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Business Ethics, Current Affairs, Ethics

April 30, 2009

Credit Card Fees – What Are They Thinking?!

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Okay, so credit card companies have always raised their fees on a whim, but this just seems to take the cake. I can understand that the fees need to be raised when someone misses a payment date, and I am well aware that banks make the lion’s share of their money on these fees. What I cannot understand is the audacity of banks to be doing this after accepting millions of dollars in bailout money.

Traditionally, this is one step a business can take that will help to build its capitol, but to continue to do this at this particular stage of the game is unconscionable. The mere definition of that word says it all. According to Encarta it is defined as “shocking and morally unacceptable.” The Oxford English Dictionary describes the expression as “not right or reasonable,” and Webster’s defines the term as “not guided or controlled by conscience: unscrupulous.”

So WHY is it unconscionable? Because these same lending institutions have just begged for and accepted $700 billion in bailout money, and that is billion with a capital B. While we may or may not have had to do it the fact remains that it is a done deal for better or worse, and the American taxpayer is getting the shaft.

WE, you and I, have loaned the banks our hard earned money to straighten out their self created mess through our tax dollars, and now they are asking us to further fit the bill by raising interest rates on the credit cards of people that have always payed their bills on time. Is this not double dipping in its ugliest form?

Let’s name names; Bank of America, American Express, Citigroup, and the list goes on and on and on. When is the assault on the American public going to stop? Come on Washington. You promised us “change”. We cheered for “change”. Now let’s get it done!

  1. Well said… Great information, keep up the great work!

    Comment by Aaron Wakling — April 30, 2009 @ 11:15 pm
  2. well, now you’ve picked a subject that truly pisses me off.

    i couldn’t agree more! once in a blue moon i will have to carry balance for a month (usually from a Vet bill!) so i was shocked to see my interest rate jump from 9.9% to 15.9%, for absolutely no reason other than my agreement with them allows them to. I called them on it and was told, “well, you received a notice in the mail last month about it…”

    I was not late in paying, and my credit score averages between 800 and 820. Fine…i’ll close that account then. Oh, well, wait, they’ll drop it to 13% since I’ve been such a good customer. yeah, right…with their borrowing rate around.5% what justification do they have?

    Comment by Vicki — May 1, 2009 @ 10:01 am

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