The United States' Government provides regulation of many things, which is reflected in acts and other legislative documents. But some things can be deregulated, having a positive or negative effect on the life of the society. Our questions: is the American credit card industry being well and fully regulated by the government? What are the gaps in credit industry regulation?
If the credit card industry were not under some limitations, we would face incredibly high interest rates and fees, which will bring fabulous profit to the creditors and downfall of many consumers. But one can contradict saying the charges today are high and the banks are just dusting the eyes of the people. And it is partly reasonable!
It is interesting that, according to one of the regulations, there is a maximum interest rate which must not be exceeded by banks when issuing credit to customers. But in some states (South Dakota, for example) this limitation as well as some others are not applicable. That is why some unfair banks locate their head offices there, to get round some regulations.
Another important issue is the credit card costs imposed on different categories of cardholders. According to studies carried out by non-governmental organizations, the most part of financially vulnerable groups of applicants are only eligible for bank products with higher rates and fees (the so-called ‘bad credit cards’). At the same time, people with
good credit history pay as low card charges as possible. High credit score, as a rule, is a prerogative of the financially stable. So, we face a glaring example of bank practices being unregulated – the poorest borrowers have to pay all the actual expenses.
Let us see how interest rates are arranged among the cardholders. We know that the better your credit score is, the lower the credit card costs are. No fees, zero APR or rewards of good plastics mean at least that you do not pay anything to the bank for the credit card services. Who pays then? There must be someone who should cover the costs… And these unlucky people are Latin Americans or African Americans from the poor districts, families with low income. The sky-high charges they have to pay for credit is the compensation for bonuses and zero interest rates implied with the banks’ best deals.
Looking back to how it all could become possible, we can remember that once credit card interest rate caps were eliminated by the Supreme Court. This elimination has been possible under certain circumstances which are not hard to be arranged by the bank. Weak regulation of the banking practices also results in the
credit card company’s freedom to modify the terms or features of the deal without direct notifying of the customer. All of us also know about the meanders of the fine print.
The less unprotected and worse-to-do have to pay the whole price: is this also being regulated?
About the Author:
Xxx has been well-known for professional credit assistance at Credit-Land.com and for being an author of a number of articles devoted to solving credit problems and choosing the most beneficial credit cards.