Suze Orman: Get ready for credit card rate hikes

cnbc ^ | 11-17-2014

[Citizen Zed]

Although the average is around 14 percent, I know plenty of you pay more than 20 percent interest. And next year could be even more expensive for anyone carrying credit card debt.

As you better know by now, the interest you are charged on an unpaid credit card balance is tied to any movement in whatever benchmark index or rate the card issuer uses. Many credit cards use the prime rate (the lowest rate of interest at which banks lend money) as their benchmark. Since December 2008, the prime rate has been stuck at 3.25 percent.

That's all about to change.

[Citizen Zed]

And with this comes an increasing interest rate on the National Debt.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Another reason why the Fake White Indian will cruise into the Oval Office on a promise to hold televised public floggings of bankers.

[Gaffer]

All this is a holdover from Jimmy Carter’s Misery Index - they went up but didn’t ever come down.

[cuban leaf]

This is one reason I’ve refused to carry any credit card balance, barring the unforseen catastrophy.

[KoRn]

If interest rates return to their historical norms, which I believe is around 5-6%, it would kill us at the federal level. We would be spending as much on interest in the budget as we do many large spending items/programs. That’s probably where we’d send the printers into overdrive and accelerate the currency devaluation.

[wita]

That’s probably where we’d send the printers into overdrive and accelerate the currency devaluation.

Instead of solving the problem.

[Obadiah]

I just don't think the feds have the ability to raise the interest rate all that much. Oh, sure, they may do a head fake and raise it a quarter of a point, but it ain't going up 100 basis points or anything like that.

They can't. They've boxed themselves in.

[Veggie Todd]

I carry $0 credit card debt, so go ahead and raise it as high as you want.

[justlurking]

And with this comes an increasing interest rate on the National Debt.

I'm not personally worried about the interest rate on credit card debt. We don't have any, other than one that deferred interest for 2 years. It will be paid off long before that.

Credit card interest rates are largely driven by defaults and fraud. The banks are littering mailboxes with pre-approved applications, and too many people are using them to finance a lifestyle they can't afford.

However, I'm concerned about the effect of higher interest rates on everything else: home mortgages, car loans, and the deficit. Raising the cost of debt service for those will have a ripple effect across the entire economy.

[sheana]

People who pay interest rates on credit cards are financially illiterate. Usuary fees.

[Cheerio]

Another reason why the Fake White Indian will cruise into the Oval Office on a promise to hold televised public floggings of bankers.

I just watched an old liberal Frontline PBS program entitled "Secret History of Credit Cards". There she was spewing her poison about how bad CAPITALISM is and how evil the banks are. The date of airing 2004.

She has been at this for a long time and IMHO she will be the next RAT Pres candidate to carry on where Obozo the Clown leaves off.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Banks have been getting money from the Fed at near zero interest and loaning it to Visa and MasterCard holders at 20%+. Her campaign is already made for her.

[moovova]

What’s that?

Haven’t paid interest on a credit card for...never.

[Ditter]

Same here, we have NO credit card debt, yet we get calls everyday from someone asking if we need help with it.

YOU DUMB A&&.......... HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU >>>> STOP CALLING !!!!!!!!

[pierrem15]

You Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren?