Major Credit Card Companies

The amount of credit card debt per household has exploded in the past decade. The burden of this debt is increased by the harsh and expensive tactics of the credit card industry.

Business Credit Cards are a huge source of revenue for the major credit card companies with all the travel and entertaining that a business person does each month.

Today major credit card companies are using credit scores and other financial data to develop ever more sophisticated pricing and credit strategies. Instead of extending a generic credit line or charging a uniform rate, they set rates and limits based on computer-driven assessments of each consumer's risk of default. Over the last decade, all the major credit card companies have increasingly engaged in business practices that are best described as capricious, abusive and deceptive—and most importantly, fantastically profitable. The new gotcha tactics include tripling your rate for a late payment after issuing a $39 fee.

Unless you pay off your balance for two months in a row, the two-cycle method will include the prior cycle's average balance in calculating your finance costs even though you paid off that cycle's balance in full. You don't face that expense with a single-cycle card. If you are going for a secured bad credit credit card then this fees can be waived, otherwise it has to be paid. The catch here is that credit card companies demand upfront payment of processing fee. Direct any extra cash you can generate toward the highest-rate card until it's paid off. Then take the amount you were paying toward that card, and apply it to the next one on the list, working your way down.

The major credit card companies charge interest for the amount of time that the money is outstanding, although many credit cards offer a 25-day grace period during which no interest is charged. It is an aggressive approach to credit card debt relief, and some consumers are able to reduce the amount they owe by up to 50 percent and be debt free in as little as 12 to 36 months.

Teenage Market

Three major credit card companies have tried to penetrate the teenage market with products meant to start young consumers' spending online. MasterCard International is reportedly testing a teenage-oriented card, although Mastercard will not talk about such a project. In 2005, this credit card security program was expanded and embraced by all major credit card companies, including MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, as well as Visa. .

Explain the risks of fraud, and point out that the rules of the three major credit card companies prohibit charging a credit card to cover a bounced check. You might also point out that, if there is a problem, merchants usually have all the information they need to locate the customer written right on the check: name, address, phone number and driver's license number.

 You must always try first to resolve the problem before withholding payment. Can you imagine the cash flow problem that would create for that credit card company if a large percentage of victims all paid slow that month? I guess they'd count on the extra interest charges, but do you think all the rest of the money-changing community wouldn't exploit that blood in the water? It doesn’t matter that you’ve paid on time, never gone over the credit line and have no negative credit history. They will double your interest rate on existing balances to the cash loan amount (19.99) if you carry a high balance.