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Should you stop paying your credit card bill because your rate went up?

Posted 6:00PM 09/15/09 Debt, Credit
38 Comments Print Text Size A A A
"Ann" is mad as hell and she's not going to take it anymore. After Bank of America jacked up the interest rate on her credit card to 25.49% (It had previously been at 12.99%) even though she wasn't behind on the account, she posted a video on YouTube (see below) and announced that she wouldn't be paying the bill again unless the bank lowers her rate.

I hate to stomp on a populist uprising as much as anyone, but here's the thing: Bank of America didn't do anything wrong.

Yes, raising someone's interest rate for no reason is sleazy. It's Bank of America and if you didn't know they were scum-burgers when you opened the account, well then who's fault is that? This is why no one should ever carry a balance on a credit card. You are completely at their mercy, and they are scumbags. The fine print in credit card agreements is completely one-sided and you'd have to be an idiot to enter into a long-term relationship with a credit card company.

Ann -- who has dyed hair and is giving her address in front of a collectible model car collection that she presumably purchased while she had credit card debt -- isn't wrong to be outraged over Bank of America's immoral conduct. I'm as enraged by it as anyone, and the Government's decision to provide financial assistance to a company that rapes as many people as Bank of America is truly appalling.

But at the same time, Ann agreed to pay back the debt and she agreed to a horrible deal and so she should pay it back.

My advice? Sell the model car collection, pay off the debt, and put the credit card through a shredder.

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