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Home » Categories » Finance » Credit Cards » The Missing Link in Today’s Financial Market Crisis » Reprint Rights » Printer Friendly
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As I watch Wall Street come up against Washington D.C. and the power brokers argue with the political brokers, I turned to a credit card bill and noticed the interest rate that one of the major players was charging 29.9%. I thought, isn't that amazing? Why would the Federal Reserve lower interest rates and yet this credit card, through one of the major banking institutions, who has bought out several other credit card entities, still be allowed by government to charge 29.9% interest to Main Street America???
I began to research. Where does the average person research? Well, Google of course! In my search I found one article at the Washington Post website from February 2008, (I guess everyone is asleep since then), which discussed the lack of connection between the Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and the consumer's credit card bills. (F ed's Rate Cuts Bring No Relief For Consumers' Credit Card Bills, February 2008.)
Oh, congress was going to look into this. Really, has anyone heard from Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) about the poor consumer paying usurious interest rates to banks on credit cards? No, a proposed bill does not seem to have left committee. Another bill from Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) called the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008? Where is that today?
Apparently being a lobby for the banking institutions has as much power or more with a Democrat Congress as it does with a Republican Congress.
The outcome is that the consumer dies out here from more than being offered a great mortgage that they can't afford. They die out here being enticed with credit from credit card banks with low starter interest rates only to later pay outlandish interest rates with no hope of ever paying down their actual balance.
I wonder, has anyone looked at the profit on funds earned by the major players from those 29.9% interest rates? Has anyone researched how much actual cash has flowed from the consumer back to the credit card companies in the form of monthly payments where 80% of the payment goes to interest month in and month out with no hope of closure for the consumer on that debt?
I think that the Congress, the Federal Reserve and the Wall Street Bankers need to provide transparency to the consumer, just as was commanded in the ENRON type environment for major corporations. With no-one calling for the indictments of the Fannie-Mae or Freddie Mac executives , the disclosures on the AIG bailout, Goldman Sachs bailout and the failure of Lehman, what is the consumer to think? Where is the SEC oversight? Where is the accounting profession after Sarbanes-Oxley and extra controls? Were these companies not required to report?
In the meantime, the consumer will continue to be gauged by the banking system on credit card payments and more and more consumers will file for bankruptcy protection to escape this trap. I wonder if the Congress will ever work in the interest of the consumer. Yes, that is truly wishful thinking.
Oh, and if anyone is listening, the middle class of today earns inflated dollars remember if you paid $1.0 for a loaf of bread in 1970 when the middle class earned $50,000 a year, what do you think the middle class has to earn today to pay for a $3.50 loaf of bread? You do the math Mr. Senator, its not $50,000 anymore.
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Diane Dutton is an MBA, CPA, Speaker, Woman's Financial Coach and Career Advisor, Author of "A Woman's Ladder To Success is Paved With Broken Glass Ceilings". and now the newest breakthrough work "The Winning Edge". With 29 years of executive corporate experience, she consults with CEOs of small and mid-size companies as well as speaks accross the country on business finance and helping women break through the glass ceiling of their career. Ms. Dutton is a member of NAWBO, WAN, NAFE, TMA, NSCPA and the AICPA, You can find more at www.businesswomenspeak.com.
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