<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I called First USA to see if this was indeed the case, whether bill-paying customers were being given less time to hand over their cash than those willing to run up sky-high interest charges.

What do you know? It's true.</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Is your credit card company pulling some sneaky new tactics that could cost you money? Credit card companies have been shortening due date for payments. It's just one of series of new tactics to make more money.

"Traditionally credit card companies are dropping [due dates] down to 20 days," says Ken McEldowney of Consumer Action. "The second one, which is even sneakier, is sending the bills out later in the billing cycle so you have a less number of days to pay than in the past."</font>