Credit cards

Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader

Now the bills come due.

And with them, surprises from your friendly credit card company. They're doubling minimum payments and raising late and over-limit fees. Many are applying a provision that lets them increase interest rates and raise minimum payments if a borrower defaults on a bill from another company.

Despite the rhetoric you hear, don't believe this is all to help customers climb out of debt.

If it were, companies would put a lot more effort into letting customers know the changes were coming. At best, they'll send a letter with lots of dense, legal language in small print.

More likely, they'll send you a notice informing you that portions of your service agreement have changed, referring you to a Web site. There you'll find a long document packed with dense, legal language -- and no explanation of what has changed.

Credit card customers need a post-Christmas gift, and it will need to come from the federal agencies that oversee banks.

They're the ones who became alarmed as credit-card debt rose to an average of $7,000 per household -- or $800 billion for the country. They noted that minimum payments were so low that customers weren't paying all the interest on their debt, much less the principal. They urged banks to raise minimum to a level that would cover some of the principle each month.

While that will be painful for some borrowers, in the long run it will contribute to their financial health. ...

Some customers also have noticed their credit card bills arriving just a few days before the due date. ... There ought to be a regulation requiring that statements arrive with ample time before the due date.

Credit card companies were among the loudest proponents for a new law that makes it harder to declare bankruptcy. Yet they continue to market their cards to students and others with limited income. If they won't stop on their own, then the regulators need to step in.

All of these steps would be a gift to borrowers -- and a step toward getting credit card debt under control.