I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
As President Barack Obama spoke in Rio Rancho earlier today, he tapped into some serious anger at an industry that’s widely seen as greedy and unfair to millions of American consumers.
Unlike complicated schemes like credit default swaps, the predatory lending and questionable billing practices employed by the credit card industry are pretty easy to grasp.
Who hasn’t opened a credit card statement and found their jaw on the floor at the sight of an unannounced interest rate hike or sky-high late or overlimit fee?
That’s annoying, for sure. But for many Americans, especially now, credit card company abuse adds up to more than just an annoyance.
Take teenagers who are bombarded with credit offers before they even have a job, then are saddled with debt that ruins their credit for years.
Or families who use credit to buy groceries and other household items after one parent loses a job, then find their card interest rate inexplicably doubled and their payments pushed out of reach.
Or the person who always pays his bill on time but see his credit line randomly slashed or eliminated, causing his credit score to plummet and his ability to buy a car or a house drastically reduced.
It might not seem like a big thing… until it happens to you. And it is happening, to millions of Americans.
But finally, leaders with the power to actually make the changes are standing up to the credit card companies. Obama spoke today in support of proposed federal legislation that would remedy some of the most specific and damaging tactics, including prohibiting credit card companies from imposing sudden interest rate hikes and barring them from issuing cards to anyone under 18. The U.S. Senate is currently considering several measures and momentum is building .
Telling the credit card industry to sit back is a bold move. No one’s ever attempted such a sweeping reform. The banking industry, not surprisingly, is screaming in protest, while business groups are split.
Some regular folks (who doubtless have credit cards themselves) are bristling at the notion that government thinks it can tell private industry what to do.
And then there’s those who would blame it all on the consumer, saying nobody forces anyone to get credit cards and run up the balances.
I say it’s really not about any of that. Predatory lending and usurious interest rates are wrong, whatever the context and in whatever form, whether they’re credit cards, payday loans, car title loans, tax refund anticipation loans or the subprime housing loans that led us into the economic collapse we’re in now.
Yes, America needs to go on a financial diet. People should use credit responsibly and not buy more houses and boats and car and clothes and furniture trips than they can afford, all themes mentioned by Obama today. Parents should teach their children financial common sense and high schools should require consumer literacy courses so young people can know the real cost of credit.
But I’m glad to see the President and Congress working to give us a fair playing field. Keep credit companies from targeting people who don’t even have jobs. Require them to explain their terms and bar them from raising interest rates arbitrarily or imposing exorbitant fees.
And start thinking about credit card reform as just the beginning.
