I wonder what rate the Russians charge Donald Trump.
How will credit cards companies afford the entertaining ads that I rely on for pleasure and diversion in these troubled times? You Socialists can do what you want, but even if this succeeds I pledge to voluntarily send the credit card companies outrageous interest payments, just so I can keep watching immaculate twenty-somethings laughing at beach parties and driving down mountain roads in their convertibles!
I’d say his soul, but I don’t think he has one.
LOL! That was good General.
Waiting to hear Joe Biden come out and defend the credit card companies, his most ardent supporters and contributors.
I predict…
Pass in the house, DOA in the senate.
“The bill, which the pair will officially introduce Thursday afternoon, would seek to roll back four decades of increasing credit card rates that consumer advocates and economists say have disproportionately hurt minorities and working-class people who are less likely to pay off their credit cards on time every month.”
Don’t you mean pay off their credit cards in full rather than “on time.” It may be true that “minorities and working-class people” are less likely to pay their credit cards on time and it is true that they will incur penalties as a result. But, come on, it’s not only such people who carry substantial credit card debt; it’s a good portion of the middle class. The soaring credit card rates affect a huge segment of the population.
Don’t conflate credit card interest rates with penalties for late payment. And don’t pretend that this is only an issue that affects low-income people (even if it is more of a burden for them).
Is a good idea. 15% is still usury in my book haha, but I suppose if you’re picking out what’s going to get jammed up your ass, you’re going to generally prefer the smaller thing.
“In 1978, the Supreme Court overturned a century of state laws protecting against usury by ruling that states could set their own interest rate laws and companies within those states could sell across state lines.”
Commerce Clause would certainly permit the feds to slap a limit on rates if they wish to sell credit across state lines, but then you have to wonder what happens if credit companies decide to combat that by not selling across state lines, thereby creating a patchwork of in-state credit availability and interest rates. Do certain states’ citizens end up having a much harder time obtaining credit because they’ve been made less profitable debt victims?
Arguably, Scalia’s decision in Gonzalez, in which he applied the Commerce Clause to permit regulation of homegrown marijuana that was for personal use and not leaving the state, should allow the feds to regulate even those interest rates that are “solely in-state” based on the same reasoning, but I don’t trust the Fascist Five not to go all states-rightsy on anything that hampers their control-by-plutocracy partisanship.
I’m old enough to remember when 15% was outrageous. This law seems necessary but I’d wonder if we could gradually get it even lower. Watch the special interests come out strong against it.
The median rate is 21%? How can anyone think that makes any sense when interest rates are around 2% and home loan rates are 4-5%? I’m sure the credit card companies justify it to themselves in some way, but in reality they are a bunch of greedy fucks stealing money from the poor, who are the ones that pay the minimum each month and get charged this huge interest rate on the rollover.
Oh HELL YES!
I have waiting for the re-institution of “Usury Laws” for a long, long time now.
Back in the day, anything over 15% was considered “Loan Sharking” and “Usury” and you could be prosecuted for it. Then in 1978 the Credit Card Companies got their hearts desire in the 1978 SCOTUS ruling in the “Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis vs. First of Omaha Service Corp.” case that declared State “Usury” laws unconstitutional for Interstate Commerce.
Several states quickly jumped on the ruling to make themselves “safe harbors” for the Credit Industry, specifically; South Dakota and Delaware, where state law was rapidly changed to allow any interest rate they wanted, and allow the Credit Card Companies to “Export” that rate to other States where they did business.
This did two things, it MASSIVELY lowered the bar for obtaining a Credit Card (prior to 1978 almost nobody could qualify for one) and opened the floodgates of easy credit and deficit spending by households.
Pretty soon, DEBT became more profitable than manufacturing, and now, here we are.
In the 1980s the highest allowed rate was 19.9%. These days it’s common to see rates at 25% or 29.99%.
High credit lending rates are killing the middle class. (And spare me the lectures about fiscal responsibility here. In return I’ll spare you the lectures about do-nothing capitalists profiting on the miseries of others.)
THIS! One hundred times this! I just found out that my mom is paying 25% interest on her Home Depot credit card. That is preposterous.
What’s the price of The United States of America?
It will be fascinating to watch Fox news turn its viewers against a policy that will directly help them.
My sister-in-law is a Trumptard, deeply in debt, and needs my wife to “loan” her money every few months. She will no doubt be raging against this plan as soon as Hannity tells her what to think.
Never mind that.
I’m more worried that they will no longer be able to afford to make my credit cards from gold, platinum, and sapphire.
“minorities and working-class people” are less likely to pay their credit cards on time and it is true that they will incur penalties as a result.
Last I checked, penalties and fees accounted for 17% of credit card industry bottom line. All profit.
I’d be more comfortable if the legislation also considered some sort of indexation to interest or inflation rate fluctuations, rather than a cast in stone ceiling, even though these indexes have been immensely stable for decades.