a 30% "hard" cap? That's hardly going to help anyone! Sen. Clinton needs to get real. A 18% cap on credit card interest would stimulate the economy far more than a $600 tax rebate check, do the math!

I do not belive that any of these "propsals" would help any of the middle-income consumers.

All a 18% cap on credit card interest will do is take away the ability to obtain credit for those with rates over 18% as the risk to the banks that issue the cards will be too great for them to take a chance and provide credit to high risk consumers. Taking credit away from high risk consumers while beneficial to the high risk consumer is not good for the economy because it takes money out of circulation.

It all sounds like the same old crap to me. They'll do what ever they want or do what ever those with most "pressure points" want. What we need is a voters' "bill of rights". Let us be able to fire their butts when we find out they've lied to us. And don't tell me we're not "smart" enough to understand what the country needs. We were "smart" enough to "hire" them, were we not?

Relying on politicians to fix the regulatory mess that politicians created in the first place is like a dog chasing its tail. Further, while it would be nice if the American electorate was sophisticated enough to evaluate candidates beyond color of skin, sex and what a pastor did or did not say - it is not the current reality.
Bottom line: The issues mentioned here will play litle to no role in the election of the next president.

It is obvious that banks, savings and loans, mortgage lenders need to be more closely regulated. Remember the savings savings and loan fiasco after Reagan lifted regulations? This whole subprime and ARM mess is another example. I am tired of the taxpayers having to pay for bailouts. Maybe a freeze on mortgage interest increases would have been a better way to help homeowners instead of tax money being handed out.

I read Obama's proposals and I can't help wonder how we can afford the billions in tax relief and additional benefits he proposes for the working poor given that this country is already $9 trillion in debt. Helping those that signed up for sub-prime mortgages who are now facing foreclosure sounds great, but some continue to believe that people must be protected against their own stupidity. The government should not have to bail out individuals just because they signed contracts without first reading them. As much as I despise payday loan companies and would never personally use one, the ones that use this service are well aware of the cost involved, but do so anyway. I guess we'll also have to bail out the millions of people who invested in the stock market and have recently lost money on their retirement accounts. What ever happened to accepting personal responsibility for your own mistakes? Unfortunately, the foreclosure mess will ultimately affect the responsible homeowners as well. Banks and mortgage companies should return to days of requiring 20% down payments and proof of adequate income and accept the fact that not everyone can afford to buy a house.

What I would like to see in a candidate's proposal is protection from identity theft for the average consumer. This crime can strike anyone and there is little the average person can do to stop it. The use of social security numbers has now become our new national ID number and many private companies demand it as part of doing business. The use of the SSN should be restricted by law to allow only for the reporting of income to the IRS, when dealing with the Social Security Administration, and for granting credit (only when loaning money). There is no reason why companies such as cell phone, wired telephone, cable TV, utilities, insurance, physicians, and others should ever need this number. If they have a need to know our credit scores, then create a read-only number for this purpose that can only be used to verify identity and credit score without the ability to change any information in the credit report or open new lines of credit. I would also like to see a candidate that recognizes the sensitivity of our financial information and allows the consumer to freeze and unfreeze their credit records at no cost. Regardless of what the credit bureaus believe, the information they hold about us is OUR data and we should determine how it is used. Collection agencies should be prohibited from going after victims of identity theft when it can be proven that the victim did not incur the debt. If the credit bureaus and companies that give these thieves credit were held financial responsible for their actions, they would take far greater care in granting credit. As it is, they will just go after the innocent victims.

Demunist Hillarovna: More government regulation and the creation of no fewer than three new Federal agencies.

Demunist Osamabama: More government regulation and the creation of at least one new Federal agency.

Stealth Demunist McCain: Ummm... What they said...

Ron Paul: Not asked, because the Fifth Column -er- Fourth Estate would prefer to pretend he doesn't exist.

Realistic: A Federal Usury law, repeal of every "bank welfare" law of the past twenty years, and large fines for the officers (not the business, the individual people) of any mortgage company, credit card company, or bank which screws its customers and defends the practice with some elaborately-worded legal technicality.

Reducing credit does not take money out of circulation. A consumer/credit based economy is a house of cards. That's what is collapsing right now. Removing bad debt simply ensures a firmer foundation.

What is bothersome is that these issues should have been dealt with years ago, not when there is a crisis. People needed these protections years ago when the banks were getting fat and happy. Now that we are in a recession, the politicians want to come out and say ordinary people need help. Another issue that was not even mentioned is mandatory binding arbitration. Car dealers lobbied for and got an exemption to the Federal Arbitration Act. They argued that mandatory binding arbitration was unfair because they lost all the time to manufacturers, costly, and that there was no appeal process. The NADA even wrote a letter to a Congressman saying that it opposed MBA clauses in contracts of adhesion. (adhesion contract
n.(contract of adhesion) a contract (often a signed form) so imbalanced in favor of one party over the other that there is a strong implication it was not freely bargained. Example: a rich landlord dealing with a poor tenant who has no choice and must accept all terms of a lease, no matter how restrictive or burdensome, since the tenant cannot afford to move. An adhesion contract can give the little guy the opportunity to claim in court that the contract with the big shot is invalid. This doctrine should be used and applied more often, but the same big guy-little guy inequity may apply in the ability to afford a trial or find and pay a resourceful lawyer.
From Law.com http://dictionary.law.com/definition2.asp?selected=2325) Most dealers, however, use MBA clauses in their contracts. This helps them fight fraud and unfair trade practice claims. There are several bills in Congress that deal with this issue. See S 1782, HR 3010, and HR 5312. When it comes to helping businesses, the Republicans of the last 25 years have done what ever they could do at the expense of the consumer. (I am a Republican by the way but more along the lines of a Goldwater Republican.) I can not even get my Congressman, Henry Brown, to commit to support the people by supporting this legislation. He is more worried about getting in trouble with the leadership of the GOP. If people want arbitration when a problem comes up, they can agree to it then. It should not be forced on them because it was stuffed in the middle of a bunch of papers they were rushed through. We need to let Congress know that arbitration is not necessarily any cheaper or faster than court and that since there are basically no appeals in arbitration, mistakes by arbiters can not be corrected. (Just so you know, in arbitration, the arbiter can basically reach any outcome he wants so long as there is no collusion between him and the other side. He does not have to follow the law. Since many arbiters are defense lawyers or lawyers for corporations, guess which way they lean.)

With a 90%+ incumbency rate and the kind of campaign financing that banks give to congres, I believe that consumer laws will move to favor banks even more greatly in the future. This chatter is fun, but what McCain is actively saying is that he supports no consumer protections. At least obama and clinton pay lip service, but I have read their plans and with the minor exception of the fee and high interest payment allocation sections, which will be fought by the credit industry with every cent that they have, I see no effective remarks. I award these candidates no point and may god have mercy on their souls.

No taxation without representation. It seems the birth cry and the death nell of our country.

Being in the student loan industry, if they were to take away private lenders in the FFELP program, I do not think that either canidate realizes how many jobs in this country would be lost. Unemployment rates would soar if that were to happen. Then where would this country be?

From: Linda Strain, Tucson AZ
“It all sounds like the same old crap to me. They'll do what ever they want or do what ever those with most "pressure points" want. What we need is a voters' "bill of rights". Let us be able to fire their butts when we find out they've lied to us. And don't tell me we're not "smart" enough to understand what the country needs. We were "smart" enough to "hire" them, were we not?”
I agree with Linda, it is all the same crap. What happened to “by the people for the people?” I say we FIRE all of them starting with Dick Cheney!

If you ever wanted to see slavery have a good look at the current economic crisis. Debt. The games American companies play with the people all boils down to a form of slavery. Our politicians, our representatives are all bought and paid for by big business and banks. I learned long ago that the consumer was nothing but a mark to these companies and it is all perfectly legal the games they play, with jacking up interest rates, hell jacking up lines of credit without consent. I love when companies say "we're not going to meet our forcasted profits; so lets raise the price of services" (insurance companies). I wish I could go to my boss and say "I'm not going to have enough money to pay my bills; I need more money". Everything has a fee now. If it is not the price they say I do not buy anymore. I do not use credit, ever. I pay cash for everything. To make that possible I had to leave my family and country behind to work overseas. I think it is pathetic when you have to travel 9000 miles to make a decent living when you are from the "land of opportunity." I don't see anyone in DC fixing anything. If anything comes out of political promisses it will have no teeth and benefit business. Yes business is important to our nation but what about the people and their financial well being. I am tired of elections coming down to the lesser of 2 evils, why can't a politician step up for the people.

I do not think that anything will change until the credit scoring system is cleaned up. If you are in the hospital for a serious problem and cannot pay your bills for a month or two it goes on your credit report and can drop your score by a 100 points or more. It affects your credit for seven years and there is nothing you can do about it except dispute it. Good luck, meanwhile you will pay higher interest rates because you will be subprime. The scoring system is a trade secret and the methods for determining your score is really unknown. Therefore, false positives occur and there is nothing you can do about it. If the government is serious about changing interest rates then clean up Equafax and the other two cretit agencies. It has gotten to the point that Equafax has more control over your life than the IRS does.

How the three main candidates (sorry Ron Paulites, some possibility of being elected required to generate my interest) vote on that vile anti-consumer Bankruptcy Bill written by the credit-card companies is enough for me to see who stands for the consumer:

McCain voted Yes for the Bill

Clinton chickened out and didn't vote. (Too many Banking donors)

Obama voted No. His pro-consumer vote on one of the most important bills of the last few years is a key indicator of his sentiments.

The corruption of our governing system is so great and far gone that it would take a revolution to change it. American people are so used to being walked all over and so numb to politician's lies that they are simply exhausted, and resemble more to puppets nodding their heads in perpetual motion. What is the government supposed to be there for? The basic duty of govt. toward the people is that it creates order, and protects it's citizens from harm. Our government has forsaken us. The well being of this country and it's citizens is being sacrificed for the profits of the wealthy and the powerful corporations. They are allowed to do what ever they please regardless of who they are hurting. Look at our health care system... And this is just the beginning of the list. If government is not willing to regulate to stop greedy practices which harm and hurt masses of people then people need to march to Washington demanding change, not with silly posters, but with united strong voice that will bring results. All the problems that we face now are direct result of our leaders shutting their eyes and pretending nothing is happening when they should stepped in and executed justice and fairness. The words that we so proudly recite "of the people , for the people, by the peoople" have become mockery. It would be more fitting to say "of the powerfull few, for the powerfull few and by the powerfull few", don't you think?Any society that has allowed greed and corrupton to fester and take over like this, after having known the righteous principles of God and then forsaking them, will fall from within.

You cannot pick up fecal matter by the clean end. Your choice is dumb, dumber, and dumbererest. The creation of more bureaucracy and regulation to tax us more to further crush the motivation of the American producer is not the way to get anything done. Yet, the voting populace will always cast the ballot for whomever promises the most handout from the treasury, because we are a selfish, selfish people who cannot see past our noses. We currently have a choice between demoblicans and republicrats. There's not a dime's worth of difference between any of the three candidates. Perhaps if we had more than two parties, wait! WE DO! Wake up, go read a third party webpage, and go support an end to this two party madness!

The corruption of our governing system is so great and far gone that it would take a revolution to change it. American people are so used to being walked all over and so numb to politician's lies that they are simply exhausted, and resemble more to puppets nodding their heads in perpetual motion. What is the government supposed to be there for? The basic duty of govt. toward the people is that it creates order, and protects it's citizens from harm. Our government has forsaken us. The well being of this country and it's citizens is being sacrificed for the profits of the wealthy and the powerful corporations. They are allowed to do what ever they please regardless of who they are hurting. Look at our health care system... And this is just the beginning of the list. If government is not willing to regulate to stop greedy practices which harm and hurt masses of people then people need to march to Washington demanding change, not with silly posters, but with united strong voice that will bring results. All the problems that we face now are direct result of our leaders shutting their eyes and pretending nothing is happening when they should stepped in and executed justice and fairness. The words that we so proudly recite "of the people , for the people, by the peoople" have become mockery. It would be more fitting to say "of the powerfull few, for the powerfull few and by the powerfull few", don't you think?Any society that has allowed greed and corrupton to fester and take over like this, after having known the righteous principles of God and then forsaking them, will fall from within.

Hello America! Is Steve Moskos, Charleston, S.C and myself the only ones in this country to be upset about binding arbitration? While average folks were standing around praising Ronald Reagan for being such a good Christian and great President, his GOP(aka God's Own Party) was busy sticking to to us consumers. You see their friends(large corporations) don't like being sued particularly when they are caught doing something wrong. Ever heard of W.R. Grace, Inc? Lawsuits can put a real dent into profits. Who cares if anybody gets hurt? For some reason trial lawyers are the culprits in our society.
Yes, the devil is in the details.

Ending mortgage prepayment penalties would restrict banks' lending and cause mortgages to be more expensive up front. That is a very basic component of risk in debt lending. If Clinton doesn't know the basics of how the mortgage lending industry works, how can she be trusted to make well educated decisions?

These canidates are so out of touch it isn't funny. Each and every position is reactive, not proactive. The fix for personal debt isn't an easy solution. It is also going to be at the expense of the middle income Americans as usual.

Its funny the one person with the answers to this mess
you have failed to mention. Ron Paul. Thats OK the country will be begging to hear what he has to say in a couple months.

Well, anyone who "deserves" a credit rate over 18% almost surely can't really afford credit and is just being victimized, so we would probably be doing them a favor by making credit pretty much unavailable to them. As for "large fines" for the officers, that only works if they haven't already managed to hide or lavishly spend the money. You can't take what they no longer have. What they do have is their life. Let them spend it in prison. No, not a cushy white collar cell that's more like a penthouse, but a real honest prison where they can learn a lesson they'll never forget! If they spend one hour in prison for each person's life they have ruined, they will probably never get out.

THE BIG LIE: The truth is the higher interest rate increases the chance of default because at some point the borrower realizes they will never pay the debt off and then gives up or just cant catch up.

The lenders rationalization that they need to be able to charge interest at exorbitant rates because of the high risk of the borrows is a lie we have bought into. Doubling or tripling the interest rate because of one late payment is not necessary - its just an EXCUSE to charge a higher rate from someone who they have reason to believe has little or no shopping power to transfer the debt to a lower rate lender.

how about-credit cards- can raise interest rates no more than 1% each 2 year period. if all payments made on time for last 12 months, can't raise interest rates at all, without a 90 day notice, and must be spelled out clearly to us what the exact rate is in dollars. no legal jargon allowed. plain straight forward english we all can understand.regulate gas prices immediately. we will pay no more than 60 dollars for a barrel of oil starting today. halt all futures trading in oil for 1 year, starting today. this is a national security you know the president said so.by declaring a national security emergency it could be done right now

Why more government?
it produces nothing and comsumes GNP

fair lending WOW thats a concept

lets see borrow 100,000 for a home pay it back over 30 years at say 1000$ month so pay back 360,000$ for

the use of 100,000 profit 260% and the banks and credit co's need to be bailed out ...

WHY?

Borrow 10k for a vehicle, pay 250 month for 60 months
15k pay back 50% profit, nothing is produced the cost is actualy 50% higher to the purchaser.

25% interest on consumer credit and one or two late payments cause all other interest to go up How is that fair or just?

savings? the bank that is making 260% on their home loans and 25% on their credit paid me less than
10.00$ interest for the use of my meger 4k savings last year..

there is fair profit then there is GREED

In my opinion part of why we are in this mess is GREED plain and simple,

The other is that our representatives do not represent US any more.

Time to stop sending work over seas to be done by slave labor, if businesses and individuals were not handling such unproductive burdens things would be better.

Time to change the congress and the white house
simple instructions, FIX it NO new bueraucracy,
review the BLATENT ABUSES by lenders, reform lending
and banking, look at the tax laws and the "handout programs" What really is important?

My other suggestion to america, GET OUT OF DEBIT
ASAP.

Boy oh boy! Same old junk! They need to get real. If they had to work, live and survive like the rest of us, they might actually get something done.

Its a shame that these 3 are the only media-acknowledged candidates. Its a joke! All 3 politic on middle-of-the road positions. I thought a foreigner couldn't even be elected as President(Obama). If he does become President, he will only swear-in on the Koran? None of these 3 candidates have the skill to fix America.
The government never should have allowed America's businesses to move outside the US as much as they have. The extent that globaliztion has occurred in America is frightening, and if it continues, it will be the beginning of the end. Jobs move overseas, massive layoffs in America, less tax collected- no wonder our economy is in dire straits!
America needs a true leader and a business-savy president, not lip-service!
If this continues, there won't be an America! I really hope the American People stop being sheep, because until that happens, the same type of candidates will keep seeking poliitcal office over and over!

I definately agree that a "hard cap" should be imposed on all lending institutions. I don't know what the magic number is, but obviously, the interest rate will be expectantly higher, on an unsecured loan or Line of Credit vs. a secured loan, particularly for loans => $20,000.

The 18-20% range is more realistic than 30% if we really want to stimulate the economy. I guess tne one thing we can all agree on is that we have to start somewhere and we better start now!

I feel that the unethical lending practices and the loan shark type tactics of financial institutions are greatly responsible for so many people being driven to default on their loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

Lending institution justify their ridiculously high interest rates saying the rates are based on, what they feel, is a person's ability to prove they are credit worthy.

I believe many of us in the middle & lower-middle class are extremely credit worthy. We just need to be given a fair shake and afforded a reasonable rate and not encouraged to overspend or to purchase a home way beyond their means! (And I don't mean to say that a person should not be responsible for their own decision and good sense, as well)

These companies know exactly what they're doing and I feel they have a fiduciary duty to the consumer and the general public and be held accountable. There is no doubt in my mind, if they had been held accountable long before this, many, many people would not be in their current situation and neither would many of these lender.

I just feel terribly sorry for the poor people who have now lost large amounts of money from their 401K's and other retirement due to this debacle.

This article inspires several reactions about the current policies and proposed changes. First and foremost, I feel there should be A LOT more done to help those with student loans. College tuition has risen almost as fast as the housing market did, but there seems to be no bubble. People are coming out of college and beyond with significant 6 figure debt. Those same people will still be paying that debt when their children are graduating from college. There should be maximum free money for people who are going to college to get higher paying jobs. There should be more deductability of that interest paid (the current income cap is silly) and interest rates should be locked in at 4% tops. 2) I think interest rates and fines/fees/penalties on credit cards should be capped at around 18-20%. Some of what is going on out there is just legal loansharking. Some of what these companies do to people in the name of building their credit is really just taking them for all they are worth. MSNBC had a recent link to a Forbes slideshow of the most costly cards and it was scary. Also, the payday loan companies need severe regulation, also in the area of identity theft. The signs in their windows are open invitation to thieves. 3) On home loans, there should also be more oversight. I think the brokers are more to blame for this mess than the buyers, because they steered customers towards the ARMs that are creating most of this problem. Also, going back to requiring 20% down would be impossible in this day and age. My family could have never put aside that money, even though we comfortably make our payment every month. And the tax savings of ownership vs. renting are so vast that we should be encouraging home ownership, after all, isnt it part of the American dream. I also think companies should voluntarily cap interest rates for the time being. If that saves people from foreclosure, it is better than taking a huge loss in a market with falling values and zero equity. In the meantime, those who can qualify can shift over to fixed rate loans and maybe we can soften the impact of the fallout. Sadly, I think that any and all politicians are too in the pocket of corporate America because that is where their campaign money comes from, so I am not holding my breath on any of this happening any time soon, but McCain is definitely not going to even try.

Jeff, O'Fallon, IL (Sent Mar 25, 2008 10:05:14 AM)

The same way we can afford the war, enough said.

Thank you very much!!

I hope someone running for office is reading these comments and getting the message that Americans are really tired of dishonesty. Our politicians are not people to place any confidence in and don't deserve respect. I agree that those in the mortgage industry should be held responsible. If they had to go to jail for usury, they would be far less likely to repeat these offenses. Otherwise I don't believe that they have any conscience and without consequences, just don't care what they've done to the country or the economy. If they have any money left, it should be forfeited to help those they have hurt. I am not really talking about those who can't pay their mortgages, as they should have been smart enough not to get into a mess like that. The domino effect will have caused hurt to small business and other people's retirements, etc. When will we ever get a decent president? Where is FDR when you need him?

I am thinking what they want to change about LABOR LOW?Contracting people out so the big billion dollar corporations are not reliable to their worker?No
bonuses, sheers needed to be paid.This is so WRONG.Money,profit justifies everything.

There are two primary reasons to obtain a credit card. One: To extend your buying power BEYOND your current hard currency means. Two: The cost of goods and services are such that household budgets cannot maintain positive cash flow. Credit card issuers do not need to be providing the means for credit challenged individuals to dig themselves deeper into financial purgatory. The idea that they are willing to take a risk on someone at 30% interest instead of 18% is ludicrous. Show some real risk and offer a credit challenge individual a second chance by offering an interest rate lower than 18%. Anything higher is just profit milking.

As long as we have our current congress, we will continue to be on the short end of the stick. I can't believe the approval rating for congress is <15% and we continue to vote those idiots back into office. No wonder they think we're stupid. I think we need to start a new movement. I say we, as a country, should do the following things.

· Let's ALL vote the incumbent out of office. This should let them know once and for all, the citizens of the United States run the country, not them or the rest of the world.
· Once we do this, we should force our new congressman to vote for term limitations...two terms just like the president. This way they can't become too comfortable.
· Let’s get the Federal government out of our pockets. They’ve already proven to be horrible money managers. Everything they touch turns to crap, but we keep asking them to do more. WHY?
· Let’s turn the Feds into what they were intended to be…protectors of the States (this includes enemies within and outside the U.S.).
· Force them to balance the budget.

There is a lot more we can demand if we just use our collective powers. This is just the beginning.

Here something they can talk about! For years people have been saying that there will be no social security for the younger generation! So now that they can run the numbers and they still come out with the same out come what is the government going to do? Give a big I’m sorry speech! NO! Draw a line in the sand and quit taking money out of my checks and every other American for Medicare and Social Security it’s not right I can invest that money so that it would be there for me when I do retire!!! If it’s not going to be there when I retire then why do I have to keep paying on it? The other is there are people who never worked a day in there life living in America who are on some kind of government disability or Social Security now how dose that work they never put anything into it so why are they getting the funds from it?

None of what they'r saying is going to help. Wonder people are in so much debt, poor credit scores and go to payday loan places? They can't get a good paying job. You could work for a Forbes 100 company and still get paid under $15 hour with penny raises every year. But said company wants to tell you how much they made that year and how wonderful you did. CEO's are getting bonuses 365% or more their average employee's salary. Said CEO is shorting their employees on health insurance citing costs. Please! Employeers,auto/homeowner insurance, and utilite companis are allowed to look at your credit report to see how worthy you are. So I'm going to be denied a well paying job because my credit isn't it good? Maybe I need the WELL PAYING job to be able to pay my bills and not live paycheck to paycheck for every day necessaties. Poor credit people don't have luxuries. My point is the federal government is not going to change anything. They're gonna keep taking their contributions, dinners, and keep it business as usual. They have their great benefits and retirement plans. WE the people don't matter to them and never will!

It appears none of you remember price controls by the leftie carter, prices didnt matter, no oil was sold to us at those fixed prices so long lines waiting for gas....look at clinton in arkansas, credit limits, usary laws and no one could borrow money, banks and lenders could get more in anyother state in the union. the answer is not more gov and more controls, the answer is a free country and a free running economy.

what ever happened to so called usury laws.

i do not believe any of these proposals will help the average consumer. how about finding out how they plan to lower fuel prices. this is the primary causation of the declining economy effecting every individual in this country. i am sickened by the lack of intestinal fortitude by all of the candidates in their unwillingness to confront the environmentalists when we are in such dire straits. has it ever occured to anyone that a temporary halt to taxation would go a long way in stabilizing the average persons budget. what are the current "here and now" plans of the candidates? i believe the american citizenry deserves better.

Democrates ALWAYS want MORE government. They will always seek more regulations and restrictions. Every problem they solve with more government, more laws etc etc. Bush is a democrate in republican clothes. He made government bigger and bigger, just like the dems. How about smaller government and stronger law enforcement? This housing mess is all because too many people brought houses too big for their incomes, and banks that were just as greedy. Don't blame just the banks, blame the people who thought they could afford a house three times bigger then they should have brought. There is enough blame to go around, yet the dems only think of regulating more and punishing more. They need to get real and live by the principals that made this country so great in the first place:competition and less taxes. The dems put the brakes on competition and always raise taxes!

I think that Bryant Wilmington makes a lot of sense to me, two statements up is exactly how I think. We are STUCK, and need a miracle to survive this.

It's sad but true. High risk consumers will find ways of putting the money they don't have into circulation even without credit cards. The money will be spent one way or the other. All in all though, putting a cap on the interest rates of the cards will make it more difficult for people to rebuild credit or for people with no credit at all, (who in some cases are perfectly capable of paying off their credit card every month and just want to use the card to build credit to lower future mortgage rates when they graduate from college and buy a house), to even get anything.

Also, the nicer cards with advantages like cash back and miles and stuff like that usually have higher interest rates, (which is okay as long as you pay it off), and so people with better credit may still miss out on better rewards cards because of the cut off.

Wake up, America. There are needs, wants and desires and we have wanted them ALL. If we lived within our means we wouldn't be dependent on credit cards. Colleges are robbing parents and students blind raising their tuition and CAN. Because the money is there to borrow and they don't take a second look at wht it's going to take to pay it back. I worked in sales at SEars and a young woman called crying. Her washer and dryer were shot and she still owed $600.00 on them. I ask her how much she paid a month on them and she said," $12.00). WELL, THERE YOU GO, GANG. FIGURE IT OUT.

Both sides of the aisle have been raiding the Social
Security Pension SURPLUS since the late 1960's. Social
Security should be easy to manage relative to these other issues. God help us if these folks try to take
over something complicated like the credit system or even health care.

I think usury laws should be brought back. Interest and loans creates an endless cycle of debt that amounts to slavery. On a small scale it destroys people through mortgage and credit card loans. On a large scale it keeps the US economy in the gutter by increasing our debt. Most of our federal income taxes simply go to pay off the interest on the national debt. Enforce usury laws! Stop banks from destroying American lives!

There should be regulation of credit card debts. An interest rate of 18% or more is usury in any man's language. Any person who pays over 12% is a person who should never be issued a card. A person who never pays his crdit card debt in full each month is taking a reduction in pay and does not have sense enough to know it.

Amazing.
The majority of people being affected by the so called "mortgage crisis" are those who could not afford the homes they bought, or couldn't afford the loans. If the only way you can afford the home you want, is through an interest only loan, then you can't afford it.

Student Loans.............College prices going up.......Isn't that shocking. A business recieves federal support to operate, Unquestioning Media backing, and Free Garauntee'd $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Why on earth would they ever want to raise their fee's. I mean, that would just be a nutty thing to do. With no real oversite, and no one voting with their feet, why in the world would they take advantage of people and steal.. I mean charge more. If someone can show me true justification for charging $20-40k a year for a piece of paper, that will likely only get you an opportunity to apply for a $25-35k job, maybe I'll rethink my opinion. College's are lying to students, and parents. "If you spend X dollars now, you will make XXXXXXXX dollars in the future. When? oh well I don't know when. No one can predict the economy."
If they were examined under the same priciples that we examine "business" they would all be in alot of trouble.

And ofcourse there is the whole credit thing.
Credit beureau's collect private information about me, and my spending habit's without my consent. Then if they get it wrong, They don't have to do any real work to fix it. Based on the information they collect (without my consent), creditor's choose just how much money they will charge me for lending me money. I cannnot make them stop collecting the information. I cannot stop them from reporting the private information to whomever THEY consider qualified to know. I cannot dictate who I consider okay to know the information. And I don't get paid for any profit they make off of my personal and private information. They are not obligated to inform me of when, where, who, or how often, my private and personal information is being used. I have given no consent to using my social security number (which is protected by the privacy act) for their business.

Finally someone forced the issue enough, so that I can now obtain a free report from them of what kind of information they are collecting. But I can only get the information for free every once in awhile.
Hold on, this is legal? Law Enforcement (the people who are there to protect us from criminal's) could never in their wildest imaginations even consider attempting to do something like this. States are bucking a national ID card. No one wants the federal government to be able to wire tap people they (rightly or wrongly) consider a threat to the nation. But these businesses can do these things?

Astounding.

So I built over the years an excellent credit rating. I can buy on credit, anything I think I can afford. (this is not sarcasm) However, I learned how to use my credit wisely over the years. I learned it the hard way. I qualified when I started college (a long time ago) for garauntee'd approval for many, many, many credit cards. And like alot of very young, very inexperienced people, I grabbed every one of them. My mother didn't approve. But then, I was fully qualified. She didn't have a say in it. None of my creditor's at the time felt it neccessary for me to have any real income. And none of them charged me %30. I was an extremely high risk candidate. Not just because of my "student" classification, but because of my own financial maturity. I proved to be very high risk, and at 19 filed bankruptcy. My fault. My responsibility. My foolsih spending decision's.
I try to live debt free. It's very difficult. But creditor's love and hate my type. I use my cards when i feel like it, only for amounts that I can pay off quickly. The only debt I consider okay, (Sorry Clark Howard) is car and home loan debt. Car, because if you want anything worth having, it's gonna cost you alot now. House, because who has $200,000 stashed away unless it's from the sale of your last house, and your inheritence.

I'll step off my soap box. Wow, it's a long walk to the edge.

We let the good candidates go already, that was Kucinich and Ron Paul. Now we are left with the usual, whereby Obama is the lesser evil still, he is
sort of new at this. Forget McCain and his silly old ideas of being a warrior and Hillary, who believes we owe her the coronation. But we had our chance at real change and we were too stupid to vote for right
candidate.

We let the good candidates go already, that was Kucinich and Ron Paul. Now we are left with the usual, whereby Obama is the lesser evil still, he is
sort of new at this. Forget McCain and his silly old ideas of being a warrior and Hillary, who believes we owe her the coronation. But we had our chance at real change and we were too stupid to vote for right
candidate.

Neither candidates are doing much about middle class Americans. We fund the nation, we donate to charities, we send our kids to school, we play by the rule. We are not heard of. If any one wants change in is country there is only one person that is qualified to do it and it is Nadar.

My comments never end up on this board, which is your loss. But I will throw out a question I would dearly love to see answered:
Before usury laws were tossed to the winds (South Dakota, I believe, led the race to the bottom some years back) in most states, 18% was the maximum interest rate permitted by state law (whether that was on all loans or just on unsecured loans, I don't know) I seem to recall plenty of banks making plenty of money from lending back then. When the Fed ran rates up into the stratosphere, there was somebody handy to lend money for whatever. (we used to say that all you needed was a tie and a pulse to get a mortgage in DC in 1980-81)
So it would be instructive to learn about the removal of restrictions on interest rates: how many more people have gotten access to credit (a familiar mantra of subprime lenders resisting regulation in all types of lending) as a result of the removal of restrictions? How does that compare to the creditworthiness of people before the caps were lifted? How much does a person with x credit metrics pay now, compared to what that creditworthiness paid then?
The truth of the claims that deregulation has benefited the American consumer by increasing access to credit needs to be tested more thoroughly before simply accepting its veracity. It MAY be true, it likely is not. If not, then deregulation has benefited only the financial industry and its players. Clearly, the 'innovations' that are touted by the financial industry, like subprime mortgage lending, are no innovations if, in addition to simply extending credit to more people, don't carry within themselves the seeds (underwriting guidelines, debtor education) of a successful repayment of the underlying obligation - that's key to the existence of a secondary market in these types of loans, and the principal reason the market is in the mess it is in - the default rate on those loans is not high enough to have thrown the entire system into chaos, but the fact that no one KNOWS where and how many of these loans form part of the secondary market vehicles designed to resell them, that is responsible for the current mess. More facts, less rhetoric.
So that then we can hang all the CEOs after giving them a fair trial....