Taking on Credit Cards
With all the talk about the collapse of the mortgage market these days, it's easy to overlook some troubling patterns in the credit card industry. Marketing is out of control, tricks and traps increasingly dominate contracts, and the industry has quietly overturned a number of consumer protections.
I wrote an op-ed today about a bill that has been proposed in Maryland to take on a common trap, one called universal default. A couple weeks back, the Washington Post had a good article about this effort. New York and Nevada have also sought to take on universal default, and hopefully more states will soon take similar action. Putting pressure on the credit card industy and influencing Congress to act make a great deal of sense, so kudos to Del. C. William Frick, who's led the effort in Maryland!
Nice op-ed. Universal default is so abusive - the consumer has no chance to dispute a bad utility bill or some other overcharge, without being penalized everywhere else.
I want to know why credit card issuers get to increase interest rates on past balances? What other industry gets to retroactively bill you? Why is it not a contract that the consumer pays the rate of interest at the time of purchase - until it is paid off?
March 7, 2008 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
the pendulum will never swing far enough back for the borrowers until OUR government decides it will.
March 11, 2008 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink