Scarlett,
The first one..... "holding payment" happened to me. They raised the rate triple. When it happened I reread the contract on back of bill and it said they post payments at will unless sent through the mail with a date stamp on it. This was Chase, huge bank. Paid the idiots off and done with it.

Any credit card company can do this. The only way to get around it is to have a direct payment every month set up with them or call and pay over the phone.

I use on-line bill pay through MY bank, *not* the ccard banks. Payments are processed via electronic transfer (I'd assume that all credit card banks accept payments electronically), and post to the card account on the day I schedule them. I still schedule payments 3 to 5 days prior to the stated due date, just to be sure.

Well, in biology they teach you that a good parasite never kills off the host and that will happen eventually.I just am concerned at how people fall into this. It is having a huge effect on our whole economy. Couple that with irresponsibe government spending and we are in trouble.

I recently rented it. I found it interesting how many times the government has raided the social security fund to play for interest on it's own loans. The government can't even keep it's spending in check. I've learned a lot about student loans watching the Suzie Orman show. People get out of school with $100,000+ in student loans and only make $30,000 a year. Ouch! I'm going to miss that show once I cancel my extended cable next month.

I haven't seen it, but it sounds very interesting.

I have a mentally retarded friend (okay I know that's not a politically correct term but I grew up in the sixties and so did she and that's what WE call it, no disrespect intended.) She has been taken advantage of by credit card companies. :(

She does quite well living by herself and has used a check card for years, since she hates writing checks. However, once or twice a slick talking person will get her signed up for a credit card and eventually she'll come to me with a stack of notices and a garbled story. Since she is an independant adult there is nothing I can do to prevent her from getting a credit card except sitting with her and giving her a heart to heart talk.

If only she could balance a check book, she is pretty frugal and mindful not to get into debt. Just once in a while she gets tricked, though. Makes me mad that someone can prey on someone who is clearly a "vulnerable adult."