BANK OF AMERICA RAISES INTEREST RATE!!

Bank of America Corp. is raising interest rates on as many as four million U.S. credit card customers who carry a balance, becoming the latest bank to crack down on people who don’t pay off their bill every month, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Starting with June account statements, any credit card customer who carries a balance and has an interest rate below 10 percent will see his or her rate jump into double-digit territory. The company said that the changes would affect less than 10 percent of the bank’s card customers in the United States. The bank has 70 million card customers worldwide, but doesn’t break out the number of customers who are in the United States. The bank’s move follows similar rate increases that other banks, including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and American Express Co., have implemented in recent months. The banks, facing rising delinquencies, blame the current economic turmoil.