Study finds credit card rates still on the rise

When it comes to your credit cards, expect rising fees and sneaky, below-the-belt jabs from issuers.

BillShrink, a site designed to help people lower their bills, conducted a survey on credit card rates. Their findings? Credit card issuers' rates have increased an average of 16 percent. In a study of 150 credit cards, the average increase in fees is 16 percent. One third of issuers raised rates as high as 20 to 30 percent.

Bill Shrink also reveals that many issuers late until the last legal moment (February 22, 2010) to comply with all new regulations under the CARD Act.

What is the CARD Act? Beginning on February 22, the CARD Act prohibits credit issuers from double-cycle billing and penalizing cardholders who defaulted on a different card. Issuers who complied as early as Fall 2009 include Chase, Discover, Wells Fargo, and American Express. Most issuers, however, waited until the last minute before applying a fair allocation of payments and fees for over-the-phone bill pay, also part of the CARD Act.

Samir Kothari, co-founder of BillShrink says, "We've been carefully monitoring rate changes and compliance for over a year and have seen issuers sneak in rate hikes to brace for the new regulations rather than using the grace period to phase out prohibitive practices."

Kothari continues, "After February 22, we expect to see more cards with annual fees, as well as a rise in other charges like balance transfer fees, cash advance and even inactivity charges. The good news is that there is some level of protection from consumer-friendly billing practices."

Click here for the lowdown.