Here is hoping you are having an enjoyable holiday season, looking forward to sharing moments with family and friends over the next week, and have many things for which to be thankful.
Unfortunately, many of us fear what our government will do over the next four years. It is hard for many of us to listen to the news. A president-elect who ran on lowering the national debt led the fight to eliminate the debt ceiling. (Perhaps a good sign that even many of his supporters and his party were shocked and refused to go along?)
Now, the President-elect, who ran on ending foreign entanglements, wants to take the Panama Canal away from Panama if they don’t charge what he considers a fair price. Of course, this is at the same time Panama is trying to force the Trump Organization to pay the taxes it owes to Panama.
The President-elect also wants to force the Nation of Greenland to sell itself to the United States, which adds to the anxious feeling about what will happen next.
But if we believe in controlling corporate power, there are some things for which we can thank our government. Many who overspend over the holidays can be thankful for our government’s actions protecting us from predatory credit card companies’ late fees.
At this time last year, the major credit card companies, after spending hundreds of millions persuading us to spend, collected billions in late and “over the credit limit” charges. The magazine of the non-profit Consumer Union found that 1 in 5 adult Americans—an estimated 52 million people- paid those fees.
The late fees were often not just unfair, being charged when the mail was late due to problems created at the post office, but also discriminatory. “People in majority Black neighborhoods pay more in late fees. The CFPB’s analysis also found that in ZIP codes where 90 percent of people are Black, the burden of late fees is felt hardest. Per account, African Americans were charged, on average, more than $25 in late fees. At the same time, in places where the African American population was nearly zero, people paid less than $20 in late fees.
President Biden’s appointments to the CFPB forced the large credit card companies to reduce the late fees from $ 32 to $ 8. A $ 24 savings. For over a decade, credit card giants have been exploiting a loophole to harvest billions of dollars in junk fees from American consumers,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Today’s rule ends the era of big credit card companies hiding behind the excuse of inflation when they hike fees on borrowers and boost their own bottom lines.
It may be a relatively small victory for people fighting the monopoly power of credit card companies and banks, but it’s a victory.
Before you feel too bad for the banks and credit card companies or, start thinking that the money they invested in campaign contributions didn’t get them a return on their investments. Consider the companies have been making up for what they were forced to give back by exorbitantly raising interest rates and reaching deeper and deeper into our pockets. Over the last 10 years, the average APR on credit cards assessed interest has almost doubled from 12.9 percent in late 2013 to 22.8 percent in 2023 — the highest level recorded since the Federal Reserve began collecting this data.
Lowering credit card interest rates is one of President-Elect Trump’s promises while saying he was fighting for working people. We will see if he lives up to that promise.
Our reporters sit through hours of city council meetings, dig through piles of documents, and ask tough questions other media overlook. Because we’re committed to addressing Philadelphia’s poverty crisis — and challenging those who sustain it. If you think this work is important too, please support our journalism.
We’re counting on readers like you.
