And what did they expect?  One can only assume that a card issuer would understand that by curtailing the ability of cardholders to use their credit, it might then force them closer to the edge.  And frankly I'm sure those cardholders were extremely unhappy about the hikes in interest rates before the fact.

I can't decide whether bankers and card issuers are like dinosaurs looking up uncomprehendingly at the comet about to hit, or like mastodons in a tar pit, who know they sink faster if they thrash about but keep diong it because it's all they know how to do.  Either way, I hope the industry is destroyed by it's bad behavior and we can come up with a new paradigm.

 That sounds consistent with reports I've heard from other creditors.  Bank of America is writing off about 2 billion dollars per month in bad credit card debt