I believe there is now an online campaign in progress to try and change the laws that allow credit cards to charge medieval-style fees and change their interest rates at the drop of a hat.

Glad I had credit cards when I was injured and hospitalized(uninsured) and subsequently unemployed last summer...but what a mess it is to deal with paying them all off, after having used them to more or less live on, when you normally just use them for emergencies or travel...

Whoever called it debtors' prison is not far off the mark. I saw a special on 60 Minutes about businesses that lend money at extortionate rates to people who, if they do not repay every penny in time, are then faced with even higher rates of usury...we're talking people ending up owing thousands after borrowing $500...it's loan sharking but somehow these businesses operate legally. The show emphasized the fact that theer ie very little that can be done to escape this vicious cycle once one resorts to these places. I see ads for these things all the time on TV, on the Net, in the newspaper. I keep wondering when this stuff is going to be made illegal.