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Look, trying to equate the credit card industry with the mortgage industry is disingenuous at best..... While the mortgage industry was caught with it's hand in the cookie jar trying to screw over low-income families by putting them in houses they KNEW they couldn't afford, they ARE a business that typically can operate and profit within a legitimate business model...
Credit Card companies inherently screw over the poor. That IS how they make their money. They have ZERO interest in Daddy Warbucks who pays off his card every month. They make their cash off the dicey credit risk who they charge high interest and pepper them with over-the-limit fees and late-payment fees until they sink.... Poor sap tries to make good but the fees basically leave them bailing water from the Titanic with a thimble and eventually they buckle. No matter. Usually by that point they've paid their debt three times over in interest and the Credit Card Company has no problem selling the debt off for $.20 on the dollar. It's all gravy at that point.
The problem is that with Credit Card Companies that IS the business model. They aren't profitable if they aren't screwing the poor. So bailing them out is a pointless exercise because they won't learn any lesson because there's none to learn. Whereas the mortgage industry CAN actually revert to responsible lending practices.
Gah. It makes me sick. There is little benefit to the responsible who are saving, cutting corners, losing their 401k's, jobs, etc.
It's a mess.
A backlash may be coming from those who have been fiscally responsible. I'm hearing more and more anger from those who lived within their means. Let your politicians know...they only listen to the loudest and those who reelect (or have $).
Credit Card companies inherently screw over the poor. That IS how they make their money. They have ZERO interest in Daddy Warbucks who pays off his card every month.
Firstly, credit card companies don't make people open an account nor do they make you spend money they can't pay back. In what way do they "screw over the poor", because they give them a credit card?
Secondly, there are a variety of cards that are targeted towards "daddy warbucks who pays off his card every month". They can make money off these cards whether or not they pay off the balance each month as these people usually making a lot of transactions.
Firstly, credit card companies don't make people open an account nor do they make you spend money they can't pay back. In what way do they "screw over the poor", because they give them a credit card?
Secondly, there are a variety of cards that are targeted towards "daddy warbucks who pays off his card every month". They can make money off these cards whether or not they pay off the balance each month as these people usually making a lot of transactions.
I'm afraid Mr. Butler has a valid point, Humanoid. Credit cards companies do take advantage of people. They loan money to people whom they have no business loaning to. It's the same as the mortgage companies.
I'm afraid Mr. Butler has a valid point, Humanoid. Credit cards companies do take advantage of people. They loan money to people whom they have no business loaning to. It's the same as the mortgage companies.
How is giving someone a credit card taking advantage of them?
You guys want to blame everything on the "big bad companies" and completely ignore personal responsibility.
What kind of personal responsibility is the "big bad companies" taking when they knowingly are extending credit to ones that don't qualify?
Your comment doesn't make that much sense. How did they get a credit card if they didn't qualify for one? Of course you likely mean they don't qualify for one in your naive sense of who should and shouldn't qualify for a credit card. But that doesn't matter.
If a company is willing to issue credit cards to people with low incomes or even so-so credit scores why is that a problem? How is issuing someone a line of credit a bad thing?
If credit card companies stopped lending to people with low incomes, no credit histories or past credit problems you guys would just complain about how they are screwing you by not allowing you to improve your credit score.
The issue here is personal responsibility. But everyone wants to blame someone else for their problems.
This is very true...Credit Cards are given to stupid teenage girls with no concept of money the moment they turn 18 and they max them out. Then they can't pay them off and will either go bankrupt or will go into even more debt to pay them off. This is a cycle with no end. It only gets worse.
I am 20 and have one credit card. I don't even use it. Pretty much useless if you ask me especially when you have a debit card. If I use the credit card then I have to make sure I pay the bill on time and make sure to check when the bill is due etc. Big time hassle. When I have a debit card all I do is swipe it and don't have to worry about it. I have enough money in the bank so I don't really need to worry about overdrafts and all that other garbage.
After I buy my house, I won't need credit anymore. If I can't pay full cash for it then I can't afford it. Simple as that.
Quote:
Credit Card companies inherently screw over the poor.
It isn't exactly the poor but rather human nature. Credit cards make their money by having people mess up. Being late on their bills etc etc. The poor, obviously being more stupid, make these mistakes more often hence the reason the credit card companies get blamed for making money off the poor. If the poor smartened up and had delayed gratification they probably wouldn't be so poor.
I am 20 and have one credit card. I don't even use it. Pretty much useless if you ask me especially when you have a debit card. If I use the credit card then I have to make sure I pay the bill on time and make sure to check when the bill is due etc. Big time hassle. When I have a debit card all I do is swipe it and don't have to worry about it.
That's one way to do it, but I've never had a debit card. I have one credit card I use and another that just sits and helps boost my average account age and used credit vs. available credit ratio. I get cash rewards on the primary credit card for most expenditures (which used to be significant but have slowed way down in the last few months). I track every expenditure in my budget in Excel. When the bill comes in the mail I go to my budget and grab my current charges and literally CTRL-C from that and CTRL-V into my bank's online bill pay field and I'm about done. It's not a time hassle at all. Haven't paid a finance charge or other fee since last decade. I guess it's whatever you're used to, but either way works.
Your comment doesn't make that much sense. How did they get a credit card if they didn't qualify for one? Of course you likely mean they don't qualify for one in your naive sense of who should and shouldn't qualify for a credit card. But that doesn't matter.
If a company is willing to issue credit cards to people with low incomes or even so-so credit scores why is that a problem? How is issuing someone a line of credit a bad thing?
If credit card companies stopped lending to people with low incomes, no credit histories or past credit problems you guys would just complain about how they are screwing you by not allowing you to improve your credit score.
The issue here is personal responsibility. But everyone wants to blame someone else for their problems.
I am not naive and I am a responsible person are you always looking to argue if somebody disagrees with you? It seems that way in a few posts I read of yours. We all can have different opinions without each of us being totally wrong can't we?
Just like the failed housing loans credit card companies do give out credit to people that do not qualify! Yes it is up to each individual to use their money and credit wisely and many do not. Yes each person needs to repay what they have borrowed, buying on credit cards is borrowing, and many people are gluttons when they have a credit card. Rent/mortgages, car payments and utilities go unpaid because of the fear of late fees credit cards charge. They swear they aren't using the card again but find themselves faced with needing basic needs they don't have the money to buy them with. It is a vicious cycle, in the mean time the credit card companies just want their money. Which they are entitled to but the card user is now in bondage to that company if they want to do the right thing and pay off what they charged~~which they should.
Then you have elderly that had good credit most of their lives that find retirement hard to live within their means. They might charge groceries, prescriptions, gas, in order to make it on their own. They could possibly already had the credit cards before they retired and rarely used them.
There are the youth that go off to college or their first jobs/apt. that have never experienced budgets or credit. It is like living in a candy factory to them all the things they can now have that their parents said no they couldn't afford maybe.
I am not blaming the cc companies and leaving the person off the hook but it seems you are wanting to say the cc company has no fault in why people default on them or why they carry such high interest monthly. I know personally I have had several cc over the years which I don't carry a balance. But many of these dept store cc keep raising my credit limit without me asking! I don't need a $10,000.00 credit limit to a dept store or a $30,000.00 Visa limit. Then I must take time to call these cc companies and lower the limits back to where they were to begin with. Do all this and 6-12 months down the road they rise my limit again. If I wanted to I could go charge crazy or take out cash advances but I won't put myself or family into a situation I couldn't repay.
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