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It’s so odd to me that predatory credit card rates are just an acceptable thing, and that there is basically no widespread political movement to do anything abo
by keiferski 3y ago
It’s so odd to me that predatory credit card rates are just an acceptable thing, and that there is basically no widespread political movement to do anything about it. Most people don’t even know what usury is and the ethical history of that concept. Why is it even legal for a card to have 20-30% interest rates?
The answer is probably, “because people with credit cards spend more money, even if they are borrowing that money, and that’s ultimately what the decision makers really care about.”
- standardUser 3y agoIt used to be much worse before the Obama-era "Credit CARD Act of 2009". Some highlights from the law: - Credit card companies have to give consumers at least 21 days to pay from the time the bill is mailed. - Credit card companies must give consumers at least 45 days notice if their rates are about to go up. - Credit card companies must apply payment amounts "in excess of the minimum payment amount" to a consumer's highest interest rate balances first. Banks used to break all of those rules with abandon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_CARD_Act_of_2009 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_CARD_Act_of_2009
- keiferski 3y agoFrom quickly researching this, it used to be much more restricted until the 70s and 80s, when a lot of deregulation took place.
- prewett 3y agoAs I understand it, the interest rate used to be capped at something like 10%, but when the base interest rate rose above/near that, many people couldn’t get credit at all (why offer unsecured credit, which is high-risk to the lender, if you can’t charge the necessary premium over the risk-free rate).