As banks have once again returned to making pre-recession profits - thanks mostly to their taxpayer bailout - they're once again preying on the poor with subprime lending. A new report by Experian shows that credit cards lender handed out 1.1 million new credit cards to people with damaged credit in December of last year. That's 12% jump from just one year ago.
The banks prefer those with low credit because they can jack up interest rates as high 29% - and charge endless over-the-limit and late fees. Every year - banks make tens of billions of dollars on just fees - not interest payments. Targeting the poor to maximize fee income is not responsible banking - it's predatory banking.
And today, banking makes up nearly a quarter of our entire economy. That means an entire quarter of our economy now depends on screwing over poor Americans. We need to break up the power on Wall Street - and create an economy with a strong manufacturing base that can once again support a middle class.
-Thom
(Could you manage without credit? Tell us here.)
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