The Most Obscene Credit Card Service Charges

If you have a credit card, there are times when your credit card company may charge a credit card service charge. There are times when some charges and fees are easy to understand and even reasonable. For example, almost all credit card companies will charge you a late penalty fee for late payments. While no one likes to pay late fees, we can all understand why the credit card company would expect a small the fee for paying our bill late. However, some credit card companies tend to charge fees that are simply exorbitant and ridiculous.

Therefore, this article will address some of the most obscene credit card service charges and fees.

Maintenance Fees

These days, many credit card accounts will charge a monthly maintenance fee even if you do not use your credit card. These fees typically range from about $5 to about $20 per month, and are designed for no other reason than to not enable the bank or credit card company to earn additional profit. Furthermore, credit card accounts that charge these maintenance fees are usually held by lower income cardholders who are the most vulnerable credit card consumers and can least afford to pay the fees.

The Over the Limit Fee

Your credit card company imposes the maximum limit of credit that you can use your credit card to make purchases. However, there are times that the credit card company will allow you to make purchases that exceed your credit limit. However, if you do, the credit card company will generally charge an over the limit service charge a fee.

Furthermore, they will continue to charge this fee every month that your balance remains above your maximum credit limit. However, since the credit card company is the one that allowed you to make the purchase that placed your balance above the imposed credit limit, the credit card company in fact gave you a higher credit limit. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why the credit card company would charge you an over the limit fee when they did not prohibit you from exceeding the limit in the first place.

Transaction Fees

Some credit card accounts actually charge an additional transaction fee every time you purchase something. These types of fees are particularly nasty when you consider that credit cards were designed to purchase items to begin with. Charging an additional transaction fee is simply a way of charging a lump sum out amount of interest.

Inactivity Charges or Fees

The inactivity charge a fee is really ridiculous. Many credit card companies will charge you an additional fee simply because you choose not to use your credit card. Because the credit card company is not earning interest on purchases that you make with your credit card, they feel they have to earn a profit somehow. Therefore, they are charging this type of fee for no reason at all.

Universal Default Penalty

While the universal default penalty is not actually a service charge a fee, it is a truly deceptive and nasty interest-rate increase. Even if you make your credit card payments on time and are never late, your credit card interest rate can be quickly raised if you fall behind on other payments -- that are not even related to the credit card account in question.

This type of interest rate increase has come under heavy attack in recent years; however, there are still many credit card providers and banks that choose to raise cardholder’s interest rates because they fell behind on payments to someone else.

If your credit card account charges any of these ridiculous fees, you should definitely consider another credit card company. If you do not qualify for another type of credit card account, perhaps you should consider not using a credit card at all and simply pay cash for your purchases.