Oct 27, 2009 5:20 pm US/Eastern
Survive in 09: Getting Charged For Perfect Credit
NORRISTOWN (CBS 3) ―
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How often do you read all of the paperwork that comes with your monthly credit card bill?
AP
How often do you read all of the paperwork that comes with your monthly credit card bill? Well you better start doing that, and read it carefully. 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan finds more and more people are about to get socked with unexpected fees.
Do you pay your credit card bill in full so you can avoid paying the interest? Well you may end paying more anyway. Bank of America has started notifying some customers that they will be charged a new annual fee of 29 to 99 dollars.
Ben Woolsey of CreditCards.com says, "There is a big segment of their population that they have never made money on which is people who pay their bills on time every month."
Bank of America says they're testing the fee on a very small number of accounts and haven't made any final decisions. Meanwhile Citigroup is also trying out an annual fee with some card holders and analysts expect more banks to follow their lead too. This will leave card holders in a no-win situation.
Woolsey says, "They can either pay that fee or close the account, and if they have had the card for awhile and they do close it they are potentially going to hurt their credit card score."
Analysts say right now the banks are trying to figure out what their customers will tolerate. Many say they'd cancel cards with a high new annual fee. Credit card companies call the fees 'an experiment.' Whether they stick depends on whether customers are willing to pay for something that's been free for so long.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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