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CNN Live At Daybreak
Credit Card Fees: MBNA & Chase Hike Late Fees, Pay-By-Phone Fees
Aired February 03, 2004 - 06:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little "Business Buzz" right now. Here's another good reason to pay your bills on time, credit card companies are hiking late fees.
Carrie Lee is live from the Nasdaq market site.
It's just vile. It's vile -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Some of these fees, Carol, seem very unbelievable. Let me start with MBNA, which is the second largest credit card issuer, has raised its top late payment fee to $49 for certain customers. This, according to CardWeb.com. That's going to be charged to some of MBNA's Gold Option program. Kind of an ironic name, isn't it?
COSTELLO: Forty-nine dollars?
LEE: Forty-nine bucks. And also Chase, starting on March 1, Chase credit card customers who want to pay their bill by phone are going to pay $14.95. That's up almost $3 from the prior fee. Also, if you want to transfer from one Chase card to another, transfer your balance, that's going to cost $70 from a previous $50 cap.
COSTELLO: You know...
LEE: So you get the idea here,...
COSTELLO: You know there should be...
LEE: ... always a good idea...
COSTELLO: There should be a revolt. People should just cancel their credit cards and be done with it.
LEE: Well,...
COSTELLO: Because it sounds like the credit card companies don't want you to pay off your bill, they just want to keep gouging you.
LEE: Of course, because that's how they make their money. And the thing is, when you are paying a bill by phone, something like that, you are doing it because you have a deadline. You don't have the time to send your check in and have it go through the snail mail system. They know that. They have you where they want you. So 15 bucks to make a phone call, that's how banks make their money. And when interest rates start to go up, you can bet that rates overall are going to go up as well.
COSTELLO: I'm just so upset about that, as I am sure a lot of Americans are. So you would think that someone could do something about that, like maybe Congress or, but maybe not.
LEE: It's very -- it's very frustrating. It's a business. And unfortunately the balance that people carry on credit cards has been increasing a lot, too. The average balance is over $9,000. Let me just see here, $9,340 in 2003. That's up from $8,940 in 2002. A lot of people simply have no option. A tough situation for a lot of people, certainly -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq market site.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Phone Fees>
Aired February 3, 2004 - 06:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little "Business Buzz" right now. Here's another good reason to pay your bills on time, credit card companies are hiking late fees.
Carrie Lee is live from the Nasdaq market site.
It's just vile. It's vile -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Some of these fees, Carol, seem very unbelievable. Let me start with MBNA, which is the second largest credit card issuer, has raised its top late payment fee to $49 for certain customers. This, according to CardWeb.com. That's going to be charged to some of MBNA's Gold Option program. Kind of an ironic name, isn't it?
COSTELLO: Forty-nine dollars?
LEE: Forty-nine bucks. And also Chase, starting on March 1, Chase credit card customers who want to pay their bill by phone are going to pay $14.95. That's up almost $3 from the prior fee. Also, if you want to transfer from one Chase card to another, transfer your balance, that's going to cost $70 from a previous $50 cap.
COSTELLO: You know...
LEE: So you get the idea here,...
COSTELLO: You know there should be...
LEE: ... always a good idea...
COSTELLO: There should be a revolt. People should just cancel their credit cards and be done with it.
LEE: Well,...
COSTELLO: Because it sounds like the credit card companies don't want you to pay off your bill, they just want to keep gouging you.
LEE: Of course, because that's how they make their money. And the thing is, when you are paying a bill by phone, something like that, you are doing it because you have a deadline. You don't have the time to send your check in and have it go through the snail mail system. They know that. They have you where they want you. So 15 bucks to make a phone call, that's how banks make their money. And when interest rates start to go up, you can bet that rates overall are going to go up as well.
COSTELLO: I'm just so upset about that, as I am sure a lot of Americans are. So you would think that someone could do something about that, like maybe Congress or, but maybe not.
LEE: It's very -- it's very frustrating. It's a business. And unfortunately the balance that people carry on credit cards has been increasing a lot, too. The average balance is over $9,000. Let me just see here, $9,340 in 2003. That's up from $8,940 in 2002. A lot of people simply have no option. A tough situation for a lot of people, certainly -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq market site.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Phone Fees>
