UNITED STATES—In the past four months, I’m not sure if I should be surprised or not when it comes to the growing interest rate on my credit cards. Nope. I have not missed any payments due on my credit cards, but you’re talking about interest rates that were 24 percent that has shot up almost 10 percent. With one of my credit cards, the rate shot up to a point that I’m determining whether I should just close my credit card or not.
Do I like having the one card? Yes, but at the same time, it is NOT something I must have in my life. The world will not end if that card is no longer in my possession. I feel like some of the credit card companies are forcing the good paying customers who pay their bills on time pay for all those other customers who are NOT paying their credit card bills.
I mean an APR of 35 percent that is just ridiculous, right? That is something I have to echo because it just seems it will keep people in more debt than ever before. Perhaps that is what the credit card companies want for people to be so ingrained in debt that they never get out no matter how hard they try. However, the climbing interest rates are not the only thing that frustrates me.
I literally got a piece of mail about two weeks ago that told me one of my retail credit cards was closing all of their accounts for its customers. Like, I was beyond baffled it left me stunned. The letter explained that the company was getting rid of its credit card program. I had never heard such a thing before in my life. You have customers who have a credit card with your establishment and you just end the credit card program? Like make that make sense!
Then I found out recently that the company had partnered with a major credit card company, Mastercard, and I guess they want the customers who currently have their store credit card to apply for their new partnership card. What’s the problem? Why would you want to take on more credit if you don’t have to? Yes, it’s a decent offer to now have a major credit card that can be used anywhere in addition to the retail establishment itself.
It is very tempting, but that is the thing about temptation, if you’re tempted it could get you in some serious trouble and the thing about plastic is that it’s money that is loaned to you. It is NOT your actual money. So, you start swiping and before you know it, you’ve amounted a serious amount of debt. So much debt to the point that you’re not able to get out of it. Yes, inflation in this country has been unbelievable since 2022 if we’re being honest.
Now it seems more than ever, all sorts of companies are doing everything they can to milk the dollars from the consumers. Not just on goods like food and household items, but insurance rate, cars, mortgages, loans, and anything that the average consumer would utilize in the typical day, week, month or year. People might be making a bit more money, but at the same time they are spending any extra they earn on the increasing interest rate on things or basic necessities.
Well, we finally got some good news that rates are supposed to drop soon. One can only hope, but with so many credit card companies being driven by greed, it’s the consumers who pay the ultimate price.
Written By Jason Jones
