St. Louis CofCC Blog

CNS News:

Students Urged to Fight ‘Debt Disease’

Beware of debt “disease.” That’s the message from the Service Employees International Union and the League of Young Voters. The groups are urging students to “push back” against big banks that are pushing credit cards.

SEIU and LYV are sponsoring a Web-based video contest, in which students create public service announcements warning about the adverse consequences of going into credit card debt.

The contest’s theme is “Keep It In Your Pants” — the “It” being one’s credit card.

Students ages 14 and up are competing for a top prize of $5,000 for school-related expenses.

(snip)

The Web site accuses the biggest banks of using their size and market dominance to drive up credit card, banking and ATM fees on consumers around the country. It also accuses the big banks of under-serving low-income and minority communities.

Among other things, the SEIU wants Congress to set “basic standards” for fees and interest rates on credit cards, bank accounts and other bank products. It wants the nation’s largest banks to be held to “super” Community Reinvestment Act standards; and it wants to give the Federal Trade Commission the authority to scrutinize bank practices.

The Community Reinvestment Act, and its affirmative action mandates, is the reason why banks are pushing credit cards like candy, to the point where the average person gets many pre-approval junk snail mails every week.  That’s also the source of the “subprime mortgage crisis.”  If “young people” are falling into a “credit trap,” it’s precisely because banks are begging them to get credit cards.  I don’t read here that the SEIU wants to stop that flood of junk mail.