Credit Card Debt in America
Inga Gudmundsson
15 October 2008
English 100
Analytical Essay
Debt
Credit card debt is one of this nation’s leading internal problems, and it has been for around the last 3-4 decades. When credit was first introduced, and up until around the late 1970’s up to today, the standards for getting a credit card were very high; so not everybody could get one. The bar got lowered and lowered to where, eventually, an 18 year-old college student with almost no income and nothing to base a credit score on previously could obtain a credit card (much like myself). The national credit card debt for families residing in the United States alone is in the trillions (Maxed Out). The average American family has around $9,000 in debt, and pays around $1,3000 a year on interest payments (Maxed Out). Many people have the concern today that these interest rates and fees are skyrocketing; and many do not understand why. Most of these people have to try to avoid harassing collecting agents from different agencies, which takes an emotional and psychological toll on them. While a lot of the newly recognized “risky” people (those with a doubted ability to make sufficient payments) are actually older people who have been customers of certain companies for decades, the credit card companies are actually consciously targeting a different, much more vulnerable group of people: college students. James Scurlock produced a documentary called Maxed Out on this growing problem, in which Senator Jack Reed of (Democrat) of Rhode Island emphasizes the targeting of college students in the Consumer Credit Hearings of 2005 James Scurlock strongly emphasizes this problem throughout the whole documentary. Students, ranging in ages from 18-22 primarily, are young, and naive. They are out from under their parent’s rule and free to make decisions on their own. This means that many are going to take certain steps necessary to make themselves feel they are more adult-like. According to a
15 October 2008
English 100
Analytical Essay
Debt
Credit card debt is one of this nation’s leading internal problems, and it has been for around the last 3-4 decades. When credit was first introduced, and up until around the late 1970’s up to today, the standards for getting a credit card were very high; so not everybody could get one. The bar got lowered and lowered to where, eventually, an 18 year-old college student with almost no income and nothing to base a credit score on previously could obtain a credit card (much like myself). The national credit card debt for families residing in the United States alone is in the trillions (Maxed Out). The average American family has around $9,000 in debt, and pays around $1,3000 a year on interest payments (Maxed Out). Many people have the concern today that these interest rates and fees are skyrocketing; and many do not understand why. Most of these people have to try to avoid harassing collecting agents from different agencies, which takes an emotional and psychological toll on them. While a lot of the newly recognized “risky” people (those with a doubted ability to make sufficient payments) are actually older people who have been customers of certain companies for decades, the credit card companies are actually consciously targeting a different, much more vulnerable group of people: college students. James Scurlock produced a documentary called Maxed Out on this growing problem, in which Senator Jack Reed of (Democrat) of Rhode Island emphasizes the targeting of college students in the Consumer Credit Hearings of 2005 James Scurlock strongly emphasizes this problem throughout the whole documentary. Students, ranging in ages from 18-22 primarily, are young, and naive. They are out from under their parent’s rule and free to make decisions on their own. This means that many are going to take certain steps necessary to make themselves feel they are more adult-like. According to a