Should you stop paying your credit card bill because your rate went up?

Updated

"Ann" is mad as hell and she's not going to take it anymore. After Bank of America jacked up the interest rate on her credit card to 25.49% (It had previously been at 12.99%) even though she wasn't behind on the account, she posted a video on YouTube (see below) and announced that she wouldn't be paying the bill again unless the bank lowers her rate.

I hate to stomp on a populist uprising as much as anyone, but here's the thing: Bank of America didn't do anything wrong.

Yes, raising someone's interest rate for no reason is sleazy. It's Bank of America and if you didn't know they were scum-burgers when you opened the account, well then who's fault is that? This is why no one should ever carry a balance on a credit card. You are completely at their mercy, and they are scumbags. The fine print in credit card agreements is completely one-sided and you'd have to be an idiot to enter into a long-term relationship with a credit card company.

Ann -- who has dyed hair and is giving her address in front of a collectible model car collection that she presumably purchased while she had credit card debt -- isn't wrong to be outraged over Bank of America's immoral conduct. I'm as enraged by it as anyone, and the Government's decision to provide financial assistance to a company that rapes as many people as Bank of America is truly appalling.

But at the same time, Ann agreed to pay back the debt and she agreed to a horrible deal and so she should pay it back.

My advice? Sell the model car collection, pay off the debt, and put the credit card through a shredder.

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