Sushi Money

I don’t know who said it, but this seems more and more appropriate…

“The older I get, the smarter I used to be.”

I used to think I was halfway intelligent, and could understand most legalese I came across. But credit card agreements have always been a little confusing, and when I get halfway down the page I feel like I need a translator, or a brain massage! I just want to know my due date, grace period, billing and how the interest rates and penalties may be charged on the account. But it’s never that simple. One of my major credit cards recently sent “Important Changes” to my credit card agreement. This is a card I usually pay off each month, but sometimes go a few months with payments larger than the minimum due. It all looked pretty standard until I tried to make sense of the minimum amount due, and “adjusted” minimum amount due.

Honestly, I don’t really expect anyone to read this mumbo jumbo, but if you can make sense out of it (especially the adjusted minimum amount due) and know why they may have changed the terms I would be very interested! A good bet that the new terms bring in more dollars for the company, but there’s just too many “or” words in there.  This is really consumer friendly isn’t it?

Minimum Amount Due
Each billing statement will reflect a Minimum Amount Due. Payment is due by the time and date shown and in the manner prescribed on the statement. The Minimum Amount Due will not exceed the New Balance. You may pay more than the Minimum Amount Due, up to the entire outstanding balance, at any time. To calculate the Minimum Amount Due, we add together the following amounts, round the result to the nearest whole dollar, and then add any amount past due:
(1) the greatest of:
(a) 2% of the New Balance (excluding from the New Balance any over-limit amount and any late fees or over-limit fees);
(b) the lesser of:
(i) current billed Finance Charges plus 1% of the New Balance (excluding from the New Balance any over-limit amount, any late fees or over-limit fees and finance charges), or
(ii) 4% of the New Balance; or
(c) $15;
(2) any over-limit fees added during the billing period;
(3) any late fees added during the billing period; and
(4) 1/24th of any over-limit amount (the part of your New Balance in excess of your credit line).

Adjusted Minimum Amount Due
Summary: If you consistently pay more than the Minimum Amount Due outlined above, we may calculate your minimum payment without any late fees, over-limit amount or the additional 1% of the balance referenced in (1)(b)(i). If we do this, and finance charges are more than 2% of the balance, we may add $15 to your minimum payment. For information about how this works, read the detailed description below.
Detailed Description: We may adjust the outlined calculation above by removing the late fees in (3), the over-limit amount in (4) and “plus 1% of the New Balance” in (1)(b)(i). In the adjusted calculation, we will exclude only the over-limit fees from the New Balance in (1)(a). After the adjustment, if (1) is equal to the current billed Finance Charges, we will increase your Minimum Amount Due by $15 We will apply the adjusted calculation to your Account if:
the sum of your payments (credited to your Account in the six consecutive billing periods ending with the Closing Date of the current billing period) is greater than the sum of the Minimum Amounts Due (for the six consecutive billing periods ending with the Closing Date of the previous billing period, not using the adjusted calculation and including the amount past due in only the first of those six periods);
- the sum of the Minimum Amounts Due is equal to the sum of your payments and it is less than or equal to $90;
- the sum of the Minimum Amounts Due is zero and we used the adjusted calculation in the last billing period when your Minimum
- Amount Due was not zero; or
- it is the first billing period ending on or after November 16, 2007, and your Account was opened before that date.
If we adjust your Minimum Amount Due, we will do so for at least six billing periods, and if we stop adjusting your Minimum Amount Due, we will not adjust it again for at least six billing periods, regardless of your payment history.