Four New Credit Card Gotcha Fees

Shopping for for credit cards has never been easier. Free online search wizards like My Freedom Credit Cards let you answer a few questions and narrows down the choice of credit cards to just a few that match your needs. Although the Obama Administration passed a law to make credit card fees and policies more fair for consumers, there are new types of credit card fees to be aware of.

Gotcha #1 = Spike The Punch Bowl Of Fees
According to a July 22 report from Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonpartisan research group, the industry's median annual fee on bank credit cards jumped 18% to 59 USD between July 2009 and March 2010. At credit unions, annual fees soared 67% to 25 USD. During the same period, the median cash-advance and balance-transfer fees jumped by 33%.

Gotcha #2 = The Internet Never Closes
Don't assume that you can't make a payment just because it's Sunday. Even if it's a weekend, log on to your credit card account online and make that payment to be sure it is on time.

Although the law "encourages" banks not to process credit card payments on weekends or holidays, the fact remains that many banks declare themselves open for business. The law states that if a creditor does not receive or accept payments on weekends or holidays, then the payment due date is extended to the next business day.
To get around that, banks have designed their payment acceptance policy to read that they accept payments seven days per week. Their branches are still closed on weekends and holidays so don't race over there expecting help from a teller. Rather, through the Internet, many banks take the stance that they are open 24 hours 7 days a week. So, even if the post office is closed, the Internet never closes and this is another way for banks to say "Gotcha"!

Gotcha #3 = Over The Border Fee, Eh?
If a credit card purchase you make happens to be from a company in Canada or other foreign country, get ready for a new foreign transaction fee. Before the Obama Administration enacted the latest credit card laws, foreign transaction fees were rare. We're not talking about currency exchange rates here but an additional fee, calculated as a percentage of the transaction amount. The fee will show as a separate line item on your statement. It's a nickle and dime thing, it may be for a dollar or two but multiplied across millions of customers and transactions you can see why banks quickly added this new gotcha fee to the menu.

Gotcha #4 = Hidden Annual Fee
It may look like a no annual fee credit card, but be careful about the small print. Citigroup, for example, has started charging some of its customers an annual fee, which can be waived if a customer's card activity exceeds 2,400 USD a year. That breaks down to 200 USD per month on average so if you charge less than that you'd be subject to this Gotcha fee.

They don't call it revolving credit for nothing! The introduction of new Gotcha fees makes shopping for credit cards like spinning the wheel of misfortune. Check back with the Daily Dollar all week for credit card tips and read through our entire archive of money saving credit card articles.