Who reads a credit card statement? It comes in the mail; you look at the minimum payment. You send a payment for that amount and go back to looking for a deal on adult-sized footie pajamas on Amazon.
Credit card companies (and other lenders) know that people don't really read the fine print. Theoretically, they could sneak anything in there and we'd still sign. The "Literal Arm and a Leg" clause, which uses your limbs as collateral for your jet ski loan. The "First Born" stipulation, which pledges your first-born child to eternal servitude in the sweatshop the credit card company runs to bang out new cards.
Helping to prevent this, we have the Truth in Lending Act. First passed in 1968, it forces lenders to let you know the details of the loan you're signing. It requires that lenders (including credit card companies) inform you about the costs related to the loan (the rates you're paying) and how many of your limbs are included in the deal.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is the Fair Debt Collectio...1 Views
Finance allah shmoop what is the fare debt collection practices
act fair debt collection That doesn't sound like a euphemism
for the guys with the baseball bats who knocked gently
on your door and talk with you quietly about your
poker losses there Well that whole goodfellas thing became such
a problem that the feds had to get involved in
established rules as to how far those guys with the
baseball bats could go and they came up with the
following a they can't use them the baseball bats to
hit your knee caps anyway if you don't pay your
bills be they have to listen to your pushback on
like a safe space is literally safe Space is not
like the kind of uc berkeley so they can't call
you at work and castle you thereabout bills if you
tell them not to and see they can't call you
at home in the middle of the night or bang
on your door at two a m and wake the
kids and terrify you about your bills that you owe
you owe well basically this act which became law in
nineteen seventy seven established the notion that even if you
really are a total deadbeat somebody who was stupid enough
to loan you money like you don't pay your bills
you promised to pay them and you just don't you
don't pam back You don't care about your honor self
respect you're a deadbeat but the feds took the perspective
that wealth Somebody was stupid enoughto loan you that money
in the first place and they can on li yu's
quote fair means unquote to collect the money you promised
to pay them back So what's fair Well this is
fair and this is not fair They're not they're they're
not fair All right you get the picture paid your 00:01:41.055 --> [endTime] bills
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