Truth About Credit Cards: So, In Conclusion...

So, as we sum up this look at the credit card industry, what have we learned?

There are no laws in existence today that limit how high your credit card interest rate can go. There are no laws in existence that limit the number of fees that the credit card companies can charge you, nor the dollar amount of those fees. Even though you can avoid fees by paying your credit card bill on time, all the credit card company needs to do to raise your rate is declare that you are in Universal Default and once that happens, they can amend their agreement with you however they wish.

If you feel that you are being ripped off, the only place you can turn to is an inept federal agency that isn’t going to do anything. We have learned, that in essence, the credit card companies can do whatever they want, when they want, and there is nothing that consumers can do about it.

So, why then, do millions of Americans keep running up credit card debt? Why do we all refuse to learn the knowledge that we need in order to make the right financial decisions when it comes to credit, especially these evil monsters known as credit cards?

It is because it is so easy. A piece of plastic you carry around with you that allows you to buy things that you don’t have the money to buy. It is instant gratification without any concern for the long-term effects of that instant gratification. If that does not define humanity, then I do not know what does.

There is an industry in this country that has perfected its methodology of legally extorting more and more money from the consumer over the course of the past 40 years that is working against us and we refuse to even be bothered with such chores as reading a credit card agreement from start to finish.

We all know smoking is bad for us, but there are still smokers out there. We all know that credit card debt is bad for us, but 90 million of us are Revolvers. 90 million of us at one point had $0 in credit card debt and knew long before we charged dollar one that credit card debt was a bad idea and was going to cost us in some cases over 100% more than the actual purchase price of whatever it was that we could not live without, yet we still handed that piece of plastic over to the sales rep.

They get us with late payment fees, over-limit fees, minimum payment fees, cash advance fees and interest rates that are completely ridiculous, especially when compared to deposit interest rates, yet we keep begging for more.

7 million bankrupt families worth of it over the past 5 years alone.

If you owned a 1979 Honda and a 2005 Ferrari and I bought the Honda from you for $300, then came back after the fact and told you I thought I paid $300 for the Ferrari then took you to court, we all know I’d be laughed out of there by the judge.

Yet, we “sign” open-ended credit card loan agreements that allow the credit card companies to change the deal after the fact however and whenever they want, and we keep screaming for more.

Everyone is up in arms about those damned evil cigarette companies that knowingly sold us poison for years, but how many of us are calling our government representatives about the credit card companies and the lack of laws and regulations that govern what they do to us?

How can a FICO score determine the home we get, the car we are able to drive, the very interest rates on everything that we borrow, yet be something that is a complete and total mystery to us?

How can we be surprised that a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry has no concern for us on an individual level and be surprised when after making ten years worth of on-time payments, turn around and raise our interest rate and penalize us after just one late payment?

Whether we learned that fire could burn because our parents told us, or we found out the hard way, we only had to learn once that fire could burn and you can bet that we stay the hell away from it.

Why, if we all know that credit cards burn, do we all keep touching the flame? 

Let me close with some final words...a quote from my Bank of America credit card agreement:

“If at any time during any rolling consecutive twelve billing cycle period you fail to make two Minimum Payments on a timely basis or exceed your Credit Limit twice, we may elect to increase your Purchase, Cash Advance and/or Balance Transfer APRs to the Penalty APRs.”

For my purchases on that particular card, that means going from an interest rate of 13.24% to 29.24%.

And that, is why the credit card companies love Revolvers so much...