Source: MSNBC
Many banks and card issuers include language in the agreement you sign that they can charge fees of $30 or more — or raise your interest rate to as much as 31 percent — if you’re so much as a day late making a minimum payment on your due date.

Some banks and card issuers will even boost your rate if you’re late on another bill — an industry practice known as “universal default.” The theory is that is you miss paying another bill (even if you’re disputing that charge), you’ve somehow become a riskier borrower. In some cases, these agreements say they have the right to raise your rate “at any time for any reason.” Your only remedy is to pay off the card in full and cancel your account.

Fees have become a huge money-maker for credit card issuers. Late fees now average $34 per month; “over-limit fees” — that’s when you spend more than your credit limit — average $31 per month, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. After hearing loud complaints from consumers about these practices, Congress has begun holding hearings on the credit card industry and is looking into curbing the most abusive practices.

“The disclosures on calculating interest rates are so complicated that virtually no average consumer can understand them,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said at a recent hearing. “In some cases, consumers become overwhelmed with penalty interest charges that can double or triple the size of their debt, and make it nearly impossible for them to pay their bills.” Levin cited a case in which a card holder overspent his limit three times for a total of $200 and was charged over-limit fees 47 times amounting to $1,500.