Home Depot Account

unless people are paying only minimum instead of paying their bills
off in full.

the real issue in my opinion isn't that they charge late fees and
raise rates for late payment...

the issue is that people are complacent about using credit and
treating it like "free money" that they don't have to pay off in time
(if they pay it off at all) ... and that the lenders are horrible and
evil for expecting bills to be paid promptly.

Pretty much every credit company will charge a late fee after one day.
There are many that will charge a late fee even if the payment is made
on the due date, but after a certain hour. A lot of them will adjust
the fee and rate with a simple phone call if they look at your history
with them and see that it is a one time incident. Did you try to phone
customer service to get this resolved?

One day late is still late hence the fee. One day, many days, if its
late its late.

And raising the rate is not robbery. By not paying on time, it shows
you are a higher risk, so they want to cover themselves so they dont
incur a loss.

The bailout is unrelated to the fact you broke the terms of your
agreement with Citibank. In accordance with your agreement, you incur
a late fee. And the banks frequently raise the interest rate if your
payment record worsens. The fees are insane, but perfectly legal. I
look at it as a game. My interest rate is around 20%, but I have
never paid a penny in 22 years, as I pay the balance in full and on
time.

Most of the credit card banks do the exact same things. This is why
it is critical to pay on time.