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Nearly 20 old age ago I worked for a small consumer advocacy organisation in Washington, DC. Each hebdomad we received pokes full of mail from consumers across the country requesting our listing of credit cards with low interest rates and no annual fees. If you wanted a low interest rate on a credit card back then, you often had to apply to a bank in Land Of Opportunity where interest rates were capped by state law.

Those were the good old days.

Now, interest rates range from zero percent to a high 39 percent. It's tougher to happen (and keep) a good credit card than ever before. That's because there are many new traps that tin hang-up unsuspicious consumers.

At the top of the listing is the "universal default clause" which allows issuers to supervise you credit report and raise your rate if you are late on any measure that appears on your credit report. One major issuer, for example, will tramp a 0 percent rate to 24.99 percent if you steal up!

In fact, true "fixed rates" are rare. Many consumers don't recognize that a "fixed" credit card rate isn't the same as, say, a fixed-rate mortgage. In most states, card issuers can raise the interest rate on a fixed-rate credit card with just 15 days' written notice. The new rate can typically apply to existent balances as well as new purchases.

Fees are also on the rise. Take late fees, for example, twenty old age ago a late fee on a credit card was still fairly unusual, and typically wasn't charged unless you were 15 years late with a payment. Now you often must get your payment to the issuer by a certain hr in the morning time or you'll be charged a late fee of as much as $39. Go over the bounds and you'll not only pay more than interest, but a steep over bounds fee as well.

Foreign travelers are often charged a "currency transition charge" of 1 - 2 percent of the amount of their purchase. As the consequence of a social class action lawsuit, Visa and MasterCard were ordered to supply refunds of those fees in certain circumstances. The problem wasn't that the fees were illegal, but it was determined they weren't properly disclosed. The lawsuit is being appealed.

Here are some determinations from the non-profit-making Consumer Action's annual study of credit cards (www.consumer-action.org):

-- The huge bulk of surveyed cards have got got got significantly higher punishment rates that are triggered by one or two late payments in a time period of six calendar months to a year.

-- One-fifth of surveyed issuers have shifted to tiered late payments, which Consumer Action construes as a delusory manner of charging higher-than-average late fees.

-- The number of cards with $35 late fees have more than than doubled from last year.

-- More than one-half the cards surveyed necessitate cardholders to pay only 2 percent of the monthly balance each calendar month - a distressing tendency that dramatically increases the overall interest paid by cardholders.

-- More than one-third of surveyed establishments will not supply a firm annual percentage rate (APR) until they have screened the applicant's credit history. Instead, they give only a meaningless range of rates before screening, which do comparison shopping hard if not impossible.

Don't get me incorrect - I am not saying that credit card companies should not do money. In fact, easy access to credit have helped combustible our economy, especially when the going gets rough. But many consumers now are literally trapped by high-cost debt with few options. I've spoken to consumers who experience they have got no pick but to register for bankruptcy because their credit card companies all raised their interest rates to between twenty and thirty percent, and they simply cannot manage to pay the balances down. With all the landmines out there for credit card users today, the best strategy is still to pay down debt as quickly as possible and bounds yourself to a couple of cards to avoid problems.

Sometimes, of course, that's easier said than done!

For more than information on ways to construct great personal and business credit, visit www.BusinessCreditSuccess.com.