05 Feb 2006
Credit Card Sharks

I've seen, or been victim of, most of these. My gripe with these practices has less to do with their existence than with the methods by which they're foisted on unsuspecting consumers. I've gotten "Amendments to the User Agreement" from card companies that were literally printed on foolscrap in 2 point type! I needed a magnifying glass to read them! How many folks do you suppose got out their magnifiers to peruse sixteen pages of densely packed legalese? And once they'd read it, how many understood it?

I've also managed to tear up one such document: credit card companies regularly flood my snail mail box with various offers, all of which are marked "Important! Dated Materials Enclosed!" and most of which are simply offers for other credit cards/checks, etc. Note the "most" in that last sentence. For they send out their legitimate legal notices on the same stationary, with the same logos and marking on the envelope. Is this deliberate, to create confusion?

In the not too distant past, we had a word for this. Fraud. And the main culprits were called con artists. I'm beginning to think that most of them have found a new home in the banking business.

Last time I checked, loan sharking was still illegal. The banking industry's questionable practices are fully protected under the law. If ever an industry needed to be more tightly regulated, it's credit card lending. A shark is a shark, even if it wears a suit and works in a building with marble floors.

(link) [The Washington Post]

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