Posted on 08/11/2007 6:39:42 AM PDT by Hydroshock
WASHINGTON — A "dangerous cycle of debt" is trapping too many credit-card holders, making it increasingly difficult to protect their financial security, according to a report.
About one-third of cardholders pay interest rates in excess of 20 percent, according to a report from New York-based think tank Demos. Also, borrowers with one slip-up can incur a "cascade" of penalties and end up in a "trap" of high-cost debt, the report said.
"The excuse of risk-based pricing is used to justify everything. These prices go far beyond pricing for risk. Some of these interest rates and payment fees seem to not accurately reflect the risk," said Tamara Draut, a co-author of the report.
Draut criticized practices such as card issuers retroactively applying rate increases. The authors also noted that companies can change terms at will, and that there are no legal bounds to the amount of fees and interest that borrowers can be charged.
"As a result, cardholders often borrow money under one set of conditions and end up paying it back under a different set of conditions," according to the authors.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“What about people who are in some kind of emergency,”
They should have savings to pay for those emergancies.
I have no sympathy for anyone that puts themselves in debt.
Those same “emergency borrowers” always seem to have a cell phone and a big TV.
I was talking to my wife last night about wanting a big scree plasma tv. We are talking about in November or December looking in the local pawn shops and paper. I figure there will be deals on almost new ones to be had after the arms reset for someone with cash.
>If you prove you did not make the purchases you are covered the same.<
A debit card takes your money from your checking account. There is no credit involved. It is not protected. It is the same as someone using your checkbook. When the cops catch them then you can sue the thief to get it back.
You don’t have to sigh to me about credit cards. I don’t like them either. They are a good way to maintain solid receipts on items that do have a manufacturers warranty though.
“I’m beating the system. I buy everything with a credit card that offers reward points. I never carry a balance, so I never pay interest. I get lots of “free stuff” with my reward points that I would otherwise have to pay for.”
You are not beating the system. You are using the system. The retailers that sell you stuff are paying 2-5% to the credit card company. That’s how I work as well. As long as you pay off the card every month, you will never have an interest or penalty charge.
I get a new tire, mounted and installed, every year (from my local Harley Davidson dealer) with the 1% points back. I’m thinking of changing to one of the plain old “cash back” cards, however.
Credit cards are a good thing if you are looking for convenience. They make Internet purchases without risk possible. I’m still wary of the debit card.
No my bank actually a credit union insures my purchases and protects illegitimate purchases with my debit card just like a credit card. And I know there is no credit involved that is why I use a debit card.
OK, so let's say that many of the folks here get their wish and all the credit card companies are shut down. Now where do you get your emergency money? Why don't you get it there now?
Donald Trump has never declared bankruptcy. One small corporate entity of his many dozens of corporate entities declared bankruptcy. There's a reason they do it like that.
You really don't get it do you? Do you understand the number that the FED's policy of inflation has done on personal savings?? If you don't then you are one of the clueless idiots who keeps these clowns in NY and DC going.
Convenient, easy, and safe.
Use your Visa Check Card at millions of merchant locations that accept Visa debit cards, thousands of network ATMs, to make purchases over the phone or on the Internet, or for automatic bill payments.
Purchase amounts are automatically deducted from your checking account, and all transactions are detailed on your monthly account statement with the merchant name, date, and amount
With Wachovia Check Card protection, if you become a victim of confirmed fraud, 100% of any missing money will be credited to your account the next day.
Using your Check Card instead of writing a check means personal information like your address, phone number, and driver's license number stay confidential.
I will not and will advise others not too as I get a chance.
Dawn53 is taking no risks at all. She has repeated several times that she uses the credit cards for purchases that she will pay off when they are due. In other words, she has the cash for the purchases. She just doesn't pay them during the purchase date. She pays them about 45 days later. In the meantime, that cash earns interest in her own account. And she also gets the reward points as well.
I use credit in the same way that Dawn53 and her family does, and we gain by doing so with no risk at all.
Anti-credit-card people may hate the credit card companies because they feel powerless against them. However, the credit-card companies hate people like Dawn53 and me because we have power over them.
The new ones are coming down so fast, I doubt the pawn shops can compete
My local hospital charged me over double what they quoted me, then said “why don’t you just put itb on a credit card?”. Vultures....
I said no, btw. No medical bills on credit cards.
I am curious how many victims of confirmed fraud they reimburse annually. Not very many I’ll guess.
Well, my BIL did have a problem once with his debit card, and I can’t remember what he had to go through to prove it was fraud, but he did get the cash back into his account within a couple days (it was about $700.) But the way they word it does jump off the page at you.
Yes and no. Using a Debit card as a debit card does indeed not have nearly as much protection as a credit card. However, if you use your debit card as a credit card (with Visa or Mastercard), you do indeed have all of the same protections. Unless a thief knows your PIN #, you should be fine. It generally is easier however to contest a transaction on a 'real credit card' than a debit card.
Hydroshock believes that anyone who has fallen on dire straits apparently should just sit on the corner with a dude that looks like Tommy Chong, with a sign and a can, apparently...
So what if you lost your job today?
Yep, it was an evil act indeed. And DeLay and Bush squashed the sensible medical exemption. They treat those who are bankrupted by medical expenses the same as those who plaster their homes with plasmas and ignore their bills.
Stealing? You’re paying it back, with interest. That’s hardly stealing. You can argue that it is many things, stealing isn’t one.
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