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Dirty Credit Card Company Tricks
Credit card companies are coming
up with some rather devious ways to get more and more money from consumers.
Late fees and over the limit fees are
much higher now than they were a few years ago. The average for each of these
fees is now around $35.00.
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It used to be that if your
payment arrived by the due date, credit card companies wouldn't charge a
fee. More often now, it is the time and not the date your payment
arrives that matters. Even if your payment arrives on the due date, you
might be charged a late fee because it arrived after the credit card
company's cutoff time.
| Another way
credit card companies increase the chances of consumers being late
on their payments is by changing the day of the month the bill is
due. It is easier for people to keep track of payments that are due
on the same day of the month. If a bill is due on the 27th one month
and due on the 24th the next month, it can easily cause confusion,
especially for consumers with several credit cards. By changing the
day of the month payments are due, credit card companies can rake in
lots of extra dough from late fees. |
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Credit card companies will use
any excuse to increase their customers' interest rates. They'll run your
credit report and if it's less than perfect, they'll increase your
interest rate. If your cards are maxed out, they might increase your
interest rate for that, too.
Then, there's the Balance Transfer Scam. Consumers are tempted to transfer their balances
from one credit card to another with the hopes of getting a better interest
rate. Many people who apply for "pre-approved" balance transfer deals get
burned because the new company claims that they don't qualify for the preferred
rate. Also, the company charges a fee to transfer the balance. If you transfer from a
15% interest card to a 13% card, it can do more harm than good if you have
to pay a 3% Balance Transfer Fee.
Some credit cards companies are
running a collection agency style scam. Consumers who have defaulted on a
credit card bill could receive an offer from another company for an
appealing credit limit. What consumers usually don't realize is that their
old balance gets added to their new card. This is one of the many reasons
it is important to carefully read the fine print of everything you receive
from credit card companies.
Shrinking Grace Periods are another
way credit card companies rip off their customers. This increases the chance
that consumers will not pay their balances on time and will have to pay the
interest.
Annual Fees. What's that about? It's just another way for
credit card companies to steal more money from consumers. Cash Advance Fees are a big
ripoff, too-- not to mention the higher interest rates that they charge for
purchases.
0% interest for 12 months? Better read the fine print. If
you can't pay off the entire balance in 12 months, the interest from that 12
months will be added to your balance! This type of scam is called "deferred
interest" and you can read more about it here.
Did you know that merchants who accept
credit cards are getting ripped off, too? Credit card processing companies
charge them a monthly fee, a billing statement fee, and a customer service fee.
PLUS, they take up to 4 percent of the amount the customer pays to the merchant.
Just think, if you were to start a business and accept credit card payments, you
would be ripped off both as a consumer and as a business owner.
Update: If you
are a merchant, you can accept credit cards through one company for 1.9% to 2.9%
per transaction, plus 30 cents. There are no software charges, no
setup fees, no monthly fees, and no billing
statement fees. Get More
Info! |
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