Credit card rates climb on bank losses

NEW YORK, April 28 (UPI) -- U.S. credit card companies are raising rates as banks try to make up for losses in other departments, financial experts said Monday.

Washington Mutual is raising some credit card rates 100 percent, USA Today reported. Discover is increasing its credit card penalty rate to 31 percent Thursday. And Bank of America is tripling some customers' rates, the report said.

"If one end of your business is suffering, you look to the other end to pick up the slack." said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive officer of LowCards.com, which offers comparisons of credit cards.

Credit card companies are also raising fees for cash withdrawals and other transactions, eliciting a predictable response from borrowers.

"Totally unfair," said Dan Blanton of Pevely, Mo., who told the newspaper his credit rating is good and he often pays more than the minimum on his credit card bills.