I think tactics like increasing the minimum payment from 2% to 5% are going to cause a lot of pain for consumers who are just barely making ends meet. Where are they going to get the extra money? More foreclosures coming! I am pissed, in part, because they solicited these balance transfers at a certain rate and with defined terms - I didn't solicit them. I can tell that they are about to close the cards and demand immediate payment of the entire balance. I paid a balance transfer fee to them in order to borrow at defined terms and they are changing their rules. And I am one of their best customers with a very high credit score. Once the cards are closed my credit line will also decrease and my FICO score will plummet. Yes, in a perfect world we would all pay our credit card balances off each month. But with an effective unemployment rate of nearly 25% (if you count the people who are underemployed or fallen off the unemployment rolls), credit card company tactics like these will just prolong the pain for many. In the last decent job I had, the company closed. I have been working part-time at low wages and now have a full time job on top of that. But I'm not sure I can keep afloat.
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