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Someone Needs To Put A Leash On Credit Card Issuers
Editorial Director,
Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine
When the federal government announced an overhaul to bankruptcy laws last year, essentially making it much harder to declare bankruptcy to get out of debt, I had mixed emotions. I become just as angry as anyone else when I hear stories of people who charge, charge, charge…big screen TVs, vacations they can't afford, designer clothing and shoes, new furniture, and then whine that their credit card debt is oppressive. I'm a firm believer of "don't spend it if you don't have it."
But I'm also conscious of the fact that the vast majority of bankruptcies are caused by catastrophic medical problems, something that could happen to a lot of decent working people (even those with medical insurance). To add a caveat to that, a lot of today's bankruptcies are being caused by the aftereffects and property losses incurred during the disastrous 2005 hurricane season.
To me, the thought that people who are forced to declare bankruptcy due to $150,000 worth of medical bills or because their house literally blew away must undergo counseling about using credit wisely is offensive. Can you imagine…the tide washed your house away, it's not covered by insurance, and you still have to pay the mortgage while looking for new housing…yet you must sit in a classroom and listen to someone sternly telling you that it's your own fault…you should have been wiser with your credit! I'm all for giving that lecture to the big-screen-TV-Armani-clothing-let's-go-to-Hawaii-even-though-we-have-no-jobs crowd, but statistics prove that those aren't the majority of bankruptcies.
So I became even more incensed against current bankruptcy and credit law when I read about an experiment conducted by a blogger named Rob Cockerham. It appears he took one of the many unsolicited credit card offers we all receive on a regular basis, actually tore it to small pieces and then taped it back together. He completed the application, but instead of using his legal address, he used his parents' address. Additionally, instead of using his home phone (something the industry tells us they use to make sure you are who you say you are when issuing credit, since you have to activate the card from your home phone), he used his cell phone number.
A few weeks later, guess what arrived in his mail! A shiny new credit card! Not only that, Cockerham called FROM HIS CELL PHONE and successfully activated the card. He comments that both the FTC and the credit card industry suggest you "tear up" unwanted credit card offers.
May I suggest burning them? (The very entertaining full story, with photos, may be viewed here.
Alternatively, you can call the following number to be removed from unsolicited credit card offers for five years: 888-567-8688.
It doesn't seem to make any sense…revamping bankruptcy law without putting a leash on credit card issuers and their sinister and predatory methods of not only acquiring customers, but their flaunting of security measures designed to protect consumers from fraud.
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