There are several tricks that credit card companies can use to hike fees and potentially lead customers into an endless cycle of debt. One such practice is known as universal defaults and enables companies to increase interest rates if a cardholder makes just one late payment to another credit card company or even pays a phone or utility bill late. This means that if your credit card payment arrives past due, you risk having interest rates on all of your other cards rise. The trouble is that nearly half of all US banks use universal defaults, enabling them to raise interest rates as high as 40%. Nationwide, banks collected a record $17.1 billion from such penalty fees in 2005, a 15% increase from 2003. Meanwhile, late-fee charges increased 160% over a 10-year period to an average of more than $33 per late payment in 2005. Clearly this is a problem that needs to be addressed, but sadly it may be a reality until lawmakers decide to change the laws.