That credit card bill.

[clockworktomato]

That is, the legislation.

As someone who is precisely one tax refund (I hate you, post office) check away from being out of credit card debt (credit card debt, yes, all debt, no, thank you Vanderbilt price tag, but I'm getting there), I'm more than a little amused that now a big ol' whack-load of consumer-friendly credit card legislation is on

Comments

[fishsupreme]

Overall, I think most of the things they put it in are good ideas, even though it's probably going to harm me personally (without the ability to gouge the financially irresponsible, credit card companies will have to find a way to make money off people who pay their balance every month, which will mean cutting back on rewards programs and such.)

A lot of it is intended to protect people from themselves, which I'm generally not in favor of. On the other hand, this isn't being done as a preventative measure -- it's not like we're wondering "if we give people these choices, will people use them wisely or make horrible decisions that harm not just themselves but everyone?" We know full well what will happen if we give people these choices, since we did, and most of them chose to spend beyond their means, ignore the fine print, and generally make fools of themselves. Not everyone did, of course -- many people used credit wisely, and many other people used credit in ways that were better then their alternatives even if it did mean running up a lot of debt (not everyone who carries a balance does so out of idiocy, sometimes there are good reasons even given the interest rates and various obnoxious card company practices.) But I don't think there are many people who would say that the credit card industry as it stands now is good for America, even if it's good for some fringe cases. (After all, denied the ability to make large profits off high-risk people, the companies will choose to deny them credit altogether -- this "consumer protection" has a real cost.)