A couple of things I find offensive about those who judge others with credit card debt problems is the idea that people were being careless. Credit card debt can take YEARS to fall into and occur to those who made no wasteful purchases.
The assumption that credit card debt happens overnight or because somebody bought a big screen tv is idiotic. A big screen TV and a monthly cable TV package that results in a person staying home a few extra nights every month will SAVE that person money versus going out to a restaurant and a movie over the course of time. Reading books may save even more money, but lets not just blame others because they bought something that actually helped create wealth for others.
Using Credit Cards to pay for medical expenses, college education for kids, small business start ups, home repairs, unexpected emergencies, in COMBINATION with high credit card interest rates and a deceptively small two percent monthly minimum payment has led to escalating credit card debt for millions of consumers.
One of the dirty little credit card industry secrets is that many people could actually pay off their credit card debts if the interest rate wasn't 20% or higher!
Those of you who judge others with credit card debt as being irresponsible may owe your own job to these so called irresponsible people using their credit cards to buy products or services your place of employment or business sells.
On top of all of that, as house prices escalated a couple of years ago, the ratio of loaning a portion of one's built up equity in a paid off home was a very safe bet, until houses went down in value by 50%.
Yet credit card debt, the unsecured debt that is supposedly easy to weasel out of, has actually now increased by a huge proportion when compared to the overall value of consumer owned property!
We've had a stock market and housing market value "correction", now it is time for a credit card debt correction as well!
Credit card debt older than three years should have ALL interest fees retroactively waived from the three year mark and older for those who want to pay down their older credit card debt.
Paying down old credit card debt would be an incredible stimulus package for the ENTIRE economy. Incentive based credit card debt paydown plans are a superior stimulus package program when compared to the punitive based "gotcha trapped" programs the banks and Bernanke have come up with that represent not much more than mobster in suit and tie tactics.
Did the credit card reform bill address the issue of older credit card debt? Answer, no. Time for another credit card reform bill.
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