|
I would think that a smart politician would latch onto this.
This is a subject that affects pretty much anyone not making half a zillion dollars a year. If someone could give me a reason to feel they might be able to put a cap on the rates - a REASONABLE cap (not 30%) - I'd vote for them.
I always thought we had usury laws, but I've seen rates hit 24.9%, and now advertised at 29.9%, and goodness - when does it stop?
And it's not just the rate, but when it's compounded, and when you make the minimum (supposedly if you make it within 20 days there's no charge, but that's not a full billing cycle, so who really does that?).
Credit funds a lot of our HD TV's and SUVs and stuff like that, but it's also killing us from the inside. I bet if we can get that under control, it'll fix a lot of things.
Some of it, granted, is consumers not thinking it through. For instance, go into Macy's (say) and get 20% off instantly if you put it on a Macy's card, with an additional something percent just for applying. So you've saved $20 on a $100 item. Now pay the minimum - you'll probably give them $50 in exchange for that $20.
For stuff like that, it's caveat emptor, but rates in general seem to have no cap on them.
|