| Many people often wonder why it is that their | | | | with another lender has been compared to |
| credit card bills come to them from Sioux | | | | having a cartel, or price fixing structure. A |
| Falls in South Dakota. The simple reasoning | | | | major concern to many folks is the |
| for this is that South Dakota is the home of | | | | possibility that the credit card shown as |
| very liberal laws concerning consumer | | | | being in a state of default may not simply be |
| protections for credit cards. The state of | | | | so. It very well could be the result of an |
| South Dakota receives a great deal of revenue | | | | error on the part of the credit card issuer. |
| from it's partner in crime, the credit card | | | | If this is the case, while the customer has |
| industry. Albeit it is certain that the | | | | full legal rights to have the error corrected |
| absence of corporate income taxes plays a | | | | on his credit report, any lender who |
| huge factor as well. There are many financial | | | | instituted the universal default rate is |
| service companies located in South Dakota | | | | under no obligation to return to the normal |
| include Great Western Bank, Total Card Inc., | | | | rate. Naturally, this sort of position puts |
| BankFirst, Capital Card Services, HSBC, | | | | many credit card consumers in a state akin to |
| PREMIER Bankcard, and Wells Fargo. | | | | anger. Simply put, this is not right. |
| | | | |
| Credit card fees over the years recently have | | | | Over the last few years there have been |
| skyrocketed from $2.6 billion in 1980 to over | | | | several attempts by concerned congressmen to |
| $22.5 billion in 2006. The thing that has a | | | | simply have the practice of universal default |
| great number of consumers and advocates irked | | | | outlawed. One such congressman was Sen. Chris |
| is a common practice named "universal | | | | Dodd, D-Conn. Still, these card companies are |
| default""universal default". In this scheme | | | | also amongst the political party |
| when you are late paying any bill, the credit | | | | contributors, and seeking meaningful changes |
| card company will raise your rate, sending | | | | such as these in the face of subtle |
| some rates far higher than 20%. There have | | | | corruption has always been a daunting task. |
| been many criticisms of this structure | | | | "I've never been able to get a bill passed of |
| including the concept of one lender charging | | | | any major significance because they're so big |
| a higher price when their customer defaults | | | | and so influential," says Dodd. |