Have you ever opened up your credit card statement an felt completely baffled as to where in the world all of the random fees and differing interest rates were coming from? Ever felt like despite making payments on time, that balance just NEVER seemed to budge?
Well, you really weren’t going crazy…for years credit card companies have had tactics that have been very difficult, too difficult, for consumers to understand. Due to this lack of understanding, it was far too easy for consumers to make unwise moves with their cards which was costing them money…a lot of money. Credit card companies didn’t mind this however…because they were the ones benefiting from our lack of understanding of the ins and outs of our credit cards.
Then, a little over a year ago, finally, people on the consumers side of the line made a move. Laws was created to help limit some of these charges and fees, and also to help make our credit card statements easier to understand; the Credit Card Reform Act of 2009. You can read more details about this Act in some of our previous blogs; CARD Act Reform: Interest Rates, CARD Act Reform: Billing Practices, CARD Act Reform: Fees.
So,for a while, we thought we just might be safe from all of those outrageous fees and charges, however, a recent news article released from Wall Street Journal Business is proving that credit card companies aren’t giving up on giving their card holders extra fees and charges, they’re just getting sneakier about how they give them to us!
The article points out some of the major credit card companies such as First Premiere Bank, Citi, and J.P. Morgan’s Chase doing anything from adding expensive “Processing Fees” before cards are even used, to greatly raising the minimum payment amounts to customers under low promotional rates unless they agree to giving up their good rates.
Are your credit cards causing you more headache and stress than they are worth? Check City offers a great solution to not only helping you get out of the credit card companies’ grip, but to better help you to control your finances with our Netspend Prepaid debit card. You can have the convenience of plastic without the ridiculous fees, charges, and debt! Just load the money on and once it is out, you need to reload to use it again. Visit our website for more information of this, or for other short-term financial solutions, such as Payday Loans to help keep you from having to use a credit card.
