Never again!
Written: Aug 23 '01
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Pros: Decent online banking
Cons: WAY too expensive, high interest rates, extremely high ATM fees, lousy customer service
The Bottom Line: As with any new credit card offer, read the fine print! This card is chock full of it.
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| collinsd56's Full Review: Household Bank Credit Card |
I got this card last year to do some Christmas shopping...boy was that a mistake. The interest rates are not competitive at all, my current rate is a little over 18% for purchases and 21% for cash advances. Then they automatically enrolled my wife and sent her a card even though we didn't request it WITH AN ANNUAL FEE of $89!
The most shocking thing to me is the ATM withdraw fee. Most credit cards are $2.00 or $2.50. Not Household. You can imagine my surprise when I was charged $5.00 for a withdraw from an ATM. Add that on top of the $2.00 that the ATM bank owner charges for using a card from another bank and your ATM withdraw fee is $7.00. I was plenty aggravated about that especially when I only withdrew $10. That $10 withdraw ending up costing me almost the same amount as the amount I withdrew! Then don't forget about the 21% interest rate for cash withdraws.
Let's also talk about late fees. Most credit card companies have high late fees, Household is extremely high. If you are even one day late they will assess you a $29 late fee. Not too surprising though coming from Household.
They will also share your information with "affiliates". Here is an excerpt from their webpage at http://www.hbcard.com "You agree that we may share information we receive about your creditworthiness ("Credit Information") and/or information relating to our transactions and experiences with you ("Experience Information") with persons related to us by common ownership or affiliated with us by corporate control ("Affiliates"). Our Affiliates may use this information to determine if you qualify for additional offers of credit." In order for you to tell them not to do this you must write and tell them that you want to be excluded. I am not sure but this may be common practice...I just don't want to be a part of it.
The long and short of this review is, I wrote to Household to cancel my account. That letter was sent last month and still no action has taken place.
The one nice thing I can say about Household is that their online banking is better than most. You can pay your bills, download statements, and all of it is pretty intuitive.
This may be a good credit card for someone trying to rebuild their credit but it is DEFINITELY not worth it to anyone who can qualify for a card from someone else. Their fees are probably high because of the risk they take on people with less than good credit but again, I don't need to be a part of it. READ THE FINE PRINT!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
collinsd56
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Member: David Collins
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
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