Credit card companies

[Tammarion]

More and more, I'm thinking these guys are just one step above payday advance places...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=2026&e=1&u=/latimests/20050304/ts_latimes/creditcardfirmswonasuserslost

WASHINGTON — In the eight years since they began pressing for the tough bankruptcy bill being debated in the Senate, America's big credit card companies have effectively inoculated themselves from many of the problems that sparked their call for the measure.

[Rooster]

No one's forcing these people to take the credit - especially when they can see that it's at 29% interest. Don't people have a clue?

I've been there. I got suckered in - but it was my own doing and lack of financial foresight & control. I deserved what I got.

I don't do much of anything on credit anymore. Just the house. Cars are paid for.

[Tammarion]

No one's forcing these people to take the credit - especially when they can see that it's at 29% interest. Don't people have a clue?

I've been there. I got suckered in - but it was my own doing and lack of financial foresight & control. I deserved what I got.

I don't do much of anything on credit anymore. Just the house. Cars are paid for.

Well 1st its not like they hang out signs saying its 29% intrest. In fact its not 29% interest. Its a crapload of tiny fees and junk that add up to 29% interest, usually after one month or something of low interest rates. And don't forget 'opt-out' subscription plans. But thats merely dishonest. Whats immoral is the idea of redoing the bankruptcy code to prevent people from hitting the big red button. I mean lets see - a CC charges uber interest rates because of their risk in people defaulting/going bankrupt. Then they close that door. Can you say debt peonage?

Next thing you know, the debt will be something you can inherit, to prevent peeps from just blowing their brains out. That'll show them :D

[Sayj]

Once upon a time, I had a lot of debt. I paid every friggin bill on time. I tried to pay over the minimum amount due, although it was tough because I owed so much. One day, I found myself with two credit cards, and each had a high balance.... and they said "We have to raise the interest rate on the debt you owe. We feel justified in doing this because you have own so much total debt." These assholes raised the interest rate on each card to 27%. These are high balance accounts. This is filthy robbery. I am glad to say, I no longer have the problems I had, and those accounts are paid off. But believe me, it infuriates me to think they can get away with it.

Then the insurance company decides they can play the same game. We've done a study, they say, which determined that people who have a lot of credit card debt are more likely to file auto insurance claims. God damnit. I never had a single car accident, and there were no speeding tickets on my record. BUT DID THAT MATTER?! Noooooooo Based upon my credit card debt, the rates on my insurance went up up up.

Lesson to be learned.... don't give them a chance to fuck with you because they will.

[Tammarion]

Well this is why people need to have the bankruptcy sword to rattle. I mean the thing is creditors just plain shouldn't loan money to people with bad credit ratings. High intrest rates are to compensate people for the risk they take loaning money out - no risk, no interest.

[MickeyFinn]

I thought 25% constituted usury?

[Allison]

That's really messed up, Sayj. It would have never occurred to me that a credit card company could raise your interest rate because of a high balance. I agree, that's nothing but highway robbery.

[Rooster]

And it's rediculous that insurance companies do a credit check and adjust your insurance based on that.

There may be a small group of people out there that have bad credt & more claims - but I would bet that that is not the case with 85% of the people.

I typically avoid any Insurance companies that do credit checks - on principle.

[Hammer]

Anybody here old enough to remember it being hard to get a credit card? I remember sweating out whether they would let me have one and I think the limit was a very strict 1000 dollars. Now they give them out like candy.

[Swifty_Johnson]

Yes, I remember times when credit cards were near impossible to get, and young people sometimes needed a co-signer to get one.

Now they encourage debt. I shred like 6 offers for credit cards a week. You figure they will stop sending them when I don't reply to them. I am also getting offers for more credit cards from the companies that I hold credit cards with!

I go through them like water now, as I keep getting 0% intrest for 1 year cards. So I get the cards, pay 0% intrest for a year, pay it all off, cancel the card and get a new 0% intrest card as I get 3-4 offers like that every week! Sweet. I earn intrest on my money and don't pay intrest in that debt!

The key is not to charge the cards up and put them away when you have a balance you cannot finish quickly on them.

Swifty

[]LoL[Harm]

I freed myself from credit cards a while back and will never return to the land of buying something I don't have the money for at that moment. I do have a traditional American Express charge card but I only use it to pay for things like gas and groceries so I can earn frequent flyer miles and other bonus thingies.

[Swifty_Johnson]

When I got married I had to charge somethings onto credit cards, but it will be paid off before the 0% intrest period is gone.

I caught myself before I got into serious crdit card debt, and I stopped using them. Until I got married the only things on my credit cards were small, online game fees, gas, ect. Then I got married, now I have an diamond ring on the card. :)

Swifty

[Roscoes_C&W]

paying minimum balances on credit card with interest is bad no matter what the interest rate. It's the worst thing you could do with your money. I take advantage of the 12 month 0% CC's from Home Depot but I make sure to make monthly payments so that at the end of the 12 month period it's paid off. I would feel really horrible if I had a balance on my CC with interest. The only interest you should be paying is home loan interest so you can use it as a deduction. CC interest is like pissing your money away. I know people who run up CC bills and think it's ok, and I've tried to tell them it's not but they don't listen, they will continue to buy unecesarry shit and have a $400/mo car lease payment, what a waste. O well, I guess it's necesarry for people like these to be around so when the good investments come around we have the money to make them, while they have nothing but a CC bill and a leased car to their name.