Soaring Interest Compounds Credit Card Pain for Millions

November 20, 2004 04:54 PM

Soaring Interest Compounds Credit Card Pain for Millions

Excerpt: In the last few years, lenders have more frequently raised customers' rates because of slip-ups elsewhere, like late payment of a phone or utility bill, or simply because they felt a customer had taken on too much debt. The practice, called universal default, started after a rash of bankruptcy filings in the mid-to-late 1990's and has increasingly become standard in the industry.

When Ed Schwebel was whittling down his mound of credit card debt at an interest rate of 9.2 percent, the MBNA Corporation had a happy and profitable customer. But this summer, when MBNA suddenly doubled the rate on his account, Mr. Schwebel joined the growing ranks of irate cardholders stunned by lenders' harsh tactics.

Mr. Schwebel, 58, a semiretired software engineer in Gilbert, Ariz., was not pleased that his minimum monthly payment jumped from $502 in June to $895 in July. But what really made him angry, he said, was the sense that he was being punished despite having held up his end of the bargain with MBNA.

"I paid the bills the minute the envelope hit the desk," said Mr. Schwebel, who had accumulated $69,000 in debt over five years before the rate increase. "All of a sudden in July, they swapped it to 18 percent. No warning. No reason. It was like I was blindsided."

Mr. Schwebel had stumbled into the new era of consumer credit, in which thousands of Americans are paying millions of dollars each month in fees that they did not expect and that strike them as unreasonable. Invoking clauses tucked into the fine print of their contract agreements, lenders are doubling or tripling interest rates with little warning or explanation.

This year, credit card companies are changing the terms of their accounts at a historically high rate, said Michael Heller, an industry consultant.

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Read all 31 posts in the same category of Credit/Credit Card:

Citigroup Plans Platinum-Card Rival - Feb 10, 2005
Watch Spending Habits To Keep Debt From Going Bad - Feb 07, 2005
The Downside of Cash Advance Checks - Feb 07, 2005
Cash Is Favored Over Trip In Card Loyalty Plans - Feb 04, 2005
Younger Americans Going Deeper Into Debt - Jan 23, 2005
Capital One Sued Over 'Deceptive' Ads - Jan 01, 2005
Frequent-Flier Cards Delay Fee Collection - Dec 27, 2004
It Pays To Surf For Auto Loans Online - Dec 27, 2004
Perishable Credit Card Numbers Take The Fear Out Of Web Shopping - Dec 27, 2004
American Express, Citi Ink Deal - Dec 26, 2004
Citigroup Says It Will Issue American Express Cards - Dec 17, 2004
MBNA Pitches Rival Visa Card - Dec 14, 2004
Credit Card Loyalty Put to the Switch Test - Dec 09, 2004
Credit Cards Offer Safety In Buying Online - Dec 06, 2004
How to Deal With Your Debts - Dec 04, 2004
FACTA & Your Credit - Dec 03, 2004
Warning On Internet Loans - Dec 02, 2004
High Court Sets Truth In Lending Limit - Dec 02, 2004
Free Credit Reports May Reveal Surprises - Dec 01, 2004
Free Credit Reports Coming, With Pitches - Nov 30, 2004
Teens Need To Embrace Identity Protection - Nov 30, 2004
What to Do About Your Credit - Nov 29, 2004
A Generation Weighed Down By Debt - Nov 28, 2004
7 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score - Nov 25, 2004
Free Credit Report Details Announced - Nov 25, 2004
One Late Payment Can Hit Finances Hard - Nov 25, 2004
Free Credit Reports Are On The Way - Nov 23, 2004
Card Debt - Nov 22, 2004
Gas Cutter - Nov 02, 2004
Payment Rates - Nov 02, 2004

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