Angry Banker

Banks Don't Intentionally Overcharge Credit Card Customers… Or Do They?

You say "Consumers have a "take it or leave it" choice and since most consumer don’t understand the terms of their contract the choice of take it or leave it isn’t even a real choice."

It is a real choice. If you don't understand the terms of a contract, then don't get the card.

Nobody forces someone to take a credit card, max it out, or make late payments. These are choice people make and when they are unhappy with the charges that are actually defined in the fine print (which by the way are written by lawyers trying to comply with the ridiculously over-complex disclosure regulations), they cry "foul"!

Me, I use credit cards as transaction devices only. I pay off the balance every month and if there is ANY charge beyond the repayment of the amount I spent at the retailer, I call to have it corrected. Although I must say this has only happened to me once or twice in the last five years.

Fed's Plan to Meddle with Credit Card Issuers Is Deeply Unsettling

Nobody forces a person to get a credit card. Nobody forces the person not to read all the terms & conditions that come with the card. Nobody forces the person to max out their card. Nobody forces them to go over-the-limit. Take personal responsibility for your borrowing and for your repayments. A few "unexpected" charges (which were in fact disclosed in the legally required terms and conditions) and the credit card addict will become more savvy next time, perhaps even bothering to read the fine print to understand how to use his/her card without such fees and increased interest rates being applied.

Does True Competition Among Credit Card Issuers Exist?

Why does everyone say credit cards are not transparent? Read the disclosures that came with your card and everything you need to know is there. Problem is, most people are to lazy to read all the fine print (or in too much of a hurry to go out and max out their cards), and then after they make a late payment they get pissed off when the card company raises their rate or charges them a big late fee. But I guarantee you that the conditions that cause that rate increase or late fee are spelled out in the contract. And its not the credit card companies' fault that there is so much fine print. It's lawyers and consumer advocate groups that have caused the terms and conditions to become so voluminous.

Break Up the Big Banks

Dude, most of the firms rushing to pay back TARP (most, not all) were forced to take the money. Just a few actually desperately needed it. And oh by the way, they're paying punitive interest rates on it, so the taxpayer is indeed profiting from this. And once the TARP funds are paid back, the taxpayer has been fully restored! By the way, the taxpayer got lots of benefits back when they were playing the real estate markets (granted, alongside with the banks), so quit trying to blame this ALL on the banks. Everybody should share the blame on this one, buddy.