UPDATE: New York Times story confirming Citi will jack rates. "The move appears to backpedal from a commitment that Citigroup executives made to Congress in early 2007 when they tried to fend off greater regulation by promising not to raise rates until an account expires."

Today's Wall Street Journal story Citi to Cut More Jobs, Raise Rates on Its Plastic (pd. subs. req'd) confirms rumors that Citibank plans to jack the rates (re-price) of good credit card customers for what appears to be no reason except the economy:

"The industry has recently experienced an unprecedented market cycle with severe funding dislocation and significant consumer credit deterioration driven by the mortgage crisis and rising unemployment. In light of these unprecedented developments and others, Citi will be repricing a group of customers in our Citi-branded consumer credit-card business in the U.S. to appropriately manage these risks," said John Carey, chief administrative officer of the credit-card unit.

Citi will consider increasing a customer’s interest rate only on the basis of his or her behavior with us -- when the customer fails to pay on time, goes over the credit limit, or bounces a checks.