Can a credit card company continue to charge over-the-limit fees on an outstanding balance of a closed account?
First off, you can’t close an account that has an outstanding balance. You can, however, notify the credit card company that you want the account closed to new purchases. Interest charges and fees aren’t purchases and can continue to increase the outstanding balance. Credit card companies have the ability to not authorize purchases that would put your account over its credit limit. So anything that is above your credit limit was either done with their authorization or by interest and fees taking the balance over your limit. Regardless of how the fees got there, they aren’t illegal. The credit card company isn’t likely to help you with your problem. You’ve closed the account to new purchases, so they know they don’t have you as a long-term customer. Now, they’re just making what money they can off the account before you pay it off or it goes into default. You can’t afford to not pay down this debt. I’d hate to see you go in to credit counseling for this one debt because of the negative
