Summer 2005
If you pay late or carry balances on your credit cards, prepare yourself for some unpleasant surprises. Credit card issuers are revising penalty interest rates and fees for late payments, over-the-limit situations and cash advances.
Bank of America, for example, now charges interest of 29.49 percent if you miss two payments or exceed your credit line twice in a 12-month period. The bank also raised its cash advance interest rate to 21.49 percent. Chase boosted its late fee to $15 for balances below $250 and $39 for balances of $250 or more. Any late payment on a Discover card will terminate all promotional APRs. Two late payments or surpassing your credit line twice in a 12-month period hikes the APR to 21.49 percent. Discover's late fee for balances of $1,000 or more jumps to $39.
Watch your mail and actually read the small print - the stuff you usually throw away - that comes with your credit card statement.