And I agree, so cancel the cards, and tell all of your friends not to do business with the credit card company. That's the way the market works. If the people abdicate their responsibilities as good consumers, you get a Nanny State.
Look, I can cut up my credit card. I have no problem with that. But that is not the answer. And some silly suggestion that I warn my friends and family is so lame, it hardly bares a response. All the credit card companies are charging 28 to 30% interest within a year or two. What good does it do to tell my friends and family?
Then I’m left with a balance I have to pay out thirty years to pay off. When I say that, it’s the proverbial I, since I can afford to pay these accounts down. A lot of people today are under extreme financial pressure. They can’t. And they are trapped in a system where they have to service these accounts and can’t get out from under them.
Your suggestions completely ignore these people.
If they make a payment one day late, it shows up on their credit report. If the credit card company charges 35%, you don’t seem to criticize them for it. Why it’s just “cut up your credit card”.
Not everyone has pristine credit. They need access to credit. Finances are tight and you never know when something will happen and you need to place a repair bill on the card, a medical bill on a card, or some other emergency type bill on a card.
People can’t get new credit, so they try to use the credit they have. When they do, they are charged fees that make it nearly impossible to pay down the principle.
That is wrong.