Bank of America and Wachovia -- have increased the monthly minimum payments customers must pay.
...for the millions of Americans carrying credit card debt, the banks' move could be costly.
"The new policy of some banks to raise the minimum required payment on credit card accounts from 2 percent to 4 percent will impact many consumers," said Pamela Hart, manager of Consumer Credit Counseling Services Inc.
"For those who either pay their credit cards in full each month, or pay more than the minimum, there may be little impact," she said. "On the other hand, for those who are barely getting by and paying merely the minimum each month, the effect could be catastrophic."
Hart said that while the average American carries credit card debt of about $9,000, the average credit counseling client she sees has debt more in the neighborhood of $20,000 to $30,000.
link
Doubling the poor tax could not come at a better time for prison industry execs and investors eagerly awaiting the exciting new Indentured Servitude Act to be signed into law.
With bankruptcy prohibited by law for low wage earners already struggling to stay in housing, and depending on credit cards to supplement insufficient income, CCA, Wackenhut, et al have good reason to be licking their chops!
And there just might be a lil' somepm-somepm in the goodie bag for Taser aficionados, too!
The poor, of course, have brought this on themselves by attempting to live beyond their means and enjoy lifestyles involving housing and even medical treatment, both high-price tag luxury items in the US economy.
Hardly more responsible are the dead-ender middle class, whose illusions have led them down the primrose path to the exact same extravagance, many of them actually attempting to purchase homes, which will now be repossessed by America's banks, which should more than offset any minimal losses incurred by credit card defaults and high-amount loans for the construction of new correction facilities to accomodate the impending tidal wave of new inmates!
