Credit Cards: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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The CARD Act takes effect today. Hooray! No more retroactive interest rate increases! Overdraft protection is opt-in! Fees have to be clearly labeled!

But the hills are alive with reports of what credit card companies are doing to make up for this. The New York Times reports that fees on international transactions are likely to go up without anyone telling you. Felix Salmon reports that banks are now pushing reward cards heavily because they have higher interchange fees. The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls (ground zero for credit card companies) reports that subprime cards now carry interest rates of 79.9%. The Washington Post reports that clever new fees are proliferating to make up for the old ones. And of course, as MoJo and a cast of thousands have reported, card companies have been busily raising rates on everyone for months in preparation for the great day.

Bottom line: don’t take your eye off the ball yet. Some of the most egregious abuses are gone, but new ones are bound to spring up. If you have any good stories of your own to tell, leave ’em in comments.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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