What’s In Your Wallet? My Cash, Apparently.

With rules going into effect this week that limit the amount of late fees and penalties credit card companies are allowed to charge customers, card holders have seen interest rates spike to their highest levels in almost a decade as issuers attempt to compensate for the lost income.

Why, it’s almost as if credit card companies operate in a competitive industry in which prices naturally adjust to changes in order to maintain an equilibrium between supply and demand.

Freaky.

It should be noted that credit card companies have long had a program specifically designed to reduce or even eliminate the penalties and fees associated with making late payments:

Don’t make late payments.

We here at Planet Moron have made extensive use of this program and can attest to its effectiveness.  In fact, the only times we’ve ever been socked with one of these totally unfair and unjustified late fees was when we paid our bills late.

Some naysayers might complain about the higher interest rates, noting that the costs associated with late payers are being spread out among everyone, but the sponsor of the new law, Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York, points out that it will spare credit card customers “unwelcome surprises” and that it’s:

“…Better that consumers should know up-front what the interest rate is, even if it's higher, than to be soaked on the back-end by tricks and hidden fees.”

We don’t know about you, but we feel much better knowing we’ll be paying more in interest so that people who are not us won’t find themselves surprised by fees hidden in incomprehensible documents known as “calendars” and disguised using tricky jargon-laden language such as “due date” and “pay by.”

We all didn’t go to law school you know.

In fact, we see no reason why this approach to “spreading the personal responsibility around” can’t be extended to other areas.  After all, it’s always struck us as both unfair and inefficient that people are specifically targeted for traffic violations for the alleged crime of breaking the law. (You try reading a speed limit sign while you’re cruising along at 90 MPH.) Wouldn’t it make much more sense to have everyone pay a modest ticket regardless of your behavior so that people who do speed won’t find one of those unwelcome surprises hiding around the next curve?

Or are you against fairness?

J.

NOTE: Brief Summer Book Hiatus will continue through Labor Day.  Expect light blogging and a few more excerpts in the meantime.