There is an interesting article in the New York Times this morning about the recent moves to control the exorbitant fees that credit card companies charge their customers. While this is probably the right thing to do it does have some ramifications for someone like me. I’m what’s termed a Deadbeat. I use my credit card but I ALWAYS pay the balance off at the end of the month to avoid interest charges. I have never paid interest on a credit card in all the years I’ve owned them. Needless to say, I’m not a credit card company’s favorite type of customer. They’d prefer that I pay the minimum due on my balance each month and it would be just fine with them if I was late making a payment once in awhile so that they can hit me with crazy fees.
Well, now that their ability to tax their favorite customers is coming under significant scrutiny, it appears that people like me are in the credit card company’s sights. A couple of the changes I might expect are reduced grace periods for purchases, or no grace period at all. I can tell you that if they start charging me interest from the date of purchase, I’ll cease using the card and stick to a debit card. Another potential change is for the credit card companies and banks to start charging annual fees. That’s another thing that I have always refused to pay and if they institute that, I’ll most likely cancel the card and explore other options.
Anyway, it looks like changes are in the works. When you receive any new mailings from your bank or credit card companies, I’d highly recommend you get out the magnifying glass and look over any term changes.