What Do You Know About Your Credit Card?
Our current social environment has conditioned us to believe that credit cards are necessary, that we have to have them in order to live our every day lives. We are a nation that thinks that living beyond our means is normal and that savings accounts are old fashioned. Credit cards are commonplace, but what we know about the business of consumer credit is woefully little.
The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) show FRONTLINE and The New York Times did a joint investigation on the credit card industry called “The Secret History of the Credit Card“. On the program’s website, you’ll find not only the full program video but essential reading on the Eight Things a Credit Card User Should Know page. This page includes things like the “universal default” practice whereby lenders can switch your account to the higher “default rate” if you’re late on a payment elsewhere, like your mortgage or car payment. Or the fact that There is no federal limit on the interest rate a credit card company can charge.
I encourage you to educate yourself. Read the find print and if they change the terms to something you don’t agree with, cancel the account. Learn the rules of the game so you can make sure you’re not taken advantage of. Only you have your best interests in mind.
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