Credit Cards Are Raising Minimum Payments

By Eileen Alt Powell, AP

Don’t be surprised if the minimum payment on your credit card suddenly goes up. Under pressure from federal regulators, credit card issuers are raising the minimum payments consumers must make on their monthly bills. In the long run, it’s good for consumers because it means they’ll pay down their balances faster, so they’ll pay less in interest. But in the short run, consumers already struggling to keep up with minimum payments on several cards could feel squeezed.

“It’s a little like a diet,” said Greg McBride, a financial analyst with Bankrate.com in North Palm Beach, Fla. “To get to that long-term benefit, you have to go through that short-term pain.”


The changes being phased in this year are the result of a directive issued by federal banking regulators, including the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, in 2003.

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