(ConsumerAffairs.com)--As consumers have been hit with huge interest rate hikes and increases in their minimum monthly payments, complaints about America's credit card industry are reverberating through the halls of Congress.
Chase has singled out its customers with the lowest interest rates, raising the minimum monthly payment from two percent of the balance to five percent. In many cases this action turns the credit card payment into the size of a home mortgage.
Congress is pretty much powerless to stop credit card companies from raising rates and adjusting minimum payments, because they are allowed to do so under current laws and regulations. The changes do not take effect until February 2010.
CitiGroup, Bank of America and Capital One have all, in recent days, began raising customers' interest rates, in many cases saying it has nothing to do with the customers' performance and everything to do with making up for losses before new laws and regulations tie their hands early next year.
