Profiles in Usury

[moonwick]

Tonight a friend of mine was perusing various credit card offers that had piled up for him when he spotted this gem in an offer from First PREMIER Bank (capitalization theirs):

Comments

[hey_its_michael]

What a crappy offer.

I've never had a credit card come out to more than the basic $39 annual fee.

[moonwick]

And I've never had a single card that charged any annual fee at all. The idea of having to spend money to spend money offends me...

[hey_its_michael]

That's because you probably have excellent or very good credit :oP

My credit isn't bad, but there are a few points on it.

[moonwick]

Well, as long as your card doesn't charge you a monthly "participation fee", you could be doing a hell of a lot worse. :D

[stellalunatic]

WOW. That's pretty serious. Those sorts of lending practices really ought to be reported...

[moonwick]

We should really try harder to teach people in high school about credit and about personal finance. Then the business that these predatory lenders get from people who don't know any better would start to dry up...

[esuperlife]

I agree with you on that point 100%. My Amazon Visa card was the only CC I really used. Then I didn't have enough money in my account once to pay the bill. $39 fee and they wouldn't reverse it so I canceled. I now have one CC that I really use (no annual fee) along with the usual store ones and my visa debit card. I hate paying interest or unnecessary fees to companies when I don't have to. It's the American way. Oh wait that way is maxing out your line of credit, your credit cards and living paycheck to paycheck. Ooops.

[belleaire]

I couldn't agree with you more. Schools and parents are more loath to talk with kids about finances than they are about sex and drugs. It's crazy.