It is quite amazing how the credit industry in the U.S. has convinced conservative and liberal legislators that extending easy credit to people without the means to pay off their loans is an act of kindness and generosity. As if they were not charging interest or demanding repayment.
That is what they will tell you if you bring up the fact that U.S. credit industry has essentially reintroduced indentured servanthood on the sly. The average American carries a balance of $5,000 to $8,000 (depending on your sources) on their credit cards, for which they are paying an interest rate that was regarded as illegal for most of American history– usually, about 28%.
Most of these credit card companies are headquartered in the state of Delaware (yes, Joe Biden’s home) because at one time it was illegal in most states to charge “usurious” interest rates on loans.
Why is this allowed? The cover story, as I stated, is that this is a service to people, especially people with low income who otherwise would not be able to buy the big-screen television or xBox or laptop, or lavish that trip to Disney World on their youngsters. It’s a clever ruse: they are only able to continue to consume until they have reached the limits of their credit; if their limits are extended, they go even deeper into debt, and are even less able to pay off the principal. In keeping with the Republican tradition of giving laws names that are the opposite of their real purpose, (like the “Clear Skies Act”, in 2005, Congress passed “The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005”. The BAPCPA should have been called “The Perpetual Credit Servitude Act” or the “Consumer Exploitation Act”. Some Democrats opposed it, some supported it. All Republicans supported it. And that tells you a hell of a lot.
It is a tragedy that many otherwise sensible people take the attitude that if people are so stupid as to run up debts they can’t pay off quickly, they deserve what they get. To me, that is like asserting that a woman who goes to a party and drinks is asking to be raped. This attitude might make a little sense if most of the people you know are well-educated, have decent jobs and a decent income and an RRSP, and understand how they are being ripped off but do it anyway. But most people are not; they are drunk with consumer choice, bombarded by advertising, convinced by government and the media that they are entitled to enjoy the fruits of capitalism, lavishly.
But the essence of good government regulation is to protect vulnerable people from being exploited and abused by other people or corporations without a sense of right and wrong. And a corporation never has a sense of right or wrong: it has profits. The fact that the average credit card balance in the U.S. is so high tells you that the average citizen doesn’t understand credit or credit cards and is vastly over optimistic about his or her ability to pay off debt. The average consumer is vulnerable. They don’t understand that being able to buy the big screen tv and xBox now on credit means they will be able to buy a lot less in the future when their credit card payments are $400-500 a month, and barely cover the interest, while they continue to add on debt. It makes perfect sense for the government to step and restrict the ability of banks and credit agencies to offer them loans.
It made more sense when the government allowed some of these consumers to declare bankruptcy and crawl out from under an unbearable debt load. That’s what the BAPCPA was all about: tightening the noose. It imposed new, vast restrictions on the ability of any person to declare bankruptcy.
Why? The banks will tell you that they have to charge 28% on credit cards because of the great risk they take that people won’t pay these loans back. The only escape for many people was to declare bankruptcy and start over: risk taken, Mr. Banker, sometimes you lose. That’s why you were allowed to charge 28%– why are you complaining?
The only way Congress should have tightened the restrictions on bankruptcy law should have been by forcing the banks to drop their interest rates to something like 7% at the same time, in the same legislation.
The banks and the conservatives and their lobbyists and toadies would have howled to high heaven. For good reason. It’s easy profit. If you are in the investor class, it’s a fantastic way to extract money from poor people. Like taking candy from a baby, and just as ethical.
The banks and credit card agencies insisted that consumers would benefit because the tighter regulations would increase their profits and then– get this — allow them to pass on the savings to consumers in the form of lower credit costs.
Of course it did increase their profits. And of course, credit costs to consumers went up, not down.