Reply #26: Here's a related issue: usurious interest rates

[snot]

For decades, I've paid my credit card accounts in full every month. I am not a credit risk.

Recently, my last surviving parent died, and I was tied up out of town longer than expected, taking care of some things.

So one of my credit card payments was a few days late.

They charged me ca. $80 in late fees and interest, the latter being calculated at an interest rate OVER 30%.

Christians used to believe it was sin to charge ANY interest; and for much of my life, consumer credit laws imposed ceilings on interest that protected consumers against outrageous interest rates. The ceilings were usually around 18%.

Fortunately, when I called the credit card company and explained why the payment was late, they waived the charges. But I suspect a lot of consumers don't know to do that; and of course, that's not going to work every month.

Deregulation is great for senior management of big corps., not so great for anyone else.