Revealing the Hidden Cost Of Credit Cards

Credit card users who crow that they're seldom charged interest on purchases because they pay their bills on time may not be able to crow much longer. President Obama is about to sign into law new restrictions on the credit card industry that lenders say may lead to the return of widespread annual fees.

Perhaps that's how it should be.

Wait, wait, hold your ire! Don't write me a nasty letter or e-mail just yet. Hear me out.

I know many of you feel entitled to use a credit card without any cost because you diligently and responsibly pay off the bill before the due date. But did you ever stop to think what that is?

You probably never considered that the credit pushers made your access to "free" money possible by gouging the less fortunate with hideous penalty fees and wicked double-digit interest rates. Effectively, the most financially vulnerable consumers have subsidized the low interest rates and rewards programs that the more financially secure enjoy.

I know what some of you may be thinking: "Good for me; too bad for them. That's how capitalism works."

Right you are. That is how capitalism works. And at times it's a selfish system.

Continued>>>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/23/AR2009052300041.html

I'll just decide not to use them. There is plenty of competition in the credit card world that I'm sure I'll find a card without a fee. If I can't, I just wont use the card.

Watch your interest skyrocket

which- ironically lies at the heart of capitalism.

Never fails to impress when I see that argument made. Or bought into.

to pay an annual fee and not use the card...it'd be giving money away to them.

they didn't gouge the less fortunate because they made less money off of people like me - they gouged them for the same reason bankers and lenders and every other corporation gouged - because they got greedy and no one tried to stop them.

of one-and-a-half to three percent per transaction. This is a valid charge for their service. If their user fees are not sufficient to maintain their business then they need to look internally--perhaps CEO salaries, cushy perks, etc.--for savings. They have been allowed to gouge the consumers far too long.

I am one of those who use a credit card for most transaction and pay the balance monthly so as not to incur interest charges. If I go to cash only transactions for most purchases I will be giving the local businesses I deal with a one-and-a-half percent raise without it costing me any more out of pocket.

If the credit card companies return to annual fees, I will certainly make that move.

yes INDEED

diligent all of my life and finally am in a position to be able to use my credit card and pay it off every month and enjoy the perks that go with that. And I will be mad when this no longer happens because of the deadbeats that want a free lunch. I have been poor and so don't start with me. If you cannot pay for it don't buy it.

There are times I had to carry a balance and times that I was in over my head a bit (divorce does that to you). But I paid my bill every month and paid the interest charged. Now I pay off the balance each month and enjoy being able to do so. I am afraid I disagree with the OP on this issue.