I came home tonight to find three envelopes from Citibank in the mail.  Two were identical credit card offers.  The third envelope contained a brief notice tucked inside a harmless-looking Privacy Disclosure.  What did it say?  Citibank has decided to change the terms of my credit card contract.  From now on, they'll continue to charge a 3% transaction fee on balance transfers, but they're removing the maximum fee cap.  In other words, if I transfer a balance of $10,000, they'll charge me $300, and so on.  So much for those voluntary "concessions" the banks made during the Senate hearings earlier in the month.

Why the hiked fee?  Surely Citibank can't claim with a straight face that it would cost them $300 to simply send a payment to another lender.  Heck, I can pay all of my bills online -- credit cards included -- for free.  So, what's the deal?  Well, maybe they've magically discovered that balance transfers are associated with "risk" increases;  after all, you are transferring a balance rather than paying it.  But wait, isn't that why transferred balances are subject to substantially higher APRs?  Also, isn't it true that Citibank wants that business and that risk, because they derive the bulk of their revenue off of people carrying over substantial balances?

Uh oh, we're out of justifications.  Here's an explanation instead: naked greed.   I encourage everyone reading this who holds a Citibank card to cancel it and go elsewhere for your credit.