Complain about a product or service

Direct Merchants Bank

Rate Reward

Direct Merchants Bank •Application Fees •Change of Address Policy •Collection Policies •Customer Service •"Credit Protection" •Interest Rates •Late Fees • Late Posting of Payments •Over-Limit Fees •Preying on the Disabled • "Rate Reward" •Secured Credit Cards •Security Policies •Disappearing Funds •Telemarketers •An Insider's View

Henry of Trumbull CT (5/17/04):
I have a Direct Merchants Rate Reward card and the reason it is called Rate Rewards is because if a cardholder makes timely payments and keeps the account in good standing, the interest rate could be lowered every 6 months. My rate had lowered to 5.24% and because of that rate I used the card frequently and I had a $14,000 credit limit with a $10,000 balance.

In April of 2004, Direct Merchants decided to change the interest rate for all of the Rate Reward cards so that there would be a floor interest rate that all cards would be charged. That rate was 9.99% and every Rate Reward card from April 2004 forward would have a minimum of 9.99%. So my card would now has about double the interest rate.

I contacted Direct Merchants about this and they informed me that it was an across the board rate increase for all card holders of the Rate Reward card. I could not reject terms of this change and even if I didn't use the card again, my rate would be changed. I know for a fact that Citibank and Chase Credit Cards allow for a cardholder to reject the terms of a rate change and then the card would be canceled and the card would be paid off at the old rate.

I would like to know if you can help me find the other card members of this card so that we can file suit against Direct Merchants Bank because they did not allow us the opportunity to cancel the card when the interest rate was changed.

It's not likely the suit will be successful. The bank's service agreement includes an arbitration clause under which cardholders agree not to file suit, sorry to say.

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