Credit Card Interest Rates at 36% - Don't Let it Happen to You!
By Dee V Smith

There was a bill introduced in March of this year in the House of Representatives called "Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Credit Rates Act of 2009." This bill will cap interest rates (including credit card rates) at 36 percent. Thirty Six Percent! That is absolutely outrageous. Why would such a bill ever be introduced?

Upon reading the bill, it became obvious that Americans are being taken to the cleaners on a daily basis and this bill was designed to try to help. Here are the reasons the bill gave as to why it was introduced: "Cash-strapped consumers pay on average 400 percent annual interest for payday loans, 300 percent annual interest for car title loans, up to 3,500 percent for bank overdraft loans, 50 to 500 percent annual interest for loans secured by expected tax refunds, and higher than 50 percent annual percentage interest for credit cards that charge junk fees."

After reading that, the 36 percent didn't seem so bad. Still, no wonder we have such a problem with unsecured debt in this country. You can see how difficult it would be to ever get debt free with these outrageous fees being tacked on to existing debt. Especially since these fees are added at a time when the borrowers are having a problem to begin with. No wonder more and more people are turning to debt relief.

The bill went on to say: "A national maximum interest rate that includes all forms of fees and closes all loopholes is necessary to eliminate such predatory lending."

I would definitely agree predatory lending is out of control in this country and something needs to be done. However, it seems a 36 percent cap will just cause the credit card companies to make that their standard rate. A case in point; A friend of mine was just given notice that her credit card interest rates were being raised to 31 percent. Wow! Imagine if you have $10,000 on a credit card charging 31 percent interest per year. The math is overwhelming and with today's economic woes, frightening. How can you ever get out of debt? The bill mentioned above was introduced but has not yet passed. The CARD Act has passed, and starting in February 2010 will lock in credit card interest rates for five years. No wonder my friend's interest rate went up. Credit card companies do not want to get caught with low interest rates.

This is why you should act now. You can and should get your credit card interest rates reduced before the CARD Act locks them in. We have reviewed several companies and found a highly rated member of the Better Business Bureau that has helped over 4.5 million people and truly cares to get you the best of Debt Relief.

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