Credit Card Addicts Hit Hard by Late Fees

Your addiction to credit cards could lead to higher fees before you can say CHARGE!!

Card issuers, in a quest for more ways to make you pay, are adding little twists to their customer agreements that could cost you big bucks.

Along with the due date for payment of your bill, one-third of banks surveyed last year have added a specified hour on the due date. So if yours arrives 10 minutes late on the correct day, you'll be charged a late fee. Late fees made up 70% of the industry's fee income last year.

Fees may also be charged for phone payments, for getting a copy of a billing statement or for rush delivery of a new card. And most banks are now charging a 3% fee for cash advances, transfer of debt from one card to another, and for use of your card overseas. Remember that one as you hit the souvenir shops in Europe this summer. Spend one red cent over your credit limit and you'll probably be hit with a $39 fee.

Buyers beware!

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