In the 1700s in our country there was a program called Indentured Servitude where you would sign a contract to work for a family or business for six or 10 years as an unpaid servant. The time period would be the amount of time it would take a person to work off the cost of their passage to the new world and their board and keep. Some would call this a form of Economic Slavery with a deadline. Many of our ancestors came to this country with this type of economic shackle on them.
Now this type of Slavery has reared its head in the form of Credit Card Economic Indentured Servitude. Banks keep raising interest rates and fees so that the credit cards can never be paid off. A person is a slave to the credit cards forever.
With the late fees, all the made up fees, and the increasing interest rates credit cards are designed to make you an economic prisoner of the bank. It¹s not just banks; every major company wants you to use their credit cards so they will have a piece of your monthly income. The fees that credit cards invent are like a tax, but you don¹t get a chance to vote on that tax. One major credit card company simply instructed their employees to not process any payments until they were one day past due. This made the company millions of dollars. If you complained, they simply blamed it on the U S Mail. Then a disgruntled employee exposed what the credit card company was doing to make everyone late on paying their credit card bill. The company was fined and told NOT to do it again, and that company (a big bank) is right back in business. What did the bank learn? They learned to keep their employees happy and well paid so that they will NOT expose the crimes inside your company.
Here is how some banks run their Economic Indentured Slavery operation that will follow you to the grave. And with new laws they can now get your Indentured Slavery debt from your estate after your death.
1) Creditors have ways to increase your interest rate on your credit card. They use a system called “universal default” to raise your rate. If the creditors can find that you were late on any payment or went over your limit on any credit card or have too many cards, they will bump up your interest rate. Some credit card companies will even raise your interest rate if you just make inquires about a mortgage or a car loan. When I say bump up, I do not mean by one or two per cent, many rates will increase from 12% to 28%.
2) The next “little slavery trick” is the use of a “Two-Cycle” billing system. This system is a little complicated but it will cost you money. Example: Let¹s say, you do not have any purchases in August on your credit card, but in September you buy something on your credit card on the 10th day of September. Some credit card companies will hit you with the “Two-Cycle” billing system and charge you interest on the purchase in August and September, even though you bought the item in the middle of September. What they have done is charged you an extra month¹s interest for the same item.
3) Another “little slavery trick” is banks charging you a fee on your credit card when you do NOT use it. That’s right, if you don’t use the bank’s credit card they will come up with a non-use fee. Also, banks will charge you if you get close to your limit on the card, not for going over it, but getting close. I am waiting for the “Deadman’s Fee,” that would be when the card holder died and the bank charges him or her a fee for not continuing to use their credit card. Right now, after you die, the banks can make your estate pay your credit balance and more fees. The Banking Industry has paid Millions of dollars in lobbying to get Congress to pass laws that make the banks rich.
4) Trying to stop this never-ending Economic Indentured Banking Servitude, Federal Regulators are now requiring credit card companies to increase the minimum monthly payments so more people will be able to pay off the balances and not go bankrupt or be in Slavery to the banks forever. But that means less interest on lower balances. So, you guessed it, now some banks are raising their interest rates to as high as 28%/.
My best suggestion is to cut-up all credit cards but one or two. When I cut up my cards, the bank charged me all types of fees, and then the last fee they tried to charge me was: A fee for not renewing my credit card. The bank official said, “you can¹t just stop using your credit card,” and I said, “WATCH ME”. Then he said that will be another fee. I never paid that fee.
Because of the competition between banks and companies issuing credit cards, a consumer can now negotiate with the banks on fees and interest rates. Simply tell the bank that you are going to close out your credit card if they do NOT lower or drop a fee and or the interest rate. It they will not cooperate, but up the card and mail it to them. Perhaps that will get the idea across to their ever-increasing interest-rate brains.