The company's name is ADVANTA BANK CORP., P.O. BOX 30511, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84130.

Now, I've never heard of this bank before, you see I use my local bank, where I have banked for 25 years, when I need to borrow a little cash. They offer an unsecured line of credit with a 12% rate, and no higher, even if I suddenly cannot repay it. Yes, 12% is a bit high, but not for an unsecured loan where the lender has essentially no rights other than 12% interest. Plus, I have them take it out of my direct deposit and whatever emergency it was, it's paid in a couple months. So why would I want a credit card? For the cheap interest rate you say? Read on..

So, I am looking at the little newsprint booklet that came in the letter. It looked like this is where the fine print is kept. It's always wise to read those things, and I wanted to see what the default rate is.

When borrowing money, it's imperative to know what the interest rates, fees, sneaky charges, and most importantly, the "default rate" is. The default rate is the interest rate the lender can assign to the amount you owe, and it can be quite high. In fact, if the defult rate were 25%, and a person had borrowed $50,000, then the yearly interest rate alone would be $12,500 ($1000+ per month!). Note that the default rate can be set in the cardholder agreement to the highest amount of interest allowed by law. It can be much more than 25%!

That's a big slice of what many people make, and such a default rate can prevent a person from ever getting the debt paid off, even if they would have been able to pay it at the original rate, and even if they pay for it the rest of their lives. This practice is called "usury", and is one only step less represhensible than "loan sharking".

The general idea is to monetarily enslave a person for the rest of their life. "ADVANTA BANK CORP", or any other bank with a similar practice, acting in the place of the "slave owner", has merely to collect part of the money earned by their "slave's" work, month after month, doing nothing much to earn it.

So, we may ask, what perfectly good reasons would such a respectable bank have for changing the 9.99% interest rate to the RIP-OFF default rate?

Well, for instance, if a customer lied on the application, failed to make payments according to the agreement, or, for no flipping reason at all (the offer agreement says "any reason" which means, to a reasonable person, that anything can be trumped up as a reason); these are reasons for the bank to act.

Yes, that's right, they don't have to have a reason. ADVANTA BANK CORP can just turn the screws any time they like! And, so can almost every other credit card "bank" in the USA. Gee, that's not very American, is it?

But it is American! In 1980, the federal government passed a special law which allowed national banks (the ones that have the word "national" or the term "N.A." in their name, and savings banks that are federally chartered) to ignore state usury limits and pegged the rate of interest at a certain number of points above the federal reserve discount rate.

Now, I am not going to drag religion very far into this, but there's an old book called the "Bible", that says something about usury. It says in perhaps ten places that one is not to subject one's brother to usury, and in several places that after 7 years, a debt that cannot be paid is to be forgiven. Do these bankers care? No, they probably have no use for the Bible, even as a reference volume. I don't know who is really running Utah, but the state obviously allows banks to set up business there and engage in this practice of usury. I bet they make alot of tax money from that. I'm not picking on Utah, not at all. Look at the invitation letters you may receive, and you will see the other banks and states that play at this. Complaints from citizens of Utah regarding unpleasant odors may be directed to the bank in question.

So, back to the ADVANTA BANK CORP document enclosed with their ridiculous "offer" (0208-LGL-AK03). It says exactly "In accordance with applicable law and the terms of your Card Agreement, we may change all of your account terms, including rates and fees, at any time for any reason". Just in case you think you can sue this great servant of mammon when they start putting their hand in your pocket, there's another part of the same paragraph that says "Your Card Agreement also contains an arbitration provision, which replaces the right to have claims heard in a court by a jury, and precludes participation in class actions".

If the above paragraph does not scare you to death and convince you to stay away from credit cards, read it again.

You are giving them the right to take what they want, and giving up any legal right you may have to contest them before a jury in a court of law (where justice usually prevails). They don't want a jury to decide! Hmm.. have banks of this general type fouled so many people that they are AFRAID of an honest jury?

Companies like this put the "master" in mastercard. The cardholder is NOT the master in this relationship.

Now before anyone gets the idea I am picking on ADVANTA BANK CORP, I'll say that these opinions or discoveries about usury, changing terms and interest, and forfieture of your rights are common among the vast majority of credit card banks. Pick one of their offers at random out of your trash can and read the fine print. What's the default rate? 22%? 25%? Advanta doesn't even say what it is! Why is that? ADVANTA BANK CORP has no grounds to complain, for I have merely shared a part of their letter to me as is my right, and given my opinions on their writings as is my right. They do make a fine and sparkling example, eh? Maybe they shouldn't send me any more letters.

IF you MUST have a "credit card", apply for the "American Express" "Charge Card". This is NOT a credit card, (It's a plain old green charge card with an ancient soldier on it) and you have to pay it every month in full, or they cut you off. (-And don't accept the blue card or other "credit cards" they offer to "upgrade" you to - it's the same old trap.)

!!!

All of this disgust and ranting about userers brings me to this thought.. What are people charging? How do people get enslaved by these huge credit card companies? What is it that people just HAVE to posess, that is so expensive they have to charge it? The $4000 big screen TV? The $1200 stereo set? The $500 hand-held green LASER that will set a match on fire across the room (you know you want it)? Food? gas? Traffic tickets?

Look, if someone can't write a check for it, they don't need it and can't afford it. Maybe they WANT it, but they don't need it, not when a 27" TV is $199 and a decent sounding, annoyingly loud stereo is the same $199. Why all this insane consumption? -buying all kinds of high-ticket Foreign-made JUNK that will be broken after 6 months and be thrown away?

I've been watching the same 25" color TV for 25 years. It has had the picture tube replaced once, and been repaired 4 other times. I finally bought a $99 DVD recorder-player last year, to save my VHS and LASERDISC movies, but ONLY because Laserdisc players are all but gone, same for VHS, and I want to keep my video library.

I WANT a 50" TV set. I can AFFORD a 50" TV set. But I don't NEED a 50" TV set! I am intelligent and disciplined enough to make at least some sensible decisions and I have enough self-respect and confidence to stick with them. (Additionally, watching alot of TV especially with commercials is not good for the mind. Alot of readers are probably thinking "huh? TV is bad?")

Rule #1: If you can't save for it or write a check for it, you don't need it, unless it is a mortgage or car loan. Last vehicle I bought, I told the dealer what I would pay in interest. It was up to them to decide if they wanted to sell me the car.
Rule #2: Beware mortgages and car loans, sometimes today they are written with usury in mind. Oh, you have by now cut up all your credit cards, right?

As for food, fuel, and traffic tickets, What reason on earth is there for charging those to an account that charges interest? An educated person never charges stuff like this on a credit card. As for tickets, ok, they will pressure you to put it on visa/master, but in the end, if you have a job, they will take payments from you directly, and without interest since they are not a banking institution. They will take them because not everyone has credit cards or a wad of cash, but people do have jobs. That's how it has worked for years. They'd rather have the money than throw an employed person in jail and never see a dime. Unless you get a hateful or unworthy judge, but that is maybe for another rant (I have not run into one yet, but then I stay out of courtrooms except for dury duty. Your mileage may vary).

By the way, if you are already so mired in credit card debt that you can barely make the minimum payments, there is a way to stop the madness of usury and break free of the slavemaster, should a person find himself unable to pay off a credit card debt due to usury. Doing this will cause a 7-year scortch on your credit, but what good is it anyway at that point? The credit card companies don't want you to know this and don't want you to do it. By the way, "CCCS" and other consumer credit card counseling/payment services don't really help. By the time you go to them, you'll be in so much debt, you won't ever get out. After 4 years with CCCS, one fellow was even more in debt, by a couple thousand dollars! He did this:

2. wait likely 90 days until the account is "charged off" - sold off to a collection agency. At this stage, no more interest or late fees can be assessed. Ignore but save all mail and don't answer the phone, or change the # to unlisted. You at this point know how much the debt is.

3. after 3 months or so, having made sure by checking your credit report (which you can get free by applying for credit and being turned down -that is easy..), contact the collection agency. The account may have been sold a couple times by then. Tell them the account number and ask them the balance. Tell them you want to pay it and you will make payments. Have a figure in mind that you can pay every month or quarter. You have to be serious about this, and willing to keep your part of the bargain. They'll insist you pay it all, now, and won't care if you have to sell your children to Osama Bin laden to do it. Just tell them no. Restate what you are going to do. If, that is, when they get rude, just tell them you are going to hang up now, hang up, and wait a month or so. Then call them again, remind them that they were rude last time and that's why you hung up. After this happens a few times, they'll get the idea that you sincerely want to pay it, but you won't stand for any disrespect or backwash. You are in control.

4. pay it off. Might take 3-4 years? whatever, but that's better than never, and much self respect will come from having taken charge and paid off the debt. Once it is paid, the credit report will (be required to) show that it was paid. Your credit will stink for 7 years more, but anyone looking at the report during that time will see that you paid the debts. That counts alot.

NOTICE: I DO NOT ENDORSE THIS METHOD IN STEPS 1-4. I ONLY KNOW THAT ONE PERSON DID IT AND IT WORKED AS DESCRIBED. THIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE ADVICE OF ANY SORT, ONLY AN ACCOUNT OF EVENTS.