I just found this really fascinating news report from a couple years ago that has been made available online (legally, I might add) by PBS. It was a special investigative report by Frontline and The New York Times about the practices and ethics of the credit card industry. I thought I was pretty savvy when it comes to this sort of stuff, having grown up in a household that never lived beyond its means and the only debt we ever allowed was calculated home and car payments within a very strict limit. We never had to deal with credit card debt, never had to deal with rising interest rates, and yet there is so much coming out in this report and subsequent stories about these companies’ business practices that it’s truly frightening. And the scariest part is, it isn’t just the businesses that are so scary; it’s the federal agencies that are supposed to serve as checks and balances to corruption that are turning a blind eye to blatantly dishonest, unethical, and illegal practices. All of this is happening under our noses, which for me, makes it that much worse. Stories like this just make my skin crawl, because I’ve seen firsthand that if the public would just find out about stuff like this, there’s nothing that would stand in our way of stopping what’s going wrong and changing the way we’re all treated by big businesses. Good, honest, hard-working people are being victimized, and we could stop it by just reading, watching, and saying no.
That said, I thought it would be good to offer the link to this report so that hopefully this doesn’t get buried in obscurity. It first came out in 2004 and this is the first I’ve heard about it – pretty sad for a report that contains a lot of crucial information that can drastically affect your financial decisions and the future of your family’s security. Bankruptcy doesn’t just happen to the irresponsible, it can happen to anyone who tampers with debt. Take it from me, you never know when drastic health problems can hit you out of the blue that completely and eternally alter every detail of your life. No one is immune from that. Just plain bad luck can lead to serious financial difficulties as well, and I think being aware of the practices of companies you entrust your financial future to can save a lot of very serious heartache.
So check it out. It’s free and easy to watch, fairly short, you can watch it in segments, and it is very interesting. Plus it has Ben Stein, and how can you not love Ben Stein? 🙂 And by the way, huge applause to PBS for making programming available and easily accessible online – I knew I loved you guys for a reason (even if the telethons are a bit annoying…)
Next time you’re at the checkout line, think for a minute before whipping out the plastic money. Think about what’s on the price tag and figure out if that’s really what you’ll be paying after all the interest, fees, and other crap you didn’t even notice in the fine print. Think about how long it’ll take you to pay for that bundle of goodies if you only cover the minimum monthly. If you can, opt for the cash – it’ll be a lot cheaper in the long run.