Credit Card Rates: Overview.

Credit card issuers have long been criticized for engaging in unfair lending practices, including raising interest rates without warning, piling on hidden fees, and publishing long, difficult-to-read contracts. While most people realize that they must pay interest on credit card purchases, a typical credit card contract is more complicated than that. In the early twenty-first century, lawmakers worked together to protect consumers by improving disclosure requirements, requiring banks to explain contract terms in plain language, and outlawing some of the more confusing and unfair billing practices. Many credit card companies responded by raising interest rates overall and creating new fees.