> http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/03/7666_credit_card_ind.html
>
> In 2000, Illinois resident Marvin Weatherspoon (right) got a Bank of America
> credit card that he used to consolidate $12,000 in home repair bills,
> thinking the 4.5 percent introductory interest rate would help him get out
> of debt faster. Instead, though, eight years later, he has paid the bank
> more than $15,000, yet has reduced his principal balance by only $800. The
> reason? Even though he's paid his bills on time, Bank of America
> inexplicably raised his interest rate, first to 19.99 percent and then to 25
> percent, where it is today.
>
> Weatherspoon came to Washington yesterday to tell his story at a hearing on
> the Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights, a bill sponsored by New York Rep.
> Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) that would restrict the kind of arbitrary interest
> rate increases Weatherspoon got hit with, among other things. But as it
> turned out, Weatherspoon never got to testify. The ever-powerful credit-card
> companies successfully bounced all of the consumers off the panel, leaving
> only academics and credit card executives to speak publicly.
> ...