was too late to opt out and I still have to pay the rate of 31%. Never in all the years that I have had a credit card had I had to pay a rate like that. My credit score was in the high 700's to low 800's and they never gave me a reason, to this day, for the rate hike.

Advanta advised me on the change of rate in interest by my October bill, sent out in September. I settled, paid off the account on October 8th, but I was charged the full interest rate although I paid it in full. I wrote letters including the president with a certified letter, but no response in 6 months. Advanta wouldn't give me back my $400.

I have a somewhat different situation, but it still shows Advanta bank's complete lack of concern or compassion for the average guy who's been struck hard by the current economic crises. I tried to work with them and explained my situation. For over 20 years, I've had excellent credit (750+ FICO) and never missed a single payment. When the housing market crashed, it took my home improvement business with it.

I asked Advanta if we could somehow work this out with smaller payments temporarily, because I'm confident that when the economy springs back, I will be able to make great strides towards paying this debt off in full. My other credit card issuer accepted this agreement based on my past credit history. As long as I continue to make the smaller payments, they would continue to work with me to get through this tough economic time.

Advanta instead chose to conduct business as usual. They jacked my interest rates up to the maximum (over 27%) raising my minimum amount due each month, and they started adding late fees for the unpaid amount. When I tried again to make a payment arrangement with them, they finally agreed. But then they took my payment and did not live up to their end of the deal. They left my interest rates high and continued to add extreme fees to the balance every month.

To make matters worse, they lowered my available credit to less than my current balance and started slamming me with over-the-limit fees. I never went over my credit limit. They put me over the limit by lowering my available credit line. I guess they're within their legal right to do so, because they tell me it was clearly written in one of their change of terms amendments. You know, one of those 10-page, multi-folded inserts, typed in a tiny # 4 font with about 5000 words of legalese that they slip into your bill every couple of months.

Somewhere in the middle of one of those inserts, it said they could change my rates at any time for any reason without notice. And by not paying my entire balance off in full and closing the account, it meant I agreed to the change in terms.

This bank is the prime example of predatory lending that has, in no small part, led to the financial meltdown in this country and in the world. I don't know if my situation makes me eligible to be a part of any class action lawsuit, but I will absolutely give my full support to anyone who has the legal means to bring this company down.

Advanta raised my interest rate to 34.99%, even though I have always paid my bill on time and have not gone over the limit. In May, they closed all Advanta accounts and notified customers after they had done so. When you try to call to talk to them, you are sent to operators in India, and you cannot get through to an American operator, even when you ask for one. I have a balance of $15,244 on my business card. Last month, the minimum payment was $560. This month, it is $600!

My store has used an Advanta card for many years. Periodically, over the years, they would raise my interest rate for no reason. I would call and they would lower it (not as low as it had been) and 2 years later, do it again. Last October 2008, they raised my interest to 37.99% again for no reason and my monthly payments jumped from $700 a month to $1300 a month with $300 going on the principal and $1000 on the interest. Needless to say, there was no way I could afford these payments so I stopped paying and have been getting phone calls ever since. If they had not done this, I would still be paying my bill! I have other bills that I am never late on and this whole mess with Advanta has ruined my credit and caused lots of stress in my life. The way I see it, Advanta has ruined themselves by treating their customers this way.

Recently, I received notice that the funding source for this program was being terminated and that credit card was being cancelled. I received a statement and noticed that the interest rate was raised to 32.99%. I called and spoke to Anthony (definitely an overseas connection) to request an explanation and a reduction and was told that there was not going to be any rate reduction even though the account was technically closed.

We paid the balance due on this account almost every month that we had this card. There were a few months that we carried a balance and because of some problems paying over the internet (Advanta website problems), there were payments posted late and we were charged late fees. They did credit one late fee. There was no offer to prorate the annual fee and refund the prorated amount for months the card is not available for use.

I have had an Advanta Bank small business credit card for some time. All payments were made on time and no checks ever bounced. Without warning, Advanta Bank raised my interest rate from 7.99% to 30.15%. They also raised the transaction fee from 3% ($5.00 minimum $50.00 maximum) to 3% with no limit, this to was without warning.

The customer service in India was rude and of no help. They said a letter was sent out with the new rates, although they couldn't prove that and said they were under no obligation to prove it. I have filed a complaint with the FDIC and the Utah Better Business Bureau. Advanta is based in Utah. I urge everyone that is having problems like this with Advanta Bank and their small business credit card to file complaints with the above mentioned agencies. Let us flood them with complaints. Remember, if we let Advanta Bank get away with this, other banks will try to do the same.

This resulted in a negative impact on my business. I have to check my business credit to see what Advanta posted. They closed all business credit cards, but they are making it look like it was done because people were a bad risk.

My business has been using our Advanta charge for over 2 years. $20,000 credit limit 7.9 APR. We rarely carry a balance. When we do, we pay it off in full the following month. In January 2009, our interest rate jumped to 12% and apparently, our billing cycle was 21 days. I called, livid to say the least, they were very nice and said they could change our billing cycle to 25 days after the current bill was paid and our interest rate would be reviewed in a month. It was, they lowered it to 7.9 (which we are happy with). On June 1st, I tried to use the card and it wouldn't work (I don't read emails or mail unless it's a bill). I called them and they informed me that they were no longer taking care of small businesses. It was our main charge, 5 of our other cards had been closed due to inactivity (because we were loyal Advanta customers).

It was a rush to get new cards and extended credit limits and lower interest rates on the cards we still did have. No one is willing to work with us on the 17+ APRs they outrageously charge. I would have appreciated a phone call and more notice. I also don't understand why they didn't review their 999,000 accounts and keep the ones that paid their bills. I haven't received my final bill yet, I know the balance is around $6,000 and I won't be surprised if they lowered my credit limit and raised my interest. If there is a class action suit, I would love to be involved.

Much like the endless pages of complaints list here within, we made the mistake of completing an application for the infamous "0%" interest credit card, which we used for a short-term payment on a piece of equipment purchased at $10,000.00. We missed a payment and the interest rate went to 34.9% at one point. From that point on, we were continued to make our monthly payments actually "caught-up" the account.

Recently, we found that we have been paying off huge interest charges that did not go down when we were caught-up, plus overage charges they impart and astronomical "other" fees. Therefore, to date, we have paid approx. $14,000 in two years on $10,000 in principle. Furthermore, they are demanding a final payment of an additional $9,330. This means we will have paid over double the amount of the principle on this account when settled.

I have dealt with the company before when I ran another small construction company and the same thing occurred, i.e. sent intermittent statements, would not return calls, balances constantly changed with each rep you spoke with, etc. They always have a handy excuse for all their faults.

Lastly, in December 2008, we missed another payment and the total principle amount went on my spotless credit rating. They sent a letter in May 2009, a week after I spoke to a rep at Advanta to see why they soiled my credit. This is the first notice of this action I received. My question at this point is what are the others doing about this shame of a "bank"? Do we need a class action suit filed on our behalf? I am tired of being taken advantage of by Advanta?

I spoke with an Advanta rep today and they will settle for 85% of what remains that we supposedly owe. When the bank is being shut-down, for at best poor practices, will we still need to pay? What is our government doing about this other than taxing the portion that Advanta is willing to let me keep in the 85% settlement? I called my congressman and he stated that legally, he cannot get involved. That sounds like even poor banks still have money in politician's pockets. Please, someone help us!

I have the same story as thousands of others. I have been an Advanta customer for over two years. I have never been late on payments, always paid double the minimum payment and accepted offer to transfer balances a year ago. Now, I am at default rate of 34.9%. My FICO score is over 750 and I have never been late with any creditor. When I called Advanta, they cited other account activity (no other creditor has increased my rates) and my appeal as a "faithful" customer who always paid as agreed, fell on deaf ears. Too bad, they are "burying their bridges" with good customers. Interest charges went from $60 to over $200. There was a very short notice of account closure, no notice of increase to default rate.

I have always been in good standing with my Advanta account and pay all my other accounts on time. Suddenly, my Advanta account went to 34.99% interest! I called and asked for a manager. They were unwilling to do anything except to say that they could raise the interest rate at any time. The minimum payment on this card is now $560 a month!

On May 30, they closed all business accounts and I did not receive notice until the middle of June. As a business owner who is trying to do the right thing, this kind of criminal behavior by a credit card company is ludicrous. The legislation recently passed, does nothing to protect the credit card consumers.

Unfortunately, when you are in business, sometimes you need credit, but after I get my debt paid off, I will never have more than one card with a small credit line. This is only going to keep small business in America from moving forward and serving the country.

They closed credit line with only 5 days notice, then returned auto drafts on my account. One was Brinks Security, another was Verizon and another was Hughes Net. This impacted my security, internet access and telephone! This also put a "closed by issuer" on my credit report and caused multiple new credit inquiries to obtain a replacement. All this has lowered all of our credit scores!

Advanta Small Business decided to cut our credit limit saying Experian gave them a report. I cannot believe that after two years of dealing with them, never missed a payment. I didn't know they were having problems until now. Recently, they just sent another letter talking about Experian should have explained something to us. I don't understand them at all. They also increased our interest rate. I have identity theft protection and I get credit updates and quarterly report from Discover card, so why am I not having problems with them? So far, I am waiting to see what scam they are planning and I keep making my monthly payments as always. As a business person, my credit is very important to me and to just have my credit limited all of a sudden has impacted a foolish strain on my business.

We just got a collections call yesterday informing us that our Advanta credit card is $3k in arrears. The problem is our nonprofit agency never had any Advanta credit card! When we told the collections firm this, they informed us the card was fraudulently opened by a former employee who listed our company name with her home address. Upon contacting Advanta's fraud fepartment to complain, we were informed that only the ex-employee can report any fraud on this account, and the supervisor likewise stated that Advanta will accept no further calls from us on this matter.

When we questioned how or why a bonafide small business credit card company would open a company account without even verifying the business address, the supervisor retorted that the company has no obligation to check out whether the business even exists because liability on all our accounts is based on social security numbers. And since the ex-employee used her own social security number, Advanta says they will not pursue our nonprofit for payment, although clearly they already tried. The fraud department at Advanta stated that they have no intention of referring this matter to law enforcement nor to the credit reporting agencies, saying it's our problem, not theirs.

Advanta cancelled the credit card for our business as their bank was bought out. This in itself was inconvenient but fine. But Advanta jacked up the interest rate from 7.9% to 17.9%, after closing all of the accounts, without any notice. This is causing payment hardships for my business and robbery. When I called and spoke to two people, they said there is nothing they could do. I think a class action lawsuit is warranted here.

I'm a private citizen and an Advanta Credit Card holder. They unlawfully raised my credit card's rate, which is now up to 35.18%. I never paid late and always paid more than the minimum. It's now in dispute with the company. My credit report scores have been adversely affected. Now, I'm laid off from job and I'm on unemployment. I need help on stopping this company from arbitrary and capricious actions! Please contact me.

I have automatically paid on Advanta card for several years. I got a call for a late payment (from India) though payment was received one week prior. It turns out my interest was increased to 34% last month making my regular over-payment inadequate. The difference triggered a $39 late fee. By giving them a grace period, credit card companies can do anything to us without notice until any new rule takes place. I will now have to delay spending elsewhere to pay the full balance on my Advanta card. There will be no extra spending at my office any time soon as I cannot trust the law to protect my interests.

Advanta cancelled my business account with virtually no notice after charging what probably is illegally high interest rate. I think the highest allowed in any state is 24%, but Advanta was charging me over 35% at one time.

I was looking at my three credit reports and on the last credit report I looked at, which was TransUnion, it said Advanta Credit Card Company. I started looking at this really hard because I had never had an Advanta credit card and it said on the credit I owed them $10000 and that I had it on January 1, 2008 and they closed the account on November 1, 2008. I have never even applied for this credit and I never got any type of statement or anything. I wish someone would help me get out of this mess without costing me a fortune.

The small business credit card I acquired started out with a 7.9% rate. All payments were paid on time. One month I didn't receive a statement. I received a call concerning the missed payment. I explained no statement was received and promptly paid over the phone. The next statement my rate was 27.99%. When I called, they said I was a greater credit risk due to the late payment. Approximately 3 months later, it jumped to 35.99%. When I called, they said it was due to the current economic climate.

On May 27, I received a notice that they were suspending further activity on their small business credit card accounts effective immediately and closing them entirely on May 30. They also lowered available credit limits to the current balance on the account plus $500 effective on May 22. The interest payment alone is now $525, so their manipulation of the interest rate and available credit limit has put my account over limit. So now they are charging me an "over limit" fee of $25. This is robbery. Don't banks have some type of ethical banking practices they have to follow? I may have to go out of business or file bankruptcy.