Consumer advocates have long complained that credit card companies have the upper hand. Essentially, credit card companies can change the terms of the credit card agreement at any time for any reason. Credit card issuers say it’s their only recourse, since there is no collateral to back up credit card debt except the borrower’s ability to repay.

Now many consumers are finding out first hand what that means. Firms like Bank of America have mailed out notices to their customers that their interest rates are going up. Not just a little, but more than double in some cases, even as the Federal Reserve is lowering rates. In response to our request, Bank of America says in 2007 “only 6 percent of credit card customers had an increase in interest rate due to default or risk-based pricing.” But for that 6%, the payment increases are hard to cope with. (Check out Credit Bloggers to see what I mean.) Borrowers can transfer debt to a new card, but consumer advocates say the credit card companies can make it hard for consumers to pay off transferred debt.

The Consumers Union warns that any balance payments you make on a transfer are typically applied first to the lowest rate balance. So while the credit card company uses your payment to quickly pay off that 0 percent transfer balance, you are piling up interest on purchases, at say, 18 percent. And, multiple balance transfers will hurt your credit score.

What's been your experience with credit card rates this year?