gypsie Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 I did think unthinkable- I took out a cash advance from my Wamu Visa for $900My interest rate just shot up to 24.4%! I want to kick myself.....No more cash advances for me- EVER! I have no idea as to how I'm going to get them to lower the interest rate back down to 11%.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Keep in mind, that there is normally a higher interest rate that applies only to cash advances. Normally, your interest rates for purchases will remain the same. At least that is the way I understand most of my cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovebug5 Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Keep in mind, that there is normally a higher interest rate that applies only to cash advances. Normally, your interest rates for purchases will remain the same. At least that is the way I understand most of my cards.Agreed. If you still have a copy of your Terms and Conditions, it should state the APR info in there. There's typically a separate APR for cash advances than there is for purchases, as Freak said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isislc Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 That is correct, all cards have 2 different interest rates for the most part. One will be for purchases, the other will be for advances. Now one more thing to consider as there is a change in interest rates there is also a change on how it is calculated. When you're charged interest for purchases you don't get charge till after 20-30 days. Now the interest for cash advances begins as soon as you receive your money, no 20-30 day deal there for accrued interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Good point isislc. And, your payments will most likely to the purchases with the lowest APR first, which will cost you more money in the long run. Try to pay down the balance as quick as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Time Posted December 8, 2007 Report Share Posted December 8, 2007 There are two schools of throught on snowballing your way out of debt. One is to start with the card with the lowest amount, another is to start with the one with the highest intertest rate.In this case, I'd pay off that cash advance first and understand that if there is already a balance, they will apply any $900 you send to the previous balance first so they can keep charging you 25% on the $900 cash as long as possible.You can try to send a letter explaining where you want the money to go, but the card agreement will probably trump any attempt to subvert their evil greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merkurfan Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Nother way out of it is to BT the whole card to a different one. the other card would have NO idea that part of it was a cash advance. And thus, the whole ballance would be at the lowest rate on the card you transfered it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsie Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 I'm going to pay the entire cc balance over the next 2 paychecks. And, hopefully, at ground zero that will restore my prior interest rate. Unfortunately, I did this incredibly stupid thing now of all times- before Christmas, and I had to tell my DH....yeah, he's not so happy.... lesson learned... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isislc Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 I'm going to pay the entire cc balance over the next 2 paychecks. And, hopefully, at ground zero that will restore my prior interest rate. Unfortunately, I did this incredibly stupid thing now of all times- before Christmas, and I had to tell my DH....yeah, he's not so happy.... lesson learned...Don't worry about it, your interest rate will go right back. You only get the hike for cash withdrawals hun. I've had to do it a few times and once I paid the card off it went right back to the correct IR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merkurfan Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Go cuddle with the DH for a while.. Always works with me I can't stay mad long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsie Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 thanks ya'll, I feel better already Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 There are two schools of throught on snowballing your way out of debt. One is to start with the card with the lowest amount, another is to start with the one with the highest interest rate.A third is to start with the card with the highest min payment to balance ratio as that frees up more cash flow sooner.In the long run, highest interest first will always save you $. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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