Chapter 12: Final Facts To Make You Declare War On Debt

Here are some final facts to get your blood boiling and make you to declare war on debt.

The modern credit card began with Diners Club in 1950. 200 people received the inaugural card to use at participating New York City restaurants. The concept has mushroomed into today’s vast credit card industry:

• 175 million cardholders• 600 million cards in circulation• $900 billion in credit card debt

State regulations capped credit card interest rates until South Dakota removed “usury laws” to entice Citibank to relocate its credit card division to that state in the early 1980s. Delaware enacted similar legislation, attracting the credit card operations of numerous major financial institutions. A Supreme Court case set the precedent that a national bank could charge any interest rate it wanted as long as the rate was compliant with the laws of the state where it was headquartered. Hate exorbitant credit card interest? Thank South Dakota and Delaware!

Credit card companies love “revolvers,” people who don’t pay off their credit card balances every month. They can charge interest on the balances and hike the interest rate for the slightest reason if they decide the card holder has become “more risky.”

Credit card companies call people who pay off their balances every month “deadbeats,” because the companies can’t make extra money off them in the form of high interest payments. In reality, deadbeats are people who run out on debts, not honorable people who pay what they owe. This proves how twisted the world of credit cards is!