Yes, Virginia (and every other state, small business or individual) not only do the banks and credit card companies screw you over for being late making a payment with obscenely high “late fees” but now, even if you always pay your credit card bills on time and in full, they will hit you with a fee anyway.
The banks are starting to charge fees to reliable customers in response to a slew of new credit card industry regulations that will limit when banks can hike interest rates. Cardholders who get a new annual fee notice in the mail will be in a no-win situation.
“They can either pay that fee or they can close the account, and if they have had the account for a while and they close it, they are potentially going to hurt their credit card score,” said [Ben] Woolsey [Director of Consumer Research at CreditCards.com].
Can someone in Congress please pass legislation to close this usury loophole? Mr. Alan Grayson? Mr. Kucinich? Ms. Pelosi? Senator Reid? I’m looking at you. Otherwise, I expect this type of extortion will just continue until the day that my fees for having credit cards exceed the amount of charges I rack up on them. Then again, maybe they really do want us to go back to an all cash society.