A few months ago I did a bal. trsf. to my Citizens Bank Credit Card with 0% for a year, with a bal. trsf. fee capped at $99. I paid the minimum every month as I used to in the past when I had taken advantage of such an offer. All good, right? Well, 3 months in, I get a 'minimum charge' of $1.50 slapped on my acct., so I called and eventually asked for the supervisor. They claimed that the bal. trsf. fee is a purchase and as such would incur a finance charge. I know for a fact that in the past this was never the case. I was told that they usually give the customer a couple months to pay that bal. trsf. fee back so that no interest charge would accrue. I was quite upset about such a scam and they credited me the $1.50. I asked what I'd have to pay to get rid of that interest charge in the future, which was basically the minimum charge plus the $99. I did this right away. But sure enough, this month I had the same ridiculous charge (which a lady in India credited me back right away). The most recent paper statement says that $3.62 (where did this come from?) are subject to the purchasing interest rate. A visit to the branch clarified the situation: starting last year at some point all (really?) credit card companies have changed their procedure so that they can charge a purchasing interest rate for the bal. trsf. fee. The teller sympathized with me out of her own experience and put a complaint about it on my account - she also told me that in her case she could never get rid of that tiny amount that caused the minimum charge:-(
What a scam! Now I probably have to call Mumbai every month to get that ridiculous charge reversed@&^#%$@^&%$#^%