Handing Out Credit Cards
By Cathy Moran, California Bankruptcy Lawyer on May 17, 2007 in General Bankruptcy Information
In the run up to the enactment of the mislabeled Bankruptcy Reform Act, I spoke and wrote frequently about the irresponsible lending practices of credit card issuers. I said card issuers passed out credit cards like flyers at a political rally. I thought it was a figure of speech.
Well, darn if it isn’t true: on Mother’s Day, I bought my mom a gadget at the nearby chain electronics store and was confronted between the shelf and the cash register by a man wanting to sign me up for a credit card earning “points” to spend at the store!
The clientele of this store is generally a whole lot closer to high school age than to my age, and markedly less likely to be financially stable. Yet here was a guy who wouldn’t let me pay for my purchase without hearing his pitch for a credit card, so I could spend my way to discounted goods from their store. Finally had to tell him I was a bankruptcy lawyer and was fundamentally opposed to credit cards. But you can bet the next young person he challenges may not see the danger.
So, back to the political argument: is our “problem” with bankruptcy irresponsible lending or irresponsible borrowing?
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