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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 02/12/2005 : 06:58:12
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Except perhaps figuritivly.
If you've been wondering about the ethics of credit companies, wonder no longer:
quote:
Up to 70% interest - credit card aimed at the poor
Patrick Collinson
Saturday February 12, 2005
The Guardian
A new credit card aimed at millions of low-income families is to charge interest at up to 70% - the highest ever charged by a credit card company.
Marketed under the slogan: "Stay in control of your budgeting", the typical interest rate on the new Vanquis card will be 49.9%, but for some customers the company judge as high risk, it will be 69.5%. MPs and debt campaigners yesterday condemned the rate, which is 15 times the Bank of England base rate and triple the standard rate on other cards. The card also has an annual fee of £19.
This looks like something Bush would approve of. Will a clone of it hit the States soon? Has it already?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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R.Wreck
SFN Regular
USA
1191 Posts |
 Posted - 02/12/2005 : 09:25:39 [Permalink]
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quote:
If you've been wondering about the ethics of credit companies, wonder no longer:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Up to 70% interest - credit card aimed at the poor
Patrick Collinson
Saturday February 12, 2005
The Guardian
A new credit card aimed at millions of low-income families is to charge interest at up to 70% - the highest ever charged by a credit card company.
Marketed under the slogan: "Stay in control of your budgeting", the typical interest rate on the new Vanquis card will be 49.9%, but for some customers the company judge as high risk, it will be 69.5%. MPs and debt campaigners yesterday condemned the rate, which is 15 times the Bank of England base rate and triple the standard rate on other cards. The card also has an annual fee of £19.
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This looks like something Bush would approve of. Will a clone of it hit the States soon? Has it already?
I don't know if the US has a similar credit card, but we do have tax refund anticipation loans.
Effective annual interest rates (interest plus fees) are usually over 100% and can be as high as 1700%. Its hard to believe this kind of rip-off is legal. |
The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge.
T. H. Huxley
The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2005 : 09:57:48 [Permalink]
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This reminds me of a verse from a Woody Guthrie song called
“Pretty Boy Floyd”
Now as through this world I ramble
I see lots of funny men
Some will rob you with a Six gun
And some with a fountain pen.
But as through your life you travel
As through your life you roam
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Vampires indeed. And they do their sucking in the light of day… |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2005 : 12:42:24 [Permalink]
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This Frontline program, "The Secret History of the Credit Card", was on recently. You can view it online from the link. It was excellent.
I always pay my cards off every month but have paid a late fee or two out of carelessness. I got so angry at the scams revealed on the program I decided they weren't going to get another late fee from me again. |
| Edited by - beskeptigal on 02/12/2005 12:43:52 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2005 : 13:26:38 [Permalink]
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When I was running my little trucking endevor, I carried $15,000 worth of plastic on the road with me in case I lost engine 2,000 miles from the terminal. Fortunatly, I never had to go into it beyond the odd tire, now and then.
I don't know what the usury laws are, but I suspect that the credit companies skirt dangerously close to the edge of them.
There is at least one outfit, that I know of, that will make a loan against a tax refund, but I don't know how many pounds of flesh they get for the service. I would rather wait for the refund, myself.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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