A card issuer that raises the interest rate on an existing balance because a payment is more than 60 days late has to bring the old rate back once the cardholder makes six consecutive on-time minimum payments. The rule is in Regulation Z, the federal credit card regulation, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lists it among the few ways a cardholder can get a penalty rate back down.

The two numbers in the rule do different jobs. Sixty days is the trigger: the issuer has not received the required minimum payment within 60 days after the due date. Six is the way back: six minimum payments in a row, each received on or before its due date, after the increase takes effect.

Cardholders whose rate jumped after a missed payment should find the date the new rate took effect, then count the minimum payments due after that date. Each one has to arrive on or before its due date, and the Bureau says the issuer must reinstate the old interest rate once the sixth does. Anyone on a penalty rate who has already made six straight on-time payments can ask the issuer why the old rate has not returned.

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When a card company can raise the rate on money already owed

The Bureau’s guidance says the interest rate on existing balances generally cannot increase unless the cardholder is late on payments. The late-payment exception is written into section 1026.55 of the regulation, which allows the increase when the issuer has not received the required minimum payment within 60 days after the due date.

A payment due June 1 that still has not arrived after July 31 is the case the exception covers. A payment that comes in 10 days or 30 days late is a different matter: it can bring a late fee, but it does not open the door to the higher rate on the existing balance.

Notice comes first. The regulation’s commentary requires the issuer to give the notice described in section 1026.9(g) before the higher rate applies, and the Bureau says issuers generally must give 45 days of advance notice before raising a card’s rate. That notice date sets a second line that matters later: purchases made more than 14 days after it are considered new transactions.

What happens after six on-time payments

The Bureau’s page says that if the increase came from a payment more than 60 days late, the issuer must reinstate the old interest rate after six consecutive on-time minimum payments made after the effective date of the increase. It adds that a cardholder who pays on time consistently may be able to lower the rate in other ways too.

The commentary to section 1026.55 states the test more exactly. The issuer has to receive six consecutive required minimum payments on or before the payment due date, and it then has to reduce the rate to the one that applied before the increase. A payment that lands one day after the due date does not count toward the six.

Suppose a higher rate took effect on March 1. The first minimum payment due after that date is April’s, and the sixth is September’s. The old rate comes back once the September payment arrives on time. If June’s payment arrived a day late, the count is not complete after September, and the six on-time payments have to be built again from that point.

Which balances get the old rate back

The reinstatement is tied to the balance that existed before the increase. The commentary says the reduction applies to transactions that occurred before the notice or within 14 days after it. The same commentary shows that the issuer may apply the increased rate to all balances and to future transactions while the delinquency exception is in play.

That leaves a gap worth asking about. Purchases made more than 14 days after the notice fall outside the sentence that requires the reduction. A cardholder who kept using the card after the increase should ask the issuer in writing which rate applies to those newer purchases once the six payments are in.

The rate that returns is the rate that applied before the increase, not a fresh rate the issuer chooses. If the statement still shows the higher percentage after the sixth on-time payment posts, the cardholder has a specific, dated question to put to the issuer.

Keeping count of the six

A simple log settles most disputes: the date the higher rate took effect, the date of the notice, each due date and the date each payment was received. The Bureau’s page on late fees says a late fee cannot follow when the minimum arrives by the due time, which the page puts at 5 p.m. on the due date, so the same timing habit protects the count.

Paying a few days ahead of the due date is the safest way to keep the run unbroken, since a payment mailed on the due date can arrive after it. Electronic payments with a confirmation number leave the clearest record of the receipt date, which is the date the rule uses.

If the old rate does not come back after the sixth on-time payment, the first step is a written request to the issuer with the log attached. The Bureau’s guidance also advises contacting the issuer when an increase looks like an error. The open question for any cardholder in this spot is which payment was the first one after the increase took effect.

Rate raised after a missed payment?

A card rate that stays at the penalty level after the sixth on-time payment costs interest every month, and the issuer reduces it only when the count is right. The date the increase took effect, the notice date and each payment’s receipt date have to sit in one place.

The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit is a 75-page guide with the debt-validation steps for the day a card balance reaches a collector, plus a debt inventory, call log and deadline tracker that can hold the six payment dates and each call to the issuer. Its Part 8 collects letters, worksheets and contacts.

Track the six on-time payments with the deadline tracker in the Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit →

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.