New Credit Card Statements

No paper wasted.  Electronic Statements

I'm pretty sure it was mandated by that new law.  It's not really that big of a deal, is it?

Of course... it would help if the credit card companies didn't screw up the new section...



eta: Actually, I think the new statements are a good thing.  There are people out there who have no idea about interest and credit cards, etc.  It certainly can't hurt, and I'm not sure that new section makes bills "huge." 

Edited by newleaf 2010-03-10 5:54 PM

Outside of the longer length (which is bad in this instance), I really think it's a dumbing down of things.  If you have no idea about interest and credit cards...I don't know...don't have one.  And if you choose to be ignorant of how they work, then you get to reap the rewards of that ignorance.

I just see it as a lower denominator.  I really hate the dumbing down of things.  AND...now the bill doesn't fit nice and neat in my hanging folder!

yup.

1. Electronic Statement.
2. I pay my balance off every month.
3. Yes, it is a probelm as the median US credit card debt is in the $7,000 range, so obviously people DO need reminding/teaching about how credit, interest rates, payments and debt all work.

Edited by ejshowers 2010-03-10 8:33 PM

Things have changed a lot since I worked for credit card company MBNA just 10 years ago. Do see this is as helpful, yet depressing for those not able to pay off quickly One thing will not change though. These companies will still be looking for profit and need to make it up somewhere after many regulatory changes impacted income streams. In my case and many others APR % simply increased.

So like many other things, those with good credit and payment history are paying for those changes. Charge offs are a big part of it, but I went from a nice rate under 8% to now 12% and that seams to be happening to many. It is still a choice to keep so I dont disagree 100% in rationale, but it did have me shopping around for lower rate and found it with National Bank of Omaha, one of the better providers left standing after the industry has turned into monopoly by BofA, Capital One, Amex, discover, etc. Can't think of many others left.

Yes, people were too dumb to know this.  This is why it needed to go on the bills.  I think it's great.  Mine is still only a 2-page PDF.

do they still offer classes in high school on credit cards / how to balance a checkbook? I really think there should be a life skills class....learn how to cook,personal finance, taxes, mortgage. We had them back in the day.

I think in some cases expanding technology has made us dumber.

Yes, it was needed. Go electronic though...

I would need to know the balance, the interest rate , the percentage that constitutes a `minimum payment' and the formula for calculating compounding interest on a monthly basis. Then, with a calculator, 18 fingers and toes and a bigger hamster to power up my tiny brain, maybe then I could figure it out. But yes, I woudln't know how to do that. It's helpful for a numbskull like me because I currently have high balances after paying for a divorce and, for the past three months, bills to close out my mom's estate. Once that's settled I won't have to worry about it. Until then, thanks Chase!!!

Then again I'm not all mathy.

they didn't have them 10 years ago, luckily i had a mother that made me get a job, a savings account, taught me how to keep track of my money, explained how credit worked, etc etc etc

I like the online version (most of the CC websites have a calculator you can plug into) because it tells me how many months before I've paid off that card.  It's a great thing.  I don't want to have to do algebra unless absolutely necessary (or a grade depends on it.)

Save a tree. Go electronic. (even though paper is a renewable resource...but that's for a different post.)

Coincidentally, this is the campaign slogan for Palin 2012.



*ducks*

I thought it was "Vote Palin in 2012. The World is Supposed to End Then Anyway."
/hijack.

DH does bankruptcy law and there are many many many people who are not stupid, but who do not appear to be able to realistically make a budget and do not really work through what exactly interests rates mean to them and their pocketbook. Doesn't matter if it is their credit cards, the car loan or their mortgage loan.

The new law is a good thing. It did not say make extra pages on your bill, it just said tell people the real deal. They'd save a ton of paper not including all the ad carp in with the bill. Who buys that stuff?

I"m a firm believer that once you put a dollar sign in front of a number....  the number becomes completely meaningless to 90% of the population. 

When my wife and I went through our marraige prep course, we went on retreat with a bunch of other couples.   One session of the retreat was an exercise where everyone wrote a question on a piece of paper and put it into a hat.  They drew a few questions at random and we talked through them.   One of the questions was what to do when your partner was bringing sizable credit card debt to the marriage.

I spoke up and said:  "Write every single expense you have every month on the left side of the paper, and every single income source on the right side.   Total them both up.    ALWAYS keep the right side bigger than the left side."

You would have thought I'd pewped a golden egg on the group.  "THAT's A GREAT IDEA."   "WOW, you really  understand money."

Good grief.