Should Credit Cards Be Regulated More Tightly?

Credits cards are a sensitive issue because on the one hand you have this freedom to purchase and a lot of convenience with the card, and on the other hand you have the very real danger of purchasing beyond your income and buying a lot of things online that you just cannot afford. And the trouble comes when you get slapped with the fines and interest rates, such as for going over your limit or not paying on time. But people should read the fine print and know their limits. However, it seems some people need more guidance and perhaps restrictions. This may be because they are uneducated or simply self-destructive. It is so easy to splurge with the plastic, virtual money.

When I was a freshman in college I signed up for a credit card on campus because they were giving out free T-shirts and little basketball hoops just for signing up. Then I put the credit card away and ignored it.

Later, I also signed up online for four free issues of Sports Illustrated. I knew I wouldn't have time to read them all anyway, but to me I was attracted by that word - "free".

I started getting the Sports Illustrated magazines, and they kept coming. I didn't realize that in the fine print for the free magazines was that if you don't cancel initially they will bill you. So after a while I happened to receive a bill in the mail from the above credit card company -charging me for two years of Sports Illustrated at the price of about 40 dollars. I thought, "What! Who did this?" But they automatically found my credit card and billed it - kind of tricky but that's what they do. Anyway, I was lucky I was able to cancel the SI subscription and get the charge removed, and then after that I cut the card and closed that account. But if I threw away that bill I would get in deep trouble right at the beginning, and probably get screwed with fines. Thankfully I was able to avoid that.

And recently I had another time-consuming problem. I signed up for my credit card company's "auto-pay" feature and read the FAQ's regarding it carefully. It said that if I choose an auto-pay amount and the balance that I owe is less, they will only bill me and automatically take out the money I owe. Bad idea to fall into this "convenience" feature. Turns out they automatically withdraw your auto-pay number each month, no matter what. This caused me to get an overdraft in my bank, and after at least five hours wasted I finally got things back to "normal" - hopefully.

I think that credit card companies should not be allowed to give credit cards out so casually to people who don't need them and have really bad credit ratings. Also, the government should make it a law to teach high-school students about credit cards in some kind of money-management course, but I'm afraid that's not going to happen. I hope that someone opens their eyes and does something soon. I do think that the government should step in and regulate the credit card companies more.