That's your assertion, now expand on it please. People use CC's of their own free will, and they promise to pay off the balances with interest and late fees. I haven't had a CC in years where I didn't have to agree that they could increase the interest rate if I didn't pay at least the minimum required payment each month, and on time.
It is a simple fact that if some people don't pay their obligations, the rest of us will be charged more for the risk the lenders are assuming. Either the defaulters pay, or the rest of us do - and that is enforced charity, IMO.
And I don't have a lot of sympathy for most perpetual debtors. They are people who aren't realistic about their life styles. The ones who truly have an unexpected crisis deserve our help and our charity, and there are ways to get it to them.
How can you characterize this statement of fact as merely an assertion? Let's break it down. Over the past 11 years CC lenders and Debtors have entered into loan agreements right? That's a fact. This represents billions of dollars of debt that is out there right now and that preexists the current proposed bk law. Those loan agreements incorporated the terms of the then controlling bankruptcy code and state exemptions laws right? That's a fact. These laws have pros and cons for both CC lenders and debtors right? That's a fact. The CC lenders knew what these terms were when they entered into these loan agreements right? That's a fact. Now the CC lenders are rewriting, through the new bk law, these terms dramatically in their favor, terms that were in place and relied on by the parties when all this debt was incurred in the first place, right? That's a fact. These new terms will apply to all that previously incurred debt, debt that was incurred under the the different terms of the existing bk code right? That's a fact.
Now is it fair for the CC lenders to use the state to rewrite these loan terms on all this outstanding debt after the fact ex post facto. I say no. You may like it, that's your perogative.
But you don't have to worry about it anymore. The Senate passed the bill today and its basically a done deal. I am no longer devoting any energy to opposing it. Instead I am now developing a series of tactics and strategies to exploit the awful aspects of this bill for my benefit and extract a substantially larger amount of money out of debtors and creditors than I am able to now under current law. Good luck with your prudent ways and, if you are like most Americans and living paycheck to paycheck, pray to God you are never stuck down by illness, injury, or a job layoff because if you ever are, us lawyers and MBNA et al will be there waiting for you and what little blood is left in you.