I agree that Citi is being completely predatory. Shame on them and also the companies that implement mandatory arbitration clauses. Just another way to prey on consumers. No comment on the utensil CC…that’s just silly!

I really hope that their opponents in the next election raise the issue that they voted for higher credit card interest rates.

I would expect a counter of “voted to keep government interference out of business/market”. By the time the next election cycle rolls around, I expect more than a few highly visible failures caused by government intervention will be out there and publicly known. Some current policies are already coming home to roost. But I expect it’s too much to ask that the politicians responsible will be held accountable.

The way I see it, banks have seriously mispriced their risk in a number of areas, credit cards being one of them. They are now trying to adjust to reprice that risk in most cases, as well as maybe squeeze a little more out to make up for current losses. (Have you seen the credit card default rates lately? Horrendous.)

If freezing interest rates is a good thing, then why stop at 29.99%? Why not force it down to 15%? Or 10%? Or how about even 5%?

The problem is that freezing rates puts a cap on the amount of risk the banks will be willing to take, and therefore will directly affect (reduce) credit availability. For example, if interest rates are frozen at 15%, expect a large number of credit lines to be closed, and lots of applications to be rejected. There will be a lot fewer people who will be able to get a credit card.

Although it might be tempting to say that these riskier borrowers should not be allowed access to credit, you have to remember that these marginal borrowers will just go elsewhere — pawn shaps, payday loan business, etc. I’d bet these people would view a mere 30% interest rate as a blessing, and would disagree that they were better off without access to such credit.

And I should think it is sufficiently clear by now that politicians (both parties) do not want to reduce credit availability right now. Just about every new program being proposed or implemented is not for the health of the economy or consumers, but to continue to extend credit and pretend there are no problems.

In reality, credit card companies will find other ways to rip us off, this bill just eliminates the most blatant and longest running scams going.

Whenever people complain about credit cards being a rip off, or that a specific bank or card is ripping them off, I have a standard reply. “Then don’t use them.”

You can avoid being “ripped off” by simply using another form of payment. If one specific card is the problem, switch to another. If all cards are the problem, then switch to using cash or debit.

If you can’t use cash or debit to pay for all of your credit card purchases, such as because you carry balances, then you are getting some benefit from using that credit card. To complain that they’re charging you for providing that benefit, or charging you too much for it, is something I find laughable.

I doubt such people would be willing to work for their employer without pay for a week or two. Or would be willing to take a pay cut to what their employer thought was a “fair wage”, as versus what they can market their skills to other employers for.