MSN Money reported that some credit card issuers are hiking late fees and other penalties to as high as $39. It is no secret that various fees are a major source of income for the profitable issuers and the fees can only go higher from here.
The story also offers a nice roundup of the penalties from 10 major banks, including CitiBank, MBNA, Bank One, Chase Manhattan, Discover, Capital One, Bank of America, Providian, Household and Fleet. It appears that Providian is the most lenient among the 10 shops, charging no fee for minor offenses like lateness on less than $200 and charging overlimit by less than 2% of credit line.