5 reasons your credit card rate goes up 5 reasons your credit card rate goes up By Dana Dratch %u2022 Bankrate.com Want to know when your credit card issuer can raise your rates? Read your contract, says Kevin Mukri, spokesman for the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks. Any reason for raising your APR has to be in the contract. "Banks can't willy-nilly change the terms," says Mukri. "Banks are required to fulfill the contract." The initial contract should be in plain, readable language, he says. And if the issuer is changing your rates, they have to tell you when and why, says Mukri. "What we require is that people receive notification," he says.