A person who gets a credit card has a responsibility to pay the money back. You should never buy anything with a credit card that you can't pay off at the end of the month. If you do this your interest rate is low. If you buy something you can't afford and then choose to make the smaller payment then the interest rate goes up. If you fail to make your payment on time the rate will go up again. If you read the agreement before you sign up for the card you are aware of this. Unless you speak Misteco.

May you never have to face a major medical problem in your family where you have bills so great you cna't even pay the interest Ron.

Then again, maybe that's exactly what you ought to have happen to you so you can better sympathize with the thousands who MUST declare bankruptcy to save theri families.

Jerk.

He's wrong on the technical details too. Credit card companies can and will raise your rates even when you've never missed a payment or even been late. There's no restrictions on them. I've had rates as high as 26.5% and I have a mid-700s credit score.

Well I said I wasn't going to post again but that was before I read what the Anonymous asshole wrote. Do you usually wish ill on folks? Do you think that is the way to debate? I was just pointing out that you shouldn't use a card that you know can rip your credit ratings to shreds if you can't afford to pay it off. Most of the people who are filing bankruptcy are not doing so because of medical bills. They are doing so because of lack of personal responsibility. In your case I can see how your psychiatry bill would eat you alive. So if I have offended you, I am really, really, really sorry asshole. If you are having a hard time with money I would suggest you stop eating. From what I understand this creates a wonderful euphoric state.

My family has never missed a payment, we have always paid our entire balance each month, and we usually pay off long term loans early.

Now, suppose some jerk, who had no insurance or any possessions, slammed into the side of my car giving me a brain injury. Our insurance would cover some it, but probably not all of it. I would lose my job, and it would be pretty hard for me to get another one. My wife would have to go back to work and be the only income earner. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the education I do, and we would be earning just above poverty line wages. We would have to use the money to pay for daycare for both our kids and rehab for me. Our house, our car, and our savings would be gone despite our lifetime of responsibility.

Now, if we could have declared bankruptcy under today's laws, when it was obvious that we couldn't pay the medical bills, then we might not lose the house or the car. But, under the current bill, we probably couldn't get out of the medical bills.

You may think this scenario is unlikely, but there are many other accidents that could push us off a cliff. Unfortunately, roughly half of all bankrupcies are due to extreme medical bills.

By the way bankruptcy is part of the constitution because most of our founders were risk takers. Many of them had failed in business, and knew the value of a fresh start to the economic strenght of the nation.

The bankruptcy bill was written by the credit card lobby.Why would they want changes in the laws?Credit card debt is an unsecured debt thus easily written off by bankruptcy courts.Seems to me the CC banks should bare some responsibility for their own lending practices.Although you shouldn't be too worried with Citibank,MBNA,or Capitolone as they made record proffits last year despite our current alleged abused bankruptcy laws.

So basically what you guys are saying here is that people should be allowed to get credit cards run them up to the max buying whatever they want and because of any reason they should be able to tell the people who loaned them money to take a hike. I get it now. Note to self: Don't loan Hillbilly, Paul and Anonymous money.

Ron,

I don't know if you are being willfully obtuse or not, but what the people here are saying has not a lot to do with shrikers of credit card debt. What they ARE saying is that very often a family MUST declare bankruptcy for reasons that ARE NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN. You're a big boy, look up the statistics yourself and you'll see the truth of what I'm saying.

Forgiving such debt is what we call COMPASSION. Ask Dubya about it sometime.

Plus, once again (no surprise), Ron is wrong on the technical details. Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows the courts to seize some of your assets before your debt is forgiven. Chapter 13 lets you keep your assets and sets up a payment plan. Neither is an instant clean slate.

I speak from experience. My father owns a lot of rental property. I used to watch folks go buy all kinds of stuff on credit cards. New furniture when they had furniture, new car when they had a car. They would always have plenty of beer on hand and lots of them smoked. They filed bankruptcy because they could not manage there finances. After they filed bankruptcy they still smoked. They still had plenty of beer on hand. Just not enough money to pay their creditors. You guys paint with way to broad a brush. Everyone is not filing bankruptcy because of medical reasons. I know for a fact that if the bill from the hospital is too large they will break it down to a payment that you can afford without it going on your credit report. Bankruptcy is necessary sometimes. I will acknowledge that. But demonizing is not a solution. Always complaining is not a solution. There are problems with the system. Do you have a fix or just a complaint?

Ok, so let's assume for a minute that there are problems with the system. Is the bill that was just passed a good and fair solution? Or does it unfairly target middle and lower income abusers and leave in loopholes for high income abusers?

Or are you just supporting it because your party or Fox News told you to?

There is a problem evidently because even Harold Ford, Jr. voted for the bill. Let's not just assume, shall we? What solution was offered other than this one?

An amendment by Democrats that would've closed the loophole that allows the wealthy to keep their multi-million dollar mansions.

Can you post the counter proposal?

See my most recent post.

Can we rename Ron to Dodger?

I told you I did not have time for that. It is not affecting me. I really don't care. There are issues I do care about. I don't owe money on credit cards. I have them. I use them "if" I need them. I hardly ever need them. I have everything I need and it's all paid for. God has blessed me. So please forgive me. I will stay out of this conversation. Taken at face value I will have to say that the rejected amendments that have been posted makes me wonder why the democrats voted for the bill. I can also see why folks like me were not registering it on the radar screen. It's not that I am heartless but that is why I have elected Duncan over and over again. Historically he is someone I can count on. I sent him a letter asking why he voted against Bush in the Iraq war. I was a little pissed. However; just as Paul let John Kerry have a pass and just like Paul is gonna let Harold Ford pass, I gave a pass to Duncan. He is the one hired to do the job. If he screws up enough he will be replaced. That's the way it goes. In the mean time I will focus what little time I have for the issues I am concerned with and you can spread yourself thin and be everbodies hero. Jack of all politics, master of none.