Avoid Traps while Shopping or Cruising
November 30, 2025
Updated Nov 2026
Credit card fees
Credit cards
from stores are a trap. You might get a $15 discount on today’s purchase by
signing up for a card, but the stores and banks that supply the cards are
betting that in future months you might not pay your full balance or may pay
late so they can make huge profits from high interest and high fees that make
your initial $15 savings seem trivial. This is a summary of 6 credit cards with
balances totaling $21,733 and extreme fees that make bankers richer but made
shoppers and our family poorer.
The worst
example was Victoria’s Secret card that had a balance of $1,033 last December.
For that they charged $376 interest (36%) plus $123 fees (12%) for a combined
fee rate of 48% during 2024. The first bill I saw in March 2025 had a balance
of $921, monthly interest of $24, and late fee of $41 charged while my wife was
in the hospital, for an annual rate of 85% interest plus fees. Other cards also
had extreme rates.
Table 1.
Credit card fees ranked from most terrible to very bad fees.
|
Card |
Limit |
Balance |
Interest rate |
Late fee |
Fee rate |
Total rate |
|
$1800 |
$921 |
31% |
$41 |
54% |
85% |
|
|
Chase Freedom |
$1000 |
$599 |
25% |
$38 |
57% |
82% |
|
Bealls |
$850 |
$544 |
29% |
$37 |
42% |
71% |
|
Macy’s |
$3350 |
$2212 |
30% |
$41 |
22% |
52% |
|
Citi Simplicity |
$2700 |
$2368 |
29% |
$0 |
0% |
29% |
|
PNC credit card |
$16000 |
$15089 |
17% |
$37 |
3% |
20% |
I paid the
full balance to Victorias Secret by the due date in April, but the May bill
charged another $16 of interest at 30% and threatened another $41 late fee. The
Bealls card was similar. After I fully paid it, they charged another $7
interest, and then a $10 late fee the next month. I did not notice the $7
balance right away because I thought it was fully paid. Most banks also made it
hard for someone else to pay online so I had to mail checks each time. A couple
accounts had small recurring charges and never got to a $0 balance.
Recent debts
must have been constantly on my wife’s mind. She tried hard to pay them and did
not ask me for help. Each month she wrote in large font all 11 or 12 payment
due dates onto her 2024-25 desk calendar plus her other activities. For the 6
credit cards in Table 1, she paid mostly only the minimum amount due and maybe
not all bills every month depending on cash flow. Thus, she could not use autopay.
Her property tax bill charged 12% interest which was less than any credit card,
so she waited to pay tax until just before the county started to add further
penalties. While my Treasury bills were earning 4% interest, her credit cards
were charging 17% to 85% interest plus fees. Store cards are a very bad
investment that you should avoid.
U.S.
consumers currently owe debts on 160 million store cards totaling $63 billion
or about $400 per card. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2024
said that “consumers report experiencing aggressive sales tactics and inability
to redeem promotions” and that “complaints show ongoing frustration with late
fees that consumers pay on their private label store cards.” For example, 7% of
Macy’s gross profits in 2023 were from credit card fees. Republicans are
closing the CFPB, and next year the banks might bill you whatever fees they
want. Bankers have found that large campaign donations to Senators and Representatives
are a great way for the banks to make even higher future profits at your
expense. See:
The
High Cost of Retail Credit Cards
Appeals
court clears way for deep cuts, restructuring at CFPB
Big
Banks Surge Cash to First-term Lawmakers That Oversee Them
Cruises
Gambling was
likely a reason my wife could not keep up with the card payments. W2G forms
from her last cruise reported gambling wins of $1550 and $1720 but people lose
much more often than win, so she may have gambled a lot. After recent cruises,
the ships offered her free future cruises such as “Enjoy a balcony or ocean view
room for two, just pay taxes and fees between $93-$197 per person.” Every week
the mail brings several invitations to cruise and gamble some more. Those free
tickets makes gamblers feel lucky. Casinos keep track of how much you gamble
and not if you happened to win or lose today, because in the long run they win
and you lose. Cruising is fun, but gambling is a bad habit that used to be
illegal. For a cost analysis, see:
What my ‘free’ casino
cruise really cost - The Points Guy
Moving across states
In May 2025
I moved from Maryland to Florida and got a bill for $504.27 from the Maryland
Motor Vehicle Administration for INSURANCE LAPSE on a car that was always
insured. I gave MD MVA my Florida insurance policy number twice last year. I
got a FL driver’s license, switched auto insurance from MD to FL, transferred
car title to son-in-law Cesar, and he got FL plates but that took 4 trips to FL
MVA each waiting a couple weeks to get an appointment before rushing the MD
plate back to MD. My timeline was as follows.
June 5: Got
a Florida driver’s license to replace Maryland license but not a Florida car
license plate in the same trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles because my
auto insurance transfer from Maryland to Florida was only about 90% completed.
June 7: Got
the FL auto insurance policy.
July 2: Got
the car title switched from me to Cesar.
July 16: Cesar
tried to get a FL license plate, but DMV would not issue it until he cleared up
a previous DMV issue from years earlier.
July 31: Cesar
received Florida plates for my former car that is now his after waiting
patiently for another appointment at the DMV. Cesar’s insurance policy became
effective and then I cancelled mine.
Aug 1: Sent my
Maryland license plates back to Maryland the next day.
October 22,
2026: One year later, MD sent a bill on October 9 took 13 days to reach my
mailbox in FL and gave me 15 days to either pay it or send a written challenge
request to later appear in person in MD before a judge. That meant I had 1 day
to type and send an express overnite letter back, but I did not realize that
until the next day when it was too late. MVA threatened to have the MD Attorney
General sue me, garnish my wages, and report this delinquent debt to the credit
bureaus.
October 24,
2026: I paid the bill for $504.27 but was advised by daughter Angel to not pay
it and never move back to Maryland again. They may treat you very bad on your
way out.
Conclusions
The moral of
these stories are that millions of consumers are pressured into signing up for store
cards that may end up haunting them with huge fees years later. Even if you are
a very smart shopper, the cards are designed to make the store and bank profit
from your eventual bad luck. And if you gamble on a cruise ship you may be
invited back to sit for free in their casino again. You may feel lucky, but
they are betting that the free ticket you won has less value than the $ you
will lose when back in their casino.
For thirty years
my wife did all the shopping for both of us, planned all our vacations, and
even shopped for and fully paid for this nice house I live in, allowing me to
do more other things each week. Beware of credit cards and casinos but enjoy
your holiday shopping and vacations.
States may fine
you when you leave even if the next state makes it very hard to meet the
deadlines.
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Problems