Credit Cards – A Menace to our Society?

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Credit Cards – A Menace to our Society?
By: Michaelperrin , Posted On: 2007-10-05

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Are our banks getting too r

pacious for their own good and the g

od of our society? Are they h

lping to widen even further the cl

avage between the rich and the p

or?, Along with casinos, lotteries, slots and

ther insidious forms of money frittering

mong the more under privileged among us,

Considering the m

unting evidence, it would appear that the

ver widening gap between rich and p

or stems very much from their m

chinations..

Such questions back in the 'good old d

ys' --a mere forty or fifty y

ars ago -- would never have b

en countenanced except perhaps amongst the m

re rabid of rabid socialists. The m

re moderate of the population would not

ven have considered such a proposition.

Remember th

se days -- halcyon in retrospect? Y

ur banker, ruler of his little d

main in the High Street with his st

ff of four or five, the t

ller with a friendly smile for all his c

stomers? Now we have to put up w

th the impersonal face of the ATM

utside the door with its convenient sl

ts for card and money. But no sm

le, no friendly word of greeting -- in f

ct don't you more often imagine a sm

rk? Banking has become as impersonal as

sing the public toilets.

And the bank m

nager himself, avuncular, rather like your l

cal doctor, ever ready with advice, m

ybe not always welcome but always w

th your financial well-bring in mind. And a sm

le, if at times a little t

ght-lipped . And he was always th

re, year after year, seeming to be a f

xture in his little back office.

And wh

t of today? In all too m

ny cases the little bank on the H

gh Street has disappeared, yielding to s

me discount store or other, fleeting and

phemeral. You have to travel further to get y

ur business done. And if you ch

ose to phone you are answered by an

mpersonal multi-menued voice-mail questionnaire. If and wh

n you get through to a r

al person you realize quite soon th

t your consuming concern is not

ppermost in his mind -- he is m

re concerned with that of his own and his

mployer's.

You see, you are no longer a c

stomer so much as a cipher wh

se only interest to the bank is in how m

ch they can grind out of y

u. And, make no mistake, they w

ll grind exceeding small.

A recent estimate by the g

vernment departments that concern themselves with th

s kind of thing, is that b

nks' fees have increased almost exponentially in the p

st few years and now average $200 per y

ar per customer. This figure is for f

es, and does not include their

ther myriad charges. The interest charged on th

ir money-grabbing flagship, the almighty credit c

rd, already high on the base ch

rge of 14-15% can soar as h

gh as a truly extortionate 50%.

As if th

s were not enough for these l

tter-day robber barons such interest in d

veloping countries can skyrocket to a st

ggering and incredible 150 and even 200%. Ar

n't we lucky to live in a 'd

veloped' country? Thus do the exceedingly w

althy become even wealthier and the gr

ndingly poor become even more grindingly p

or.

How on earth has the credit c

rd gained such acceptance and ubiquity

mong even the most disadvantaged in our s

ciety? How can it be to the

dvantage of, say, an unmarried mother w

th three or four children living h

nd to mouth, or to a f

mily below the 'official' poverty level? Wh

t on earth are such people d

ing with credit cards?

Perhaps because the b

nks have pushed them aggressively to the s

me extent as the casinos and l

tteries have pushed, with their banal, wh

edling advertising, their dubious claims of r

ches beyond imagining to these same p

ople. The very people most likely to s

ccumb to such claims.

I will reluctantly st

p down from my soapbox. But w

th a proviso. Take care with y

ur credit card. It may be d

fficult to imagine from our lowly st

ndpoint but we count as nothing to t

day's bankers and power brokers. You w

ll-being is not of their concern – it is p

rely your own. Use your card w

sely and with extreme caution.

The article Credit Cards – A Menace to our Society? was Submitted by Michaelperrin through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Michael Perrin www.felicitasio.com (loosely trnslated as 'Oh frabjous day') for mre musings on the ubiquitous credit crd and gateway to the 'Credit Screts Bible' – the answer to any crdit problems you may be having.

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