Posted on 05/20/2009 4:28:09 AM PDT by GOP_Lady
Sweeping new restrictions on credit-card companies would ban extra fees and fluctuating rates and arm tens of millions of consumers with more information on their debts.
Starting in February 2010, a Senate bill passed Tuesday would ban practices such as charging consumers to pay by phone and sudden surges in interest rates. Payments above the minimum due would be applied to balances with the highest interest rates. Information once relegated to tiny print must be made clearer, and consumers will soon be told how long it would take to pay off a balance if they pay only the minimum due.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Sorry to burst some bubbles on this thread, but even a clock is right twice a day.
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Agreed, I would say that if Obama is EVER going to do anything worthwhile this may just be that one thing. What the credit card companies have been doing is contemptible.
I hate these CC companies with a passion. HATE THEM! I am trying to do the right things. It just aggravates me that everytime I turn around it costs me more.
I'm having trouble understanding how cash can be less convenient. You whip out $300 from the bank machine, and you can then make $300 worth of purchases, anonymously. And you can spend it anywhere, even with non-merchants.
Credit cards certainly have their place, but cash still works just fine in most situations.
A temporary depressing effect - we, as a nation have been spending way more than we've been earning for some time now and that is what has gotten us into the present financial mess. The government solution to too much borrowing has been for the government to borrow excessively to support the entities that made the loans. Which is not a solution. We cannot borrow our way out of debt.
Continued spending of borrowed funds only contributes to the economic house of cards that we now have. Curbing spending until we're out of debt is the only way that we will get a long-term revival of the economy.
Same sort of thing happened when my best friend inherited some money and went to buy a Cadillac with cash. They wouldn’t cut a deal for cash and she couldn’t understand why. I told her they make more money overall when they finance a car.
You seem to be unfamiliar with our Earth definition of this word.
As several people pointed out, the credit card companies basically brought this on themselves by habitually gaming the system with various sleazy but not-quite-illegal "gotcha" tactics.
Nice sentiment coming down from Zeus on Mount Olympus, who obviously has never lived in the real world.
I hate these CC companies with a passion. HATE THEM! I am trying to do the right things. It just aggravates me that everytime I turn around it costs me more.
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I agree. They are unbelievably sneaky and will do everything they can to trip you up so as to get another few dollars out of you. RipSawyer is right about their pettiness.
I had a card for seven years that I paid off on time without fail. For seven years my payment was due on the 27th of the month. Then one day, the bill came and the due date was changed to the 20th. It’s obvious what they were trying to do.
Yes, dalereed, it was in the contract that the due date could be changed. I’m not saying they “shouldn’t be allowed” to do that. It’s still sneaky.
I told her they make more money overall when they finance a car.
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Oh, she could have had some fun financing the car for some ridiculous rate and period of time, letting the dealer and salesperson get all excited thinking they’ve got a live one and are going to make a killing on the finance charges, and then paying the loan off immediately.
She would want to make sure that there was no 'pre-payment penalty' clause in the contract first. Frankly, I can't see a dealer giving up a sale because the buyer had cash. Perhaps when people were lining up to buy specific models, the dealer might have some leverage to sell to the highest payer, but right now, I would think that they'd be happy as a clam to sell anything.
A dollar in hand is worth 2 over the course of the loan.
Closing a CC account, even for a perfect customer, will lower you credit rating. Multiple closings are even worse. Next time you go for a house or car loan, you will possibly be in a lower rating bracket and have to pay higher interest on the loan. The benefit you gained in dropping the card will be more than lost in the higher interest. Be careful. Read some articles online about what affects your credit rating. Of course, if you don't intend to borrow money, you're OK.
Thanks for posting the links
Yesterday Rush (or maybe Quinn) said that the CCCs were going to start charging interest from the day of the charge instead of waiting through a grace period.
If they do that, I’m dumping my credit card. No way I’m paying interest when they already make 3% on every sale and charge me $85 a year.
It will be cheaper to use my debit card from my wonderful bank. I do love my bank since I 86ed Bank of America.
“Of course, if you don’t intend to borrow money, you’re OK.”
In my 72 years i’ve never borrowed a cent for anything or bought anything on payments except our 1st home and it’s been paid off for over 20 years.
I have no idea what my credit rating is because no one will give it to me without paying them $7.
I heard a really strange story recently from a very credible source. The man said that the CC company jumped on some technical default on his part as an excuse to jack his special low rate up to the stratosphere. He said he called them and told them he had no intention of making any more payments unless they restored his original interest rate, he owed around five thousand dollars. They threatened to ruin his credit, he replied that he didn’t care. He is very financially solid and could have paid the whole thing off at once but he told them he didn’t think their little piddling debt would hurt his credit standing very much but if they would restore his rate he would make his payments. They flat refused but called him back and said that if he would pay something like forty percent of the balance they would settle for that. He told them that didn’t make sense for them to lose over half the balance and repeated that he would pay the whole amount but only at his original interest rate. They told him they couldn’t do that so he said “Well, thanks for the gift” and sent them their payoff amount. I am at a loss as to what the thinking was on that one.
I don’t know if you are familiar at all with Dave Ramsey, but he said that he checked his credit score and he doesn’t have one :) He doesn’t use credit and pays for everything with cash.
If more people listened to D.R. (and even he says that most of what he teaches is just common sense), then we wouldn’t be seeing a lot of this junk with the gov’t interfering with CC companies.
(from a soon to be debt-free household here)
Not likely. Card holders have become used to the idea that there should be no fee simply for having the card. There is too much competition in the industry to permit annual fees. The only exceptions are cards that provide extra services in the T&E area and have a strong brand (Amex). Customers who don't keep a balance would simply switch back to cash, since they are using the cards for payment convenience, not to provide them with funds they don't have. And then the card companies would lose a good chunk of the burgeoning revenue they are getting from merchant fees on everyday purchases that a few years ago were almost all cash.
Never heard of him but my CC co. said that my credit score was in the upper 10% but they wouldn't tell me what it was and that if I wanted to know I would have to pay to get it.
Since i’ve never bought anything in my life I didn't have the money to pay for and will never do so the credit score is nothing but a curiosity and I won't give anyone $7 to satisfy my curiosity.
I believe that online payment charges are also prohibited.
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