Credit Card Complaints on the Rise

By Kathy Kristof, Houston Chronicle

Juliet McIver says the interest rate on her bank card nearly tripled because of someone else’s mistake.

Another creditor ? a retailer ? lost one of her payments and temporarily dinged her credit report. Her downgraded credit rating pushed the Los Angeles resident into the high-interest-rate category on her bank card.

When the retailer later found the payment and admitted the error, her bank card issuer refused to pull her interest rate back down from the stratosphere.

“It was incredibly unfair,” said McIver. “I’m one of the good guys. I always pay my bills. I never make a late payment. But I’m suddenly facing a 24 percent interest rate because some other creditor made a mistake.”

Stories like McIver’s have become increasingly common, consumer advocates say. Some consumers are seeing their credit card rates jumping precipitously even when they had no late payments with the issuer of the card.

The reason, experts say, is that bank card issuers regularly review their cardholders’ credit reports to see whether they have become riskier bets.

For this complete story, please visit Credit Card Complaints on the Rise.