Shirley Rooker, director of WTOP radio's Call For Action for the Federal Trade Commission says the answer is yes and no. Here's what she has to say...



I'm Shirley Rooker for the Federal Trade Commission.

My friend has a major credit card that was issued at a rate of 9.9%. Imagine her surprise when the credit card bill arrived and she discovered she was being charged 18.5%.

So why was her credit rate going up? A company representative indicated that she had too much exposure because of three department store cards in her name. Never mind that these stores kept raising her limit because of her good credit record, not because she asked them to do so. And never mind that she never, ever maxed out the cards. Just because the credit was available, suddenly the cards became a liability.

Imagine her surprise when she learned her good credit, which inspired lenders to raise the amount she could borrow, also inspired a greedy credit card company to raise her interest rates - all based on what might happen.

She canceled the credit card.