Slave To The Lender

The credit card companies are always coming up with some scheme to extract more money from you and me. Universal default is yet another one of these shady tactics. Are you at risk?

The concept of universal default is that the credit card companies can change your interest rate at will. They have the ability to review your credit report on a regular basis, and if there is any change that has negatively impacted your score, they can apply this new, higher interest rate.

You should really check your cardmember agreements for these types of provisions. While those “fixed” rates are nice, being late on your electric bill can “unfix” them. Goodbye 0% rate on a balance transfer that you used to “invest”. How’s that investment paying off now?