Name: Kerry Shea
Age: 32
Occupation: Marketing manager
Location: Oceanside, CA

Since 2005, I'd had one credit card: a Visa that gave 1% back on purchases so I could earn gift cards or account credit. Wedding expenses brought my balance to $5,000 in 2006, but my husband and I pooled our savings to pay it off and began using it jointly. We paid the balance each month, but the low 7.9% APR was a safety net as we bought a house and our expenses increased. If we had an emergency, or if we just forgot to make a payment on time, I liked knowing the interest wouldn't be outrageous.

Then in July 2009, we got a long, technical letter — I always read those to make sure they're not something bad. Sure enough, they said it was costing them too much to manage our account and they were raising the APR to 14% to make it profitable. That ticked me off! That rate hadn't changed since 2005.

So we found another company, with a similar card, rewards and no annual fee, for 8.5% APR. We started using that as our primary card, but we also decided to keep the original account open. I figure, if we cost them money with a card we used, we can keep costing them money by not using it — and now they're not earning anything from their retail partners, because we're not participating in their rewards program.

Related Links:

Your 90-second guide to the new credit card rules

Be smart with your first credit card

9 big credit card myths