I think there is plenty of blame for everyone. Consumers have to take the blame for buying things that they knew they couldn’t *really” afford – or buying on credit instead of saving. The credit card companies should take a large part of the blame for a.) offering credit to people who wouldn’t normally qualify b.) luring them in with unnaturally low rates that revert to very high rates when one is late or over the limit or the “free” time ends c.) changing things without being very clear and upfront about what they are doing d.) punishing people with higher rates and lower limits even when all payment TO THAT COMPANY have been current.
And the government has to bear a piece of the blame for systematically dismantling the oversight and regulations that kept an eye on the finance companies to ensure that they were a.) not too big to fail and b.) that the credit policies were fiscally responsible.

Credit card debt is out of control in this country. We have been a “want it – get it now” society and we are all paying for it. We do have to take responsibility for our personal debt that we created. However, the banks and the credit card companies are about as unethical as it gets. They exploit the consumer and they are no different than the mafia when it comes to credit debt with unbelievable high interest rates and fees. I would like to see Congress stop this type of loan sharking with the banks and credit card companies. Because most of the credit card companies are based in Delaware, and they have all gradually raised the interest rates to the same rates over the same period of time, it makes one wonder if there aren’t some anti-trust or price-fixing violations. I remember when credit interest was deductable on our taxes. I don’t know if that is a good idea or not – I would rather they cap the interest rates.

A lot of the fault lies with credit card companies. I remember a representative of a bank (which will remain nameless) came to my finance class and asked if anyone knew who their best customers were. The answer? The best customers were the ones who had the highest balance and paid minimum balance due every month. Personally, I would consider these high risk customers but this bank saw these as the “best” customers. So, yeah, I think a lot of the fault lies with the credit card companies.
As for carrying zero balance, yeah, its nice in theory but unfortunately for many Americans this simply is not possible. There are people who have student loans to pay off, medical bills to pay off, car emergencies to pay off, relatives to help, etc. It does not make them any less responsible than those who have zero balance. Each person has a different story, as long as they are trying to pay their bills down, they are just as responsible. Unfortunately in this economy, this is getting tougher to do.

I wonder if I could have the govt come in and give me a “bailout” for my bills…

The plan had its flaws, which the government has addressed by devoting $250 billion of the $700 billion rescue package to direct equity investment in banks, rather than purchases of debt under the Troubled Asset Repurchase Program (TARP). But the plan was never intended to bail out feckless investment bankers. It has not done that, and will not have that effect. If it bails out anything, it will bail out a profoundly compromised credit market and a financial system in which every bank, savings and loan, and money-market fund must operate. The Treasury Department’s action will allow those institutions to survive.

The end result is likely to be similar to what happened with the Resolution Trust Corporation’s and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s assumption of $600 billion in bad loans from failing S&Ls and banks in the ’80s and ’90s-a net profit for the taxpayer, through prudent management of those assets and resale to the private market.http://www.prime-targeting.com The bottom line here is that only the government is large enough to carry those assets on its balance sheets until the banks, flush with new equity capital, are ready to start establishing reasonable prices for this debt. Moralistic rhetoric about the injustice of the plan obscures these realities.

thanks for this post…

the process is very different form issuing bank to another issuing bank.