Kevin Drum reports:
.The general subject here is "universal default." This means that if, say, you're late paying your electric bill, Visa can double the interest rate on your credit card even though your late payment had nothing to do with Visa. Anything that lowers your credit score, whether you know about it or not, can potentially change the interest rate on your credit card balance.
But it's even worse than that! Not only can they double your interest rate if they feel like it, but the new interest rate applies retroactively to your existing balance, not just to any new debt. Your minimum payment of $500 can become a minimum payment of $1,000 overnight and there's nothing you can do about it.
Fun! Read the comments for more credit card horror stories!
This is a broken system. It needs replacing.
I gave up my last credit card two years ago because of the interest rate jump they pulled on me. They’ll never collect a dime of the debt because of their BS.
They had a good customer once upon a time, but clearly, they take us for granted. Pissed me off so bad, I wanted to find a nation economically sanctioned (like Cuba) to buy some stuff, just to be spiteful.