I've Gone to Visa Credit Card Hell: Beware of Interest Increases in the Midst of a Crisis

I feel like the Bruce Willis character in The Sixth Sense when he didn't realize he was dead. I didn't know I died, but I'm now in Visa Hell, so I guess I croaked in my sleep and never noticed.

My original sin was getting a Bank of America Visa. I transferred a balance from another card when I opened it about two years ago and everything was just ducky. I always made my payments on time and always paid more than the minimum.

In June I got hit with a huge car repair bill and had to put it on the Visa card. This maxed it out, but I continued to pay more than the minimum and never paid late. I never used the card again, and slowly the balance decreased to about $250 under the limit.

Recently, I was paying bills and as I was about to chuck my Visa envelope into the recycling bag, I suddenly decided to look at the boring little slip of paper covered with fine print that was hiding inside. You've probably never read those little legal statements, and neither have I. Call it Divine Intervention, telepathy, or call it the Sixth Sense if you will, but for some reason, I grabbed that piece of paper and learned that as of my December billing cycle, my Visa APR would climb to 20.49% unless I called or wrote to opt out.

Opt out? I could call and opt out of a huge raise in my interest? Which was more mind blowing, the staggering increase or the invitation to opt out? News stories tell us that credit card companies are nervously raising rates due to the economic crisis, but I never read or heard of anything like this. Of course I called. A very kindly-speaking rep explained that since my Visa card was close to its limit, the Bank of America wanted to help me get out of debt. What better way to help than charging me enormous interest?

She duly noted my opt (grammarians, please forgive me), but warned me that if I used the Visa card, the rate increase would be activated. I asserted that I had no intention of using the card, and had not used it for months. She reminded me to check for any automatically recurring charges that may sneak in, and cheerfully offered to lower my rate if I should pay the whole thing off. Being unemployed and disabled, I'm not to likely to suddenly pay the whole thing off, and I almost counter offered to insert the card into a certain orifice. Sadly, Bank of America's only orifices are made of granite, glass, steel or whatever, so that wouldn't be painful.

Today I checked my Bank of America account online and to my extreme horror, there was a temporary authorization waiting to pounce, a charge of $1 labeled Amazon payment service! My head exploded. I haven't bought anything at Amazon since last spring. I have no idea what that charge could be.

I called Bank of America in a panic. To the credit of the fellow I spoke with, he seemed to genuinely understand how catastrophically this insane $1 would hit me, and did his best to help. A small temporary authorization is usually a precursor to a larger credit card charge coming through, he noted. He gave me the Amazon number to call and said if I couldn't solve this mystery with them, I could call his department back and file a dispute on the charge to avoid triggering the rate increase. I asked to have my card account totally closed and he complied. I should have done that last week, but I feared they would then demand the whole balance.

When I called Amazon, a guy half way around the world with a thick accent apologized and admitted I hadn't bought anything and he could see no reason why my Visa card was charged. He removed the charge and also removed the Visa card from my Amazon account, but the deep feelings of uneasiness won't go away. What ever made Amazon charge me $1? Is my Visa number really off their records? Should I talk to my priest and ask for absolution or am I stuck in Visa Hell permanently?