Well, to be honest, I don’t hate credit card bills as much as I used to but I still carry quite a bit of strong dislike for them. That’s because…

1) They Always Hide the Facts

Credit card companies have gotten very good at hiding the pertinent facts about your bill. Every month it’s a little like an Easter egg hunt trying to find the due date or the minimum payment or the interest rate. I’m especially fond of the way some companies put asterisks next to certain lines on the bill and then hide their definition in the fine print on page three. Of course the motive here isn’t to make it easier to pay your bill or to discover your obligations; rather it’s just the other way around. The less you know, the better it is for them.

2) They’re Always Changing

I have yet to see a bank or credit card company that didn’t change the setup, format, and even timing of their credit card bills at least once a year. Just as you get comfortable with the location of the important bill information, the companies go and change it. They always tout the change as “great news – our statement just got easier” but it’s anything but. It just makes it easier to miss something important like a changed due date or minimum amount.

3) They Always Have a Hidden Surprise

Just as the Cracker Jack boxes of my youth had a little prize hidden in their bottom, so to do credit card bills. Usually it’s some unexpected fee or charge that I didn’t see coming. Sometimes it’s a subtle change in the payment timing or it’s a credit card APR change. In just about all cases I’m left scratching my head

I must say though that since the passing of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 credit card bills have cleaned themselves up a bit. Some things are just flat-out easier to find and understand – and I’m grateful. But the pessimist in me can’t help but think that behind closed doors in some office somewhere, there are dozens of future white-collar criminals dreaming up new ways to muddy up my credit card bill. I guess I’m just an old-fashioned kind of guy.