I heard about this on the news this week, and the Jetplanes experienced last week.

Credit card companies are sending notices to their customers that due to the nature of the economy they are raising rates. We received a notice from BoA about our card. Actually, it was Mr. Jetplane's card that he got right after college and secured a lifetime 4.9% interest, yes LIFETIME. Well, obviously BoA and the Jetplanes have a different opinion on what LIFETIME is.

We received a notice in the mail that they would be increasing our rate to over 11%, yes more than doubling it.

Mr. Jetplane called and reamed the person out, but that didn't matter they didn't care we had a lifetime rate, and Mr. Jetplane said we'd drop our card with them. But then, he pulled the card that all military should be aware of The Soldiers and Sailors Act. This act allows you to do several things... 1st break a lease and another one of interest is that your interest rates can be capped at 6%.

You have to discuss that with the credit card company and you'll have to provide a copy of your orders. As a result, our card was on hold for a few days, but now we're locked in at a little over 5% interest on the card.

I wanted to put this information out there for those of you that might not know about this act. And with people receiving these notices, you need to act NOW and get this situation handled immediately. The rates will take place in the next few months, and by then it could be too late.

So I'm watching today's Oprah, its about the recession and people that are in debt. Right now, she's talking to people that are $90k in debt and have 29 freaking credit cards.

Ok America, what the hell is wrong with this picture? I am 28 years old, I've done pretty well for myself over the past 6 years since I graduated college. But here's the kicker.... I have never been able to get a credit card. People that are in debt, get credit cards. People like me, that never had a credit card, no student loans, no car loans, no debt.... guess what... no credit for you. You're undesirable... You have insufficient credit history. People, I've been turned down for a Victoria Secret card.

Brent, my financial planner that he is, has been helping me try to build credit. My mom co-signed for my car loan, I even took out a small loan and paid it back over a 2 period of time just purely to generate some credit. Its been tough. I've had to buy furniture out right, we're talking a couple thousand bucks. I had to pay double deposits for things. Its totally sucked people. Luckily, my 1st job out of college I had a company car so all my bills were paid out of my 1st paycheck of the month. My 2nd job, I got large quarterly bonuses that I could save for those large purchases. And now, I get a monthly commission.

I will say over the past couple years I've slowly built some credit. I got a Banana Republic card and I was thrilled when I was able to get a Sears card to buy my elliptical machine with. But that's it. (I recently closed the Sears card.)

But the best thing about getting married was truly getting credit. My husband Brent has fabulous credit, and he actually put me on one of his credit cards for wedding purchases. And I'm now paying it off.


So here's my main question, and a major discussion that Brent and I had over dinner this past weekend.... how did it get THIS bad. What were people thinking.... especially people that bought houses they could never afford, getting 20 credit cards, buying new cars.... I'm just so confused....

Now they are saying that getting loans for the next couple of years is going to be extremely tough. Brent and I are planning on buying a house when we move to NC. This all makes me nervous, luckily by that time we should have saved a healthy down payment but we will also have a VA loan if we need it.