Category Archives: Consumer Credit
Credit Card Surcharges Will Soon Be Legal in California
By: Andrew K Jacobson A group of California small businesses have successfully challenged California’s long-time ban on credit card surcharges. However, for the moment, they are the only ones to benefit. Credit cards are great for cash flow, but they cause headaches for small businesses. People rely upon them for even the smallest transactions – […]
The First Amendment for Customers
By: Andrew K Jacobson California Governor Jerry Brown has signed new legislation that voids language in contracts that prevents a consumer from commenting on the performance of a product or service. New Cal. Civ. Code § 1670.8 states that a“contract or proposed contract for the sale or lease of consumer goods […]
Now for The [Good] News…
by: Andrew K Jacobson The news has been dreary for some time now, and September has not been friendly in the recent past. Under all that gloom, it is easy to forget that there is a lot of good news out there: Lower Crime. Accounting for population growth, violent crime is down 48 percent over the […]
Foiling the Hyenas
The plunge from the easy money of the 2004-2008 era to The Great Recession hurt a lot of people. The easy credit of plastic morphed into a nightmare of bills and the inability to make even minimum payments. People who lost their jobs or were unable to afford finance charges that, in some cases, exceeded 20% annually, were saddled with debt that they couldn’t pay back, and no one game them a break. However, the banks that initially extended the bad debt, at worst case, were folded into healthy banks, and usually sold their bad debt at a deep discount – as low as 1%-2% of the total value – to companies that make their living suing those who can’t pay back their debt. How does someone in tough circumstances fight back against the hyenas?
Foiling the Hyenas
The plunge from the easy money of the 2004-2008 era to The Great Recession hurt a lot of people. The easy credit of plastic morphed into a nightmare of bills and the inability to make even minimum payments. People who lost their jobs or were unable to afford finance charges that, in some cases, exceeded 20% annually, were saddled with debt that they couldn’t pay back, and no one game them a break. However, the banks that initially extended the bad debt, at worst case, were folded into healthy banks, and usually sold their bad debt at a deep discount – as low as 1%-2% of the total value – to companies that make their living suing those who can’t pay back their debt. How does someone in tough circumstances fight back against the hyenas?
