Originally Posted By: martinfocazio
I think I've posted here that we don't use credit card debt (we use credit cards, but we never carry a balance).

We recently got a letter from one of the three credit card companies we work with and they are changing the terms and conditions of the agreement to such a degree that I closed the account and shredded the card. The terms included things like giving up my right to a jury trial in a dispute and a penalty interest rate for late payment of 39%.


Your case is one of the reasons why CC companies need to be regulated and why a credit card user bill of rights is required. Right now CC companies can arbitrarily change the rules any time they want - on April 1st they did exactly that. My own rate for Mastercard went from 16.99% to 19.99% even though I have never had a late payment! Since I don't carry a balance either, the rate increase is not a big deal for me.

But the problem with closing accounts with CC companies is that it LOWERS your credit rating in most cases. If you can help - don't close those accounts just before going to your bank for a mortgage, line of credit or car loan. The drop in your rating will last for a minimum of 3-6 months.