Saturday, March 10, 2007

Credit card company ease rules and penalties

Credit card companies are giving up some the the highly criticised ideas such as raising interest rates of customers who pay their bills late, even though it might be to another bank credit card, simplifying procedures on credit card disclosures and reducing over-the-limit fees.
"The Senate hearings are having an impact," says Kirsten Keefe of Americans for Fairness in Lending, an organization of consumer advocates. "Consumers are fed up."

In recent years, banks have become more aggressive in imposing fees and raising interest rates, says Robert McKinley of CardWeb.com. Many banks now hit you with fees of up to $39 per incident if you pay your bill one minute late or spend $1 past your credit limit. On top of this, some banks impose record-high penalty interest rates of up to 32% on those who pay late or spend past their limit just once.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate credit card companies. I paid my payment a day late with Washington Mutual and they charged me $39.00 late fee which was more then my min. payment!

Crazy.

Shalini said...

That's the way they play the game! Hopefully consumers will have more control over their credit with some of these changes.