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You know credit cards and their dirty little secrets? I earned my money on them, and I was not able to answer all questions to quiz the great PBS Frontline program Secret History of the credit card quiz credit card. Take the quiz to see how much you do or do not know the universal default and credit problems. Then read this article for more dirty little secrets of this great PBS special offer. Here are a couple of appetizers:

UNIVERSALDEFAULT – did you know that credit card companies may raise interest rates if you are late on any payment? I do not mean late, just for the credit card, but to anyone! Too late on the phone bill, car, house … NOTHING. Or if in the eyes of a creditor simply has a lot of credit in place, all bets are off, regardless of what interest rates should be.

The logic is simple. The industry is in the right to protect its interests in a riskyunsecured loans to venture. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to raise interest rates if they think the base, the risk has paid back, has changed. And as a lender, the lender the right to guess your file at any time he wants … All your files and not only their personal history of payment systems.

MINIMUM notice changes – If the above should not be bad enough, consumers with payments on time each month on everything. No problem, right? WRONG! Buried in the contract (contract lawLawyers admit that they have great difficulty in interpreting), is a clause that the company may change the interest rate "at any time for any reason, unless the owner is given 15 days in advance." Exactly. You can change your mind after making a purchase at 6.5% (for example) and take the previous agreements are null and void. How can a purchase price has changed after the sale? No other sector can do it, but credit card companies.

Usurious or not – afterFrontline "There is no federal law that limits the interest rate may require a credit card." In fact, an interest rate of 35% is not uncommon. This is because in 1980 in South Dakota and Delaware eliminated the cap usury laws, which may be charged interest in excess of the maximum allowed. Have you ever noticed the return address on your credit card? Chances are that the Delaware or South Dakota. I wonder why.

Deadbeats and revolvers – Deadbeat usesomeone does not act responsibly. This is not true in my head the banking sector. Jargon in credit card bill "dead weight" pay their balances in full each month. They are dead weight, because the industry receives very little profit from these responsible consumers. On the other hand, "Revolver" credit card balances roll over month to month and never pay in full. This is the ideal customer for profits. Then there are the "rate surfers" or "Players", the transitionUse of credit cards at interest.

TAXES -. It can be re-quoted Frontline "In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court against Citibank raised Smiley existing restrictions on penalty fees This simply means there is no limit to the amount a company credit card the cardholder to be responsible an hour late with a payment. "But this has opened a Pandora's box not only for late fees, but over the limit fees and poorly applied controls. A lawyer who worked on theSmiley case, says he believes that the penalty fees, which could be up to $ 5 or $ 10 can be used to get $ 50 in another year. Now consumers have to deal not only with a higher rate, but late fees. Furthermore, what if they put these charges across the border, even for a fee. It 'an endless spiral toward bankruptcy.

Minimum deposit – consumers need to use to pay 5% of the balance. But the slick marketers, credit card, the attempt of a minimum 2% requiredPayment. This was seen as consumer-friendly advertising "low payments easy." The truth is that the tactic allows consumers to pay their debts because of the lower, which leads to increase in turn creates more profits for major debt for a longer period.

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Senators and members of Congress and selected other supporters of the consumer credit laws have failed to overcome some of these attempts PassDefects. Unfortunately, also prohibit university campus are quick and easy credit to accounts published in defeat due to a very strong lobby groups claim. Let them know your Congress, as you would with a simple declaration by which the amount of the minimum payment, saying something like "feel with a minimum payment, the current debt to pay for xxx years and the interest costs will be $ xxx ".

The reader may be interestedknow, Mike, the author of this article, also offers a free debt elimination mini-course via e-mail. You can record debt free in 7.5 years.

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