Quote:
Originally Posted by martinguerre
insisting on personal responsbility doesn't make the credit card companies responsible for predatory lending practices.
frankly...i think we need accountability on both ends. our culture of debt is not healthy, nor is the facilitation of this by credit companies.
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Absolutely. Yes people should be responsible with their money, but credit card companies are exasterbating the problem by giving out their cards with way too much credit on it to people who would have a very very hard time paying it back if they max it out. It doesn't help that companies jack your rates way up for anything they can possibly think of. My sister works for a credit card company and she has heard of credit card companies raising someones rates because they were approaching their credit limit. That's right, approaching the limit was a "credit risk" and so they up the rates...
On the other hand, I've also heard of people running up huge bills, sinking that money into some "exempt" asset like their house. Then declaring bankruptcy and walking away with a bunch of equity in their house for free.
Something needed to be done, was it the right thing? I dunno. I see this hurting a lot of people in the short run, but maybe enlightening the rest to stop them from getting themselves into trouble in the long run.