Is your credit card rate on the rise?

Is your credit card rate on the rise?

If you keep getting notices that your credit rating is going up and you don't know why then this article is for you. If you are having a hard time understanding what is going on then you probably did not read your credit card contract very well. Credit card companies reserve the right to change your interest rate pretty much whenever they want to. They usually have some sort of reason or other for doing this although their reason may not make a whole lot of sense. They will use any reason that they can find to charge you more, that is what it really boils down to.

Look at your situation and ask yourself the following questions:

Has your credit card company merged with any kind of other company?
You may have to do a little research to find this out, although you should have gotten a notice. Oftentimes when there is a merger it will affect your contract and usually not for the better. You are supposed to get a letter explaining why your terms have changed, if you have not gotten one and you find out that a merger has taken place you should contact your credit card company immediately.

Have you been paying your payments on time?
Check your statement and see when the payments are actually due in order to see if you have been paying when you should have. If you do not pay on time each month they will raise the rates on you.

What about your other bills?
You probably have other bills a well besides your monthly credit card bills. If you get behind on these payments then the credit card company can raise your rates. That might sound strange since one thing has nothing to do with the other but it does happen. The creditor figures that since you are not paying your other bills on time, it is only a matter of time before you stop paying them as well. So they raise your interest rates.

These may sound like hinky practices but they are all perfectly legal.