Chode

Pretty funny, EP! American bankruptcy laws were changed a couple of years ago to require that filers repay more credit card debt than used to be the case. At the same time, nothing was done to reign in the high rates of credit card borrowing (Hint: if the prime rate is 2%, is an interest rate of 25% compounded monthly for a typical credit card perhaps a tad high?), not to mention the fees for late payments, etc.

So, there has been a high incentive for credit card issuers to offer easy approval, deceptive terms, and plans that start out easy and then grow teeth like a great white shark. Certainly, individuals who had no business signing up for these cards were the first to do so. But the issuers could have declined credit. Instead, people who were actually poor credit risks (and poor judges of the credit card terms they signed on for) were right at the head of the line. So, after years of soaking poorly informed borrowers for astronomical interest rates, tons of late fees, annual card fees, etc. I can't really feel any sympathy for these lenders. I'd say that in most cases the returns on these accounts far outweigh the actual losses.

__________________
Sweet!