Consumers are finding their credit card companies to be unpredictable at best when it comes to managing personal debt.

This week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke with several local residents who had unexpectedly been subjected to fee increases and other costs that some might consider arbitrary.

One man, Greg Fischer, told the newspaper that he had made an online credit card payment the day it was due. However, he still saw the company impose a late fee and extend its "default" interest rate on him because he had made the payment at 4:10 p.m. - forty minutes after a daily deadline he said he had been unaware of.

Fischer had already been paying the 28.99 percent default rate for missing a payment date by two weeks earlier in the year.

"A 40-minute 'late' payment is going to cost me hundreds of dollars in interest payments if I cannot come up with the money to pay off this card in full," Fischer told the newspaper, adding that he got "absolutely nowhere" with his creditor despite repeated contacts and ten years as a customer.

Another woman, Monica Johnson, told of how her credit card company had suddenly cut her credit limit and raised her interest rates when her credit score dropped, leaving her unable to meet her minimum payments.

Consumers do have other options however, such as payday loans, when it comes to meeting short-term cash needs in a predictable fashion.

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