Credit-card interest rates: No candidate discussion?
Lots of talk about unfair mortgage practices, but how about “penalty” interest rates on credit cards? My highest one (Washington Mutual, also my home bank) is now at 31.4%, despite the fact I have never been late or missed a ppayment on the card. I am in a dispute with a hospital which turned a bill over to collections after I refused to pay for double-billed visits — that is what kicked my interest rate up across the board with the four or five different cards I have.
No “It’s your own damn fault”, please. I took the lines of credit after finding myself stranded in Florida after 9/11 when almost all business collapsed there, including mine — and have been paying the debt off ever since.
The question is, why are none of the Presidential candidates talking about this issue, when American Express is on the verge of a collapse just like the one at Bears-Stearn. By the way, wasn’t it ironic how “Mr. Free-Enterprise” G. Bush sanctioned the bailout of B-S with government money?
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i generally agree
but we need to curb credit and unfair practices will curb it in a hurry
the marketplace is swift and efficient
Any moron with a credit card with a 30% percent rate needs more than the presidents help they need to get their prioties togehter
You need a credit councilor
I don’t think there is anything that can be done about the rising interest rate of credit cards. They are all owned by private companies and the Bush administration has always felt that private companies can run their own show until they need a bailout from the government. I do not think it is right to give bailouts to companies, and people, who mismanage their money and find themselves in trouble. If the government starts bailing out companies and people, then it heads down a slippery slope of having to either bail out everyone or face a back lash. The only recourse that you really have it to try and get a 0 interest card and transfer your high interest rate balance to lower one in the hope of paying off the lower one before the interest rate hike kicks in. I know politicians in the past have talked about doing something about credit card companies, but that was just talk.
W also changed the bankruptcy laws to make it alot harder for people in a lot of debt to start over. The credit card companies are like loan sharks except they want a little bit/monthly payment to have you for a long time.
Candidates – Democrat or Republican – won’t discuss it because it’s essentially a matter for business to manage on its own.
Any mention of tighter regulations of the banking industry (or any industry, for that matter) will be met by howls of protest of “government interference in the private sector” and similar noise.
Too bad, really, because this is clearly a case that cries out for tighter regulation.
Consumers Union is sympathetic to your plight and is keeping track of pending legislation. http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/CreditCardBills07.pdf
Also look to their front page under “Latest News”. http://www.consumersunion.org/
Send them an email about your experience, they may find your story compelling.
Shrug off the knuckleheads, sometimes you get into a tight spot! Good luck to you!
Actually, in a debate a couple months ago, Barack Obama spoke about his opposition to an interest rate cap of 30%. He felt this rate was too high and he would like to see a lower cap passed.
Why would he vote against it?
One- 30% IS in fact too high.
Second- by passing a 30% cap through, many companies will move their interest rates up to 30% (such things happen often, especially as it applies to the poorest of the nation).
Have you tried calling the companies and talking to them? And why would you have so many credit cards, that is a disaster waiting to happen. Are you making only minimal payments on them, if so try taking one card and paying extra on it until you have it paid down, ( do not use it while you do this), then move on to the next and do the same, try not using any as you are going through the process and remember you still have to make minimum payments on all. As you pay them down you will see your credit rate go up and then you can call and negotiate your interest rate. Sounds like you took out cards with high interest rates to begin with, but it is also true if you don not pay bills it will cause your interest rate to go up.You need to present the card companies with documentation that this is a double bill and that you are in the process and correcting it, but you must present legal documentation as to your claims. Honestly it sounds like you are just not paying the bill, instead of trying to correct it. As you pay off the credit cards, consider cutting them up and cancelling them and only keep one or two at the most. I got myself into a mess with credit cards once and I did as I am telling you and did not use them while doing this process and it worked, and guess what, I found that I didn’t even miss them and learned how to budget myself a lot better.
It’s kind of funny that your interest rate is at 31.4% because the senate tried (or did?) pass a bill that would cap the penalty interest rates at 30%. So you are basically at the percentage rate that the senate feels is acceptable. I guess when you make 100+ thousand dollars per year with the best health care that our tax money can buy you don’t have to /really/ consider the ramifications of the perpetual debt that many responsible citizens find themselves in. As long as Johnny Lobbyist contributes a few dinners, dollars and votes our government officials will always put the American citizens second. And, yes, I used the word “responsible” for those of you out there that think only those with flagrant disregard for economics and finances find themselves in debt. If somebody is in debt and is actively paying off their debt/bills they are not the problem. Let’s face it, our country has reached a point where the responsible people are broke and the irresponsible people are going bankrupt and having their homes foreclosed.
I think that the Democratic candidates purposely don’t talk about credit cards because the economy is such a delicate issue. The Democrats are afraid of sounding like “socialist” liberals to the “free-market” (so they say) conservatives. And, sadly, though many Americans are drowning in debt they are more focused on “The Terrorists!” than anything else. Despite Bush’s falling popularity the terrorist “threat” has been seared into the minds of so many people. That combined with the fact that most (and by most I mean MOST) Americans don’t know the first thing about economics (or politics). People don’t tend to fight for causes they aren’t passionate about. Hell, we didn’t even raise a finger when the Patriot Act was instated and that goes against the very core of American principals (oh, and that Constitution thing I hear about from time to time). We can thank our ever crumbling education system for that (but that’s another story). Right now Clinton and Obama are playing politics and they just can’t seem to find time for the “boring” issues.
McCain lucked out. He doesn’t have to talk about any of these issues for the time being. It’s kind of interesting how the Republican race seemed to end quite suddenly (except for no-clue Huckabee), and as their reward they got months of no-debate campaigning. No challenging questions on one or two hour television specials, which translates to little opportunity for political fumbles–and all of the questions that McCain does get are from press conferences where he’s only expected to give short, uncontested answers. He’ll be saving the critical economic issues for the summer/fall debates in hopes that the war’s current conditions will push him through the last stretch. Who needs to worry about the economy when there’s a war going on?!
I agree, they aren’t talking about cr cd interest. The across the board raising of rates is anti-consumer. What it says is, pay whatever you are billed and then fight with the merchant to get your money back. Dah! Like we have more money floating around than the merchant and can better stand to wait for a refund? The candidates aren’t talking about it and guess what? Don’t expect them to. To control those credit card companies would be getting into bottom line profits of many boardroom shareholders who are also political contributors. Animals usually don’t bite the hand that feed them .
This is HIllary’s answer to credit card interest rates. She does want to cap it at 30%. Granted, Hillary agrees this is high, but as you know personally, your interest rate is higher. Refusing to a cap because it is too high, but refusing to offer an alternative (Obama’s way), still doesn’t solve the problem.
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=5998
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You asked about royalty information. The spectrum for that runs from the sublime to the ridiculous but most of that information is proprietary, thus it's very closely held within the big houses. In fact, authors themselves sometimes have trouble getting accurate royalty data from their own publishers. Why is that? The book business is so very competitive and cuttthroat–nobody wants anyone else to know what kind of sales are being generated. As a rule of thumb, figure on 8-12% royalties for most hard cover books, a little more for paperback.
Some publishers also pay very small advances while others pay astronomical amounts. For a first timer, you shouldn't expect much–perhaps as little as a $1,000. However, that's good news and bad news. Remember, we're talking advance money, which means you have to earn all of that back before you see another dime from your publisher. The more you get up front, the longer it takes to get the next check.
Figure on 3 years from when you first start shopping your book around until you see it in print (assuming it's good and you can find an agent to rep it.) But hey, what's 3 years? Trust me, it's WORTH it when you hear, "Your book is like Braveheart meets the Lord of the Rings," which a Hollywood producer just said to me a few days ago.
I hope this helps. Good luck with your writing.
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Ask broad themed questions that people could take more than one position one.
Such as: "Is theft ever justified?"
"How important is it that the rule of law be enforced?"
"Does Hugo present a balanced portrait of his characters, and do you think he should?"
President John McCain!
difference between a "debit card" and a "credit card" is that.
1) debit card deducts the balance from a deposit account, like a checking account,
whereas,
2)credit card allows the consumer to spend money on credit to the issuing bank.
In other words, a debit card uses the money you have and a credit card uses the money you don't have.
As far as I know, there is no one advocating for benefits for illegal aliens. The discussion is really about how to practically make sure that they don't get the benefits. I think it's just a realistic discussion that recognizes that there are a lot of them here and they are likely to try to gain access to any public benefits.
Republicans are saying that they want a healthcare bill to include enforcement provisions. Democrats are saying that the law legally prohibits them from receiving benefits and enforcement belongs in separate legislation.
Cut Interest Rates and Save Lot of Money With Auto Loan Refinancing at
was thinking also like that !
Know this they are mindless zombies
Why don’t people either pay their charges or do without spending
Nice.. Where to get them?
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