Credit Card companies / banks get a bail out & the consumer gets the shaft

Actually it doesn't bother me personally since I always pay in full and have never paid a penny in interest to a credit card company. So what the interest rate is doesn't affect me. I use a credit card for almost everything and get cash back, too. It also allows me to put off paying for something for as long as 20 days sometimes depending on when I buy something relative to when the credit card bill comes.

Well the right answer is don't use your credit cards except in emergencies. The government is going to stop this but it won't be quickly enough.

I thought there had been some new laws passed a few years ago regarding credit card companies' practices but I'm not sure. I know it used to be and maybe still is that if your due date is a certain day and the payment isn't received before 8 am that day some of the banks would then charge a late charge and in some cases also increase the interest rate. In some cases that late charge coupled with the higher interest rate could result in the customer being over their limit, which would result in another fee. I think I heard something about some in Congress want to pass a law that says if they raise the interest rate the new rate can only apply to new purchases and charges, not the balance the customer already carried. I know the people are often to blame themselves but these credit card companies are so predatory. They would send out thousands of "pre-approval" letters with the promise of a super low rate but they don't tell you it doesn't include certain charges and that it will go up at a moment's notice. People have to learn to read the fine print! Annie