I Agree with Barack Obama…Twice
Can the Second Coming be far away?
First, I agree with President Obama regarding credit card reform. It’s one thing when a credit card company raises your fees for abusing your limit. It’s another thing for a credit card company to raise your fees because you used another credit card.
I know the free market argument here: credit card companies should be allowed to function as they please. If you don’t like the fees, don’t use the card. And while I can agree with that logic, I can’t justify rate hikes because you used a different card or the company’s “marketing strategy changed.” I don’t use credit cards much (we have 2 or 3, I think, but don’t use them very often), but I really don’t feel like being punished when I choose to.
The second thing I agree with is Obama’s flip-flop on military commissions. Trying terrorists in federal court was never a wise decision, and it’s good to see Obama has come to his senses on this one.
nk:
“Using” another credit card means you owe more money. You are not as solvent as you were. Your debt to income/job/asset ratio has changed. Lending you more money, which is what the “credit card company” does every time you use your card, has now become riskier. Every lender, not just a “credit card company”, will take that into account.
9 May 2009, 12:56 pmYorkshire:
BO will try to own the credit industry, and he can not pawn the GITMO residents on anyone else. This guy has the community organizer mentality and it won’t be long before he intimidates the credit industry with massive audits or something, and he will figure out a way to blue smoke and mirror Gitmo. Either way, this good news will be tempered with an outcome we won’t like.
9 May 2009, 5:52 pmSharon:
nk,
If I use a Visa for, say dining out purposes, then use a Sears card to buy a lawn mower, it isn’t Visa’s business, provided I continue to pay Visa on time. At least, that used to be the way things worked.
We currently have credit card companies who look for reasons to raise rates. This is the main reason I don’t use them.
9 May 2009, 9:43 pmArt Downs:
The games that credit card companies are playing with their customers has nothing to do with risk regarding their customers but has everything to do with gouging customers to compensate for the folly of the banks in other areas.
We are not talking about ‘roaches’ who let accounts go into collections and let cars ‘go back’ to the repo man.
Think of the person with a stellar credit rating who has never ducked a payment but may have mislaid a bill or two. The payments may have been less than a week late and not the sort of activity that will show up on a credit report. Yet the wonderful ‘promotional rate’ may go to something associated with a loan shark and may be in the 30%+ rate.
All of this is automated and human intervention is allegedly impossible.
Put Government in charge and things could be worse.
10 May 2009, 6:40 amDana Pico:
How about this one: both President Obama and I like Dijon mustard! I don’t use it on hamburgers, though, but on cold cut sandwiches.
Does that count as bipartisanship, or what?
When it comes to the credit card industry, I agree that they can do some pretty slimy things. But I don’t agree that it’s the job of the government to protect people from credit card companies.
10 May 2009, 7:27 amJohnC.:
“But I don’t agree that it’s the job of the government to protect people from credit card companies.”
I agree, however there needs to be some uniform rules. CC companies can and do change the rules in the middle of the game. Then, if you “opt-out” by cancelling the card it knocks down your score a few points because you cut your own credit. I also think the crazy rates should be stated in front and if they want to change them, you as a customer should be able to “freeze” your account and pay off the balance without suffering a negative impact on your overall score. I use cards a lot because I rarely carry cash. I use them for convenience and am willing to pay the freight. I just don’t like when they try to change our agreed upon terms without any rights on my side.
10 May 2009, 11:40 amDana Pico:
I’d say that “uniform rules” ought to be in the form of contract enforcement: if you agree to a contract that allows the credit card company to do anything it wishes, all I can say is caveat emptor.
I use a Visa debit card for almost everything, but it is a debit card, not a credit card.
10 May 2009, 12:03 pm