Thanks to a dearth of regulation in the credit card industry, credit fees can tend to be hefty. Sometimes, such fees are downright predatory and even bordering on illegal. And often, these credit card fees are hidden in the fine print. However, Congress is finally looking into some credit card fees and billing practices, and some credit card companies are changing how they do business. At least a little bit.

But, as Newsweek’s Jane Bryant Quinn points out, there are still plenty of predatory credit card companies out there:

The bottom-feeding cards—for people with
damaged credit—offer you a decent interest rate on credit lines "up to"
$3,000. When the card arrives, however, your line might be only $250.
And then come the fees! "Program" fees. Account set-up fees.
Participation fees. Annual fees. They’re charged to your tiny credit
line, leaving you almost nothing to spend.

Quinn’s article points something out: subprime lending isn’t just about subprime mortgage lending. There are subprime credit cards, too, and these can be a real problem. Before you get a credit card, consider the consequences, and carefully read to see what you may really be getting into.

Tags: credit card, personal finance, subprime mortgage lending, finances,
credit card companies, credit card billing practices, credit card fees, credit card industry