Lots of folks are shocked when credit card companies hit them with big fees and default rates and smaller credit limits.

Yet all of the bad stuff a card company can do is set out in the contract you're given -- and accept -- when you sign up for the card.

We're certainly not shocked that no one reads the page after page of fine print.

A report in the NYU Journal of Law and Business shows how little attention we pay to the contracts we sign.

Researchers asked students at DePaul University to take part in a study and provided them with a three-page consent form.

The second paragraph was a long-winded explanation of informed consent, but buried three-quarters of the way through it was a sentence suggesting that participants should not sign the form because its terms were clearly not in their best interest.

The consent form committed participants to giving electric shocks to other participants, said they would be forced to do push-ups and would be virtually imprisoned in the lab until they were allowed to leave.

How many students signed the paperwork?

Eighty-seven out of 91, or 95.6%.

And how long did the average student spend reading the form before they signed?

An average of 2 seconds.

So the next time you apply for a new card, or get a revised contract for an existing account, spend a little longer than that with the fine print.

Our 7 sneaky terms and costly fees to avoid can help you spot the bad stuff.