How will this affect you?
 

It won't. I use a loyalty card for all my purchases and pay it off every single month.

Also our christmas funds are saved during the year, so there is a small amount of money set aside just for the Christmas budget.

I think that it is horrendous that people who are already "working poor" overstretched past their limits and just paying minimum payments now makes them even more "indentured servants."

Actually this won't effect me.

On those credit accounts where we have a balance, we already pay more than double the minimum payment.

But this will be an issue for a lot of people who have grown used to running their credit to the limit.

Won't effect me at all. Our two cards are at 0. We only use them for emergencies.

I just paid off one of my 2 card balances yesterday! And my other card balance is relatively small. I plan to apply the $ I used for the first balance towards the second, along with the reg. amount I already set aside for that (which is always significantly more than the minimum), I should be clear in no time (OK, a few months).

Then I should cast my eye on the hub's card. :|

So...it won't affect me in the least. But I think I have a much better handle on my credit use than many.

Until a month ago it would have effected me greatly.

I just managed to get my card down to zero and I paid off my wife's whopper of a card with our line of credit (prime plus one is much lower than the 19% or more she was paying on her card).

I pay my cc bill off monthly, so it won't affect me. Besides, there are better ways to borrow money than through your credit card.

I don't use credit cards. Right now, a credit card would just get SO and I into debt that we can't handle between our two skimpy incomes. It also won't affect my parents--they pay off their balance every month.

Its a catch 22 here.

First they sucker people into getting big balances with low monthy payments that will basicly never pay off the card.

Then the government comes along and says 'stop suckering people'.

So they finally do but the first group of suckers now has a much bigger monthy payment.

So either you keep having more people suckered into the credit card scam, OR you make them less attractive but screw those already scammed.

Perhaps the best solution would have been to grandfather those with big balances but no matter what its a lose/lose situation.

Wont affect me, I got rid of my credit cards 6 1/2 years ago and never looked back.

We pay cash for everything we buy

Fuck me, 10 grand on a credit card? I think I'd die.

Admittedly, I'm not sure if this applies to the UK, but with a balance of approx £300, I think I'll be okay.

It won't affect me because I, too, pay double or more than the minimum amount. And it won't affect my parents, but my brother may have a hard time...

It is interesting that this follows closely behind the new bankruptcy law, which was a windfall for the credit card companies.

I pay off my cards each month (business and personal) so it doesn't effect me. It could be terribly difficult for those that have maxed out their cards and are just getting by. I think Ustwo raised a valid point in suggesting a grandfather clause. It might have been more equitable to have applied the new minimum payment schedule to new cards.

I think grandfathering big balances (maybe 5k and up), as they are right now, would be a nice resolution.

The overall intent is solid and in the long run, people will be much better off. Cards will be paid off in less than half of the time and higher monthly payments may deter people from carrying large balances. However, in the short term this could really hurt a lot of people. There are MANY people out there with 10-20k in credit card bills.

Won't affect me at all. I barely use my credit card. I can't remember the last non-university book expense on my card.

No effect on me, but I have a pretty low credit limit on the one card I have, and have no intention of getting any others so I couldn't get too crazy with debt even if I wanted to.

It'll only mean I pay a bit more each month. *shrug* Don't care much either way. I guess this'll be good for getting them paid off entirely.

How the fuck do you get 10 grand on a credit card? I'd think at like 2 grand or if-all-else-fails 5 grand you should say "WTF I shouldn't be buying so much stupid shit.."

I've gotten maybe $800 on my cc at any given time, but its paid to $0 every month..

Shit happens man. The timing belt on my car failed recently and I sure didn't have $4k lying around. Have a short hospital visit, lose your job for a couple months, etc. Sure lots of people with high debt got there because they spent it on shit but there are many people who just got into bad situations.

First people whined that the companies were screwing people by letting them make low payments and sink further in debt.......now we've got whining that they raised the minimums. No matter what move the banks made, there would be somebody whining about it. When exactly did this nation devolve into a culture of incessant whining? I can't quite put my finger on it.

If you're deep in credit card debt, you've got a serious problem. Might as well start dealing with that problem sooner rather than later. Or perhaps we can say: You made your bed, now lie in it.

I think it will FREE them. They will pay much less interest by paying down their balances. If they're not smart enough to have figured that out, this is one of the few new laws that will actually be of some benefit.

well... i think it's good for people, and will help them managed their debt better? Either way, high minimums or low... debt is a difficult thing to get out of once you're in it ...

As for me, won't affect us at all, we only use our credit card to build credit and only charge what we can pay off immediately... we've never carried a balance except for once, which we paid off the following month... having a balance on a credit card would freak me out... having a mortgage to pay off makes me nervous enough :)

sweetpea

Exactly.

I'm also (presently) unaffected. I only use the credit card so that I don't have to hit the ATM as often, and for online purchaces: the money I'm spending is already in my bank account. I only hope a catastrophic illness doesn't drive me into credit card debt.

Pay in full every month.

Mine went up a little, but Canadian banks may be different!

Will have no affect here, wife and I paid everything off over the last few years... closed the accounts and cut up the cards. We keep a pretty decent nest egg for emergencies, and I carry a corporate cc for work. Otherwise, we pay cash. If we can't afford it, we don't buy it (with automobiles being the exception).

We just have debit cards, and an Amex charge (not credit) card for big purchases.

It's good to be debt-free and feel virtuous about it, but I understand that this kind of "virtue" isn't always possible to people with limited income and a sudden huge financial problem -- medical bills, expensive repairs for a vitally-needed car, food and lodging after a job loss when there the money's run out and all that's left is that shiny plastic card...

How has society gotten so grim without us realizing it? In the old days, a desperate family would resort to a criminal loanshark, who charged exorbitantly high interest that could never be paid off, would eventually seize everything you owned, and could and would break the legs of those who couldn't pay?

Aside from the physical leg-breaking, how are things different now? Except that the loansharks are now publically-traded companies? And some of the biggest investment firms on Wall Street now invest in offshore Internet casinos (whose operation in this company is technically illegal) whose losers pay off with -- you guessed it -- credit cards.

Shouldn't affect me much. I do have a credit card, but I always pay more than the minimum payment.

Doesn't affect me. The few times I actually carry a balance, I always pay well over the minimum (usually half of the total). But usually, I just try to pay it all off.

I'm in total agreement here. I've had credit cards for several years and have always managed them wisely . . . I pay them off right away.

I think a lot of people out there use credit cards because they DON'T have the money to pay for something. HUGE MISTAKE. Of course emergencies arise, like a huge car repair bill, the fridge conks out, whatever. But people need to discipline themselves to set money aside for emergencies (called SAVING MONEY).

I use 'em because they're more convenient for me; my platinum visa gives me an extended warranty on purchases, plus I earn cash rebate at end of year. I pay it off every month.