Evil Credit Card Companies or “Buyer Beware”?

I came across an article from CBS News called “Time To Abolish Debt Slavery”

In the old days, banks lent money to people they were confident would pay them back. No more. These days, banks search for people who cannot pay them back and lend them money anyhow.

These unsecured loans come in the form of credit cards. And the banks cannot find enough young people, students, sick people and old people on small fixed incomes to give credit cards to.

Read the rest of the article here

So is this a matter of evil credit card companies taking advantage of unsuspecting people or are the “victims” to blame for not reading the fine print? If you read through the comments on that article, you’ll see both sides of the coin.

Personally, I don’t think “stupidity laws” are necessarily the answer. That is, laws enacted to protect people who do stupid things (motorcycle helmet laws are a good example).

I think people need to be sure to read all the fine print and make sure they know what they’re getting into before signing on the dotted line.

On the other hand, the credit card companies should be held accountable for anything that isn’t fully disclosed to people when they sign up. There should be laws requiring those disclosures to be made clearly, not hidden in 10 pages of 8 point legal fineprint.

If nothing else, the story is a good example of why you need to be sure you read all the terms before signing up for a credit card.