Consumer Law

Cardholders and Problems with Credit Cards

By M. Stan Herring

Time.com has posted an article that takes a different approach to dealing with the issue of credit card debt.

Barbara Kiviat, author of the article, says that credit card companies' "laundry list" of fees and other assorted charges are a large matter in the problem when looking at consumer debt. However, some fault lies with the consumer. The article says that people are more likely to make bad decisions when using a credit card to pay. People dont' typically think of all the fees and interest rate they will have to pay off on top of the cost of the item when the bill comes in.

...we're just really bad at understanding costs that come later on. Instead, we assign a disproportionate amount of importance to what's immediate and tangible.

Several impulse purchases put on a credit card with a hefty interest rate can take quite awhile to pay off. Let's take this article as a reminder to consider the long term effects.

If you have had problems with credit card debt, feel free to contact us.

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on May 24, 2009 (boomark / email).