sneaky rip-offs
Credit Card Companies Are Ripping You Off Like Never Before
Sky-high credit card interest rates are making it hard for many Americans to pay off their growing debt piles.
·
The Lede
Consumers are always looking for deals, and it's easy to be swayed by credit-card companies offering glitzy rewards and points. But many of these cards come with high rates and hidden fees, and by the time consumers realize just what they signed up for, credit-card companies have raked in the profits.
Key Details
- The average credit-card interest rate is now just over 21%, up from about 15% a decade ago.
- More importantly, the gap between the interest rate that credit-card companies pay banks that oversee their business and the one they charge you is the widest it has been in nearly 30 years.
- Americans have a lot of debt piled up on their little pieces of plastic. TransUnion says the average credit-card balance per debtor stands at $6,329, up by 4.8% from a year ago.
