LETTER: Credit card interest rates

In response to your Feb., 17 editorial, “Credit card bill will hurt those it’s supposed to help”:

Capping credit card interest rates will adjust the game’s rules, but there are still billions to be made even with a 10 percent interest rate cap. And let us not forget the money generated on processing fees. A quick Google search for 2023 puts those amounts at $25 billion and $172 billion, respectively.

Additionally, the attempt to draw parallels between credit cards and substitutable goods is an exercise in silliness. Interest a credit card may charge differs from rent control or price controls on food. The barrier to entry for a consumer to replace one brand of soda with another is nil. However, the barrier to entry to obtaining and maintaining good-standing credit with an issuer cannot easily be replaced, nor should it, as closing credit cards and opening new ones will hurt your credit score.

Furthermore, credit cards don’t help those who can’t manage their credit or are at higher risk; they put that very population at higher risk with the allure of living outside their means. Implying that a population with less-than-stellar credit is underserved and needs credit cards is delusional. People who “live on credit cards” instead of within their means are headed only for financial disaster.

While one might consider the price of credit for carrying a balance on a credit card usury, let us not forget that issuers are interested in maximizing profit. Average rates will always float to the higher end of any limit.

Lessons in living within one’s means should be promoted. That’s what people need.