Are we really surprised about how disgusting Fox News was? Yes. Just when you thought they couldn’t go any lower, they prove you wrong. Way to go, douchebags.
Re: Obama’s outrage about credit card companies charging 30% interest – seriously?? Honestly, it makes me a little sick of “Main Street”. First of all, it’s a Charge Card with mandatory footnotes the same size as the rest of the text that the balance must be paid in full each month. 30% annual interest rate applies to balances not paid in full. Second of all, it’s a money instrument marketed to people who accept this particular condition and are willing to accept it because of the benefits that come with it – i.e. personal concierge, travel insurances, accelerated earn rate in loyalty programs, etc. It cannot be the credit card company’s fault if someone who’s up to their ears with debt applies for the Card, miraculously gets approved for it, and then charges up a storm that they cannot afford to pay the debt off. Oh, and it just so happened genius didn’t realize how much 30% interest rate is compared to the 3.99% balance transfer rate another bank might be offering. HOW CAN I HAVE SYMPATHY FOR THIS PERSON?
The views in this post are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer or anyone working for my employer.
I’m good about footnotes since I work for a FI.
Aren’t you a little young to sound so corporate? What flavour is the Kool Aid at your office? ;)
Where greed, ignorance (the rube), and more greed (the lending institution) collide, people make bad choices. Yes, it is the fault of the borrower, but come on, 30% interest is pretty high!
What’s next, you want to kill Jean Valjean?
The point is that the product isn’t meant for people who want to carry a balance and it’s disclosed immediately when the product is marketed that the balance “must be paid in full each month”. For those who don’t want to pay in full after shopping, well, maybe they should get a different card that helps them carry balances at minimal interest rates so everyone can sleep better at night. It’s like anything out there – you can pay $600 for a Dyson or $40 for a Wal-Mart brand vacuum, but the point is that the choice is offered and we can buy whatever we can afford and suits our needs the most.
I know on some cards out there they’ve increased the rate recently for you to carry your balance, and that’s a whole other can of worms.
30% interest is high if you’re not expecting it. If it’s detailed on every piece of documentation you look at when signing up for a credit card/charge card, then it’s perfectly reasonable.
By arguing anything to the contrary, you are arguing in favour of regulation that prevents consumers and companies from taking any risks at all, in other words, against the very idea that allowed previous generations to build the great (though somewhat injured) America we see today.
I am in favour of some regulation, actually. The Great (Though Somewhat Injured) America we are all currently enjoying was built on a house of cards. Real growth would have been preferable.
I think I will go join the Communist Party just so I can argue with Alex about it :)
I was in fact referring to the growth that occurred since America sneakily earned their independence from England.
Not the recent growth driven by a bunch of lazy wankers that were given the opportunity to build wealth for themselves, but instead decided to load up on debt that they had no intent of paying off. Had those lazy wankers actually worked and taken advantage of the credit that they were being offered (the same credit that many previous generations of entrepreneurs would have found exceptionally useful), it is entirely possible that instead of being in the gutter, the U.S. economy could be chugging along at a ridiculous rate.
Sandy, I agree with you. I am always baffled at people who complain about interest they rack up on their credit cards. In my opinion, if you don’t have the money, don’t buy it! Is that SUCH a hard concept to grasp? I think that its the company’s perogative to charge whatever they want – NO ONE forces those people to sign up for the charge/credit card and then spend money they don’t have. Besides, I think that by now its common knowledge that credit card companies charge high interest. This isn’t some new development! Credit cards are made for convenience for spending the income you have, not as additonal income which is what so many people seem to think they are. URGH! I makes me mad – I live on a tight bugdet now that Jordan’s in school and we have only one income. Yes, I wish we could go out for dinner more than once every 6 weeks, yes I’d love to buy shoes whenever I wanted or splurge on fancy makeup but I don’t have the money now so I DON’T! I still use my credit cards but only because I like the points I earn and I like keeping track of what I spend. Ok, sorry for the rant, but this is a major pet peeve of mine…