And credit card law has nothing to do with home mortgage defaults/
> foreclosures.
Perhaps not the laws themselves, but the credit card habits of consumers could have something to do with defaults because free-spending folks wrap their credit card debt into their mortgages and/or get home equity loans at floating rates. All this is great when a rising housing market is creating "free" equity for them to tap, but when the market goes the other way...
> But in the long run, how much does raising the minimum CC payment save the
> consumer? Literally thousands of dollars. Why? Because many consumers don't
> realize that paying the 'minimum' is a sure fire way to make the credit card
> company rich and themselves poor.
True. Better yet is to have no CC debt at all. Over the long run, that will give you far more spending power because you get to actually buy goods with your income rather than using it to pay interest and fees to some fat-cat. For my family, credit is for the occasional purchase of transportation and for a mortgage. Credit cards are for monthly convenience, emergencies, travel and making payments; not for long-term credit.
Vaughn