Credit card fees: Vicious...and legal

We've talked a lot at WalletPop about the exorbitant fees charged by credit cards, and the restrictive and confusing agreements that come with your credit cards. Well it seems that the credit card companies are taking it even further by becoming more aggressive with interest rate hikes.

More people defaulting on their accounts means the banks have to make up that money somehow, and they've decided to do it with higher penalty interest rates. A penalty interest rate is generally charged when you are in some sort of default under your credit card agreement, most often by paying late.

Credit card companies are hiking rates as high as 30%, even if you only pay one day late. Consumer advocates say this is unfair and should be illegal. Others say that people should either carefully follow the terms of their credit card agreements (pay on time) or face the consequences.