Credit Crunch - New Minimum Payments Cause Dilemma

By Mark Winston Griffith, The Nation

Last month American Express gave me some horrifying news: The minimum monthly payment had been jacked up from roughly $500, which I’d been making in interest-only payments ever since Amex raised the annual percentage rate on my credit line to a brutal 29.24 percent, to more than $1,200. If I could barely make the minimum payments before, how in the world would I be able to make them now?

Such is the dilemma that many struggling working families are now facing. In response to an advisory issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks, banks and credit card companies are significantly increasing the minimum payments they require from their credit card customers each month. Until recently, credit card companies would typically string customers along, allowing a payment schedule that could have no end.

For this complete story, please visit Credit Crunch.