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Interest rates charged to cardholders who miss payments, exceed credit limits, or otherwise default in some other manner, have increased from an average of 23.26% in April 2001 to an average of 25.88% for last month. Since many of these rates are variable, any future increases in the prime rate will drive these rates even higher, in some cases above 30%. Over the past three years the prime interest rate has dropped from 8.00% to 4.00%, thereby raising the spread of these punitive rates by more than six percentage rates, from 15.26% to 21.88%. During this same period, major issuers have widened their definitions of a "default" to include a "default" with any creditor, also referred to as "universal default." For example, miss a car payment and you could be considered in "default" of your unrelated credit card accounts... [read more at cardweb.com]
To learn how to reduce the fees associated with credit cards, read the SavingAdvice.com article Reducing Credit Card Fees
To learn how to reduce the fees associated with credit cards, read the SavingAdvice.com article Reducing Credit Card Fees