Last week, I kept thinking “you’ve got to be kidding me” when I read the New York Times article Credit Card Industry Aims to Profit From Sterling Payers. My main point of contention is that credit card companies are considering penalizing “responsible” card users for paying off our monthly balances. How crazy and backwards is that proposition?
To make up for lost income from (potential) limited penalties on other riskier borrowers, the credit card companies are considering a variety of ways to make up for lost income. I realize that we all need to make some sacrifices for the overall good and I’m not (super) opposed to some of the ideas. I can deal with annual fees. I can even deal with limiting credit card rewards programs. What I can not stomach is the idea of companies charging clients with great credit interest immediately on their purchases (instead of on a monthly basis).
To all of the major banks who decide to go this route, I say, “Good-bye.” Although, it’s more annoying, I’ll either switch card carriers or just pay by cash or check. It seems pretty obvious (to me anyway) that most people who pay their balances in full each month, use their cards for convenience. When you start tackling immediate interest on to our payments, the cards (in my opinion) are no longer convenient!
I know that I’m not the only one who feels this way. As some of my twitter friends replied, this is “nuts, crazy, maddening, not fair, completely and utterly ridiculous.” One person succinctly (yet accurately) stated “It seems to me like that would be encouraging the behavior that got us in the current situation!” Enough said. I’m getting off my soapbox now.
(To follow updates about this topic, visit this NY Times page.)
What do you think? Is it fair that credit card companies are considering penalizing those of us who pay our balances in full each month?