You want to hear about predatory lending? My bit is truly bizarre, and fortunately I was in a position to avoid victimization. In the mid-90’s my employer (also my wife’s) went bankrupt, and in that era you could open credit cards with high credit lines, 0% interest for a year and a half, and play the float to your advantage. With a bankrupt employer, litigation involved, and eventually a move across country, we played the game. Somehow we were able to win.
But with all that, and credit scores near 800, the most bizarre episode was when, in the process of recovering from that and paying it all down to zero, I got billed for having a zero balance. Yup, you read it right, I got billed for having a zero balance.
As required, I paid off the last bill on an HSBC credit card, and waited for a zero balance statement. A few days after I received that statement, I called the company on the phone and asked them to cancel the card. So, they did.
In the next billing cycle they sent me a bill for $30&change for revolving interest in arrears, or some such thing. I called on the phone again, and asked the rep. what was that about. They cited a policy that they charged interest on the average balance of the prior 60 days at account closing. So I asked that agent to verify the zero balance statement. When she did, I informed her that I was willing to hire a lawyer and sue for harassment and damages, with penalties, if they did not drop that charge immediately. She put me on hold, came back on the phone, and told me the charge was cleared.
Anybody on slippery financial ground probably wouldn’t have had the chutzpah to do what I did. The fact that they tried that scam on me was truly beyond the pale.