Merrick Bank Rip-off Took over Nextcard & changed terms of credit card Draper Utah

I got notified a few months ago Merrick Bank took over Nextcard. I had a NextCard visa card and was sent a new Merrick Bank Visa card. No terms were listed with this card. I tried to get the terms and could not get a straight answer. My old card had an annual fee of $50.00. Last month I did not get a bill. I called and was told one would be sent to me. I got a bill the other day with a $35.00 late payment fee (the bill I did not get), a $10.00 per month annual fee (for a total of $120.00), an over the limit fee because all these additional charges put me over the limit.

How can these companies take over other companies and just start changing the terms without the card-holders consent? I never would agree to these terms, yet it says on the back of my bill if I want to cancel and not pay the annual fee I have to pay the bill in full within 30 days. I don't happen to have $1,000 laying around, so I cannot do this. So I am stuck with this crap? I thought there were laws protecting us from this sort of thing.

Michael
Tampa, Florida
U.S.A.