The credit card trap

1 I have a confession. Several years ago, I was standing in a queue to collect some theatre tickets for my family, and my friend was doing the same for hers. I got mine, and paid for them by credit card, feeling contented by the convenience of this cash- free transaction. It was then her turn to pay. The whole operation passed as smoothly as mine, but my delight soon turned to abject shame. My credit card was a fairly pathetic, status-free dark blue, whereas hers was a very exclusive gold one.

2 How did she do this? How could this be? I knew I earned more than her, my car was newer, and my house was smarter. How did she get to appear more flash than me?

3 Now, I had a job which was as steady as any job was in those days – that’s to say, not very, but you know, no complaints. I had a mortgage on my house, but then who didn’t? I paid off all my credit debt at the end of the month, so although technically, I was in debt to the credit card company, it was only for a matter of a few weeks. So I assumed I had a good credit rating.

4 Call me superficial, and I’m not proud of myself, but there and then, I was suddenly jealous of my friend. I decided I no longer wanted a blue card. I wanted a gold one. A gold card was suddenly indispensable, it would make me feel good about myself, and desirable to others.

5 So I applied for the most distinctive, shiny golden card the company offered.

6 I was turned down.

7 When I had recovered from the shock, which took several seconds, I asked why. It appears that because I pay my credit card bill both on time and in full, I’m not the kind of person that they want to have their gold credit card. They target people who are prone  to impulse-buying, and potentially bad credit risks, tempted to spend more than they have, and liable to  fall behind with repayments. Then they can charge them more interest, and earn more money. That’s the way they do business.

8 So does this explain why the credit card companies are luring impoverished students with unrealistic interest rates, like my kids?

9 Three weeks ago, No. 2 daughter came home from university for the weekend. She’s in her second term of her first year. She has a student loan of £3,000, like most of her friends, and a small allowance from her poor mother (ha!) for transport, books and living expenses. She wears clothes from the local charity shops, and rarely goes out. She hugged me (never usually does that) and then said, “Mum, I need to talk to you.”

10 “What is it, darling? Tell me everything.”

11 “I’ve applied for a credit card, and I need someone to act as a guarantor for me. Is it OK if I put down your name? Thanks so much, Mum, must dash! Bye.” 

12   After I’d hauled her back into the house, it transpired that her bank had written to her offering a credit card at a low interest rate for a trial three- month period, subject to suitability ... and so on. Her bank! I trusted them! They know even better than I do how broke she is.

13  Here’s a serious question. Why do they call them credit cards when it would be more accurate to call them debt cards?

14 Here’s an even more serious story. Another friend’s daughter, Kelly, was studying modern languages at university, and spent a year overseas. At some point in the year, there was a change of procedure, and Kelly’s bank failed to allow her to access her funds in her current account, because the request was from outside the UK. Naturally, there was a lengthy correspondence while she tried to sort this out, so the delay in being able to access her funds meant that she went into the red, and her debts began to rise more than £200 above the agreed limit on her overdraft of £1,500.

15 When Kelly got back home, the bank charged her £100 for going over the limit, and insisted she paid £30 a month to bring the balance back to below her limit. They omitted to tell her that she wasn’t actually paying off the debt, but only the exorbitant interest on the overspend of the overdraft.

16 So Kelly  had  to  turn  to her credit card which she had used sensibly and sparingly until that point. Because  she  was a student, and because she didn’t use it much, naturally her credit limit was low.

17 And not surprisingly, she couldn’t pay off even  the minimum payment on her credit card bill. So there were not only bank charges owing, but also credit card debts and interest. And of course, she was recorded as being a bad credit risk.

18 Things then went from bad to worse. A few months into her final year, the bank notified her that it was going to reduce her overdraft from £1,500 to £1,000. They told her to apply for a student loan to cover the rest. But when the loan company did a credit check, they discovered the card debt.

19 Guess what? She didn’t get the loan.

20 This was a delightful kid who had great restraint with her spending and was economical about her lifestyle. She didn’t go on spending sprees buying new shoes, and she didn’t use her credit card as if (unlike me) it was a fashion item. She used it to buy food, to survive.

21   And what happened? She had to drop out of university.

22  I wish there was a happy ending to Kelly’s story, although maybe there will be. For the moment, she’s working in the local supermarket, and it’s probable that she’ll have another go at university when she has paid off her debts.

23 So this is what the banks do. They set traps which appeal to our vanity and greed and sometimes to our basic need for survival. And then when we fall into the trap they shout “Got you! Didn’t you realize it was a trap?”

24 And here we are today, caught in the credit crunch, with world economies in free fall, all because the wicked bankers set us traps which we fell into, attracting us with endless publicity for loans of money which even they didn’t have! It now appears they were borrowing on their own flashy gold credit cards too.

25 So I have a solution to the credit card trap, and I want all of you to listen to me very carefully.

26  I want you to lay out all of your credit cards in a line, take a large pair of scissors and cut them into small pieces. Then put them in an envelope and send them to your bank, with a letter saying (more or less)  “I trusted you and you deceived me. You’ve got the whole world into this ridiculous credit card trap, and if I now cut your cards in half, and take away your potential to tempt money away from honest people like me, maybe it will be your turn to learn what it’s like to run out of cash.”

27 As for me, I don’t want any more credit cards, no more status symbols, no more bad feelings about wishing I could show how superior I am to others. I’m not going to yearn any more for what I cannot afford or cannot have.

Translation

信用卡陷阱

1        有一件事我得坦白。几年前，我排队为家人取戏票时，我的朋友也在为她的家人取票。我拿到了票，用信用卡付了账，对这种非现金交易的便利感到很满意。然后就轮到她付款了，整个交易也进行得同样顺利，但我的高兴劲儿很快就变成了莫大的羞耻：我的信用卡太寒酸了，是不显示身份地位的深蓝色卡，而她的信用卡则是高级的金卡。

2     她是怎样弄到金卡的？怎么会这样呢？我知道我挣得比她多，我的车比她的车新，我的家比她的家漂亮，她怎么看起来显得比我光鲜呢？ 

3     我有一份跟那时候任何工作相比还算安定的工作——虽然不是非常安定，不过我也没什么可抱怨的。我是通过按揭贷款买的房子，可那会儿谁买房不贷款呢？我每个月底都付清信用卡欠款。所以，虽然从技术上讲，我欠过信用卡公司的钱，但只是欠几个星期而已。所以我认为我的信用等级应该很高。

4      你可以说我肤浅，我也并不感到自豪。但就在当时当地，我突然非常嫉妒那位朋友，我决定不要蓝色信用卡了，我要一张金卡。金卡突然变得不可或缺，它会让我自我感觉良好，会让别人觉得 我更有魅力。

5          于是，我去信用卡公司申请最特别、最耀眼的金卡。

6          可是，我的申请被拒绝了。

7      过了几秒钟，我才从这个打击中回过神来，我问自己为什么被拒绝。显然，因为我每次都按时全额付清信用卡欠款，所以我不是他们想要的那种金卡客户。他们的目标客户是那些随时有购物刷卡的冲动、有潜在信用风险、经不住诱惑超支消费并且经常延期还款的人。这样他们才有机会收取更多的利息，挣更多的钱，这就是他们的经营之道。

8      这能够解释为什么信用卡公司会用超低利率诱惑像我们家孩子那样的穷大学生吗?

9      三个星期前，我的二女儿回家过周末。她在读大一第二学期。和她的大多数朋友一样，她借了3,000英镑的学生贷款，并从她可怜的妈妈（哈！）那里得到一笔小小的生活费，用于支付交通费、书费及其他生活费用。她穿的衣服是从当地的慈善商店买来的，并且她平时也很少出门。她拥抱了我（她以前从不拥抱我），然后说：“妈妈，我有事要跟您商量。”

10    “亲爱的，什么事啊？都说出来让我听听。”

11    “我申请了一张信用卡，需要保证人，我可以填您的名字吗? 非常感谢，妈妈，我得赶快走啦，再见。”

12     我费了好大劲儿才把她从外面拽了回来。原来她的银行来信告诉她说：她可以申请一张试用期为三个月的、能够低息贷款的信用卡，只要满足要求……如此云云。她的银行！我才不相信他们！他们甚至比我更清楚，我的女儿一贫如洗。

13     这里存在一个严重的问题：准确地说这种卡应该叫债务卡，他们为什么要称其为信用卡呢？

14     还有一个更为严肃的故事。我一个朋友的女儿凯丽在大学攻读现代语言，其中一年在国外留学。在留学那一年的某段时间，由于程序上的变动，凯丽的银行限制她在除英国之外的其他国家支取现金账户的资金。通过书信同银行交涉的时间相当长，而未能及时支取账户资金使她欠了银行的债， 欠款额超过了透支额度（1,500英镑）200多英镑。

15      凯丽回国后，银行因为她超支扣了她100英镑，并坚持要她每月支付30英镑，以使她的支出能 重新控制在透支额度之内。但银行没有告诉她，每月支付的30英镑并不是用来偿清欠款，而只是支付超额透支的巨额利息。

16       因此凯丽不得不求助于信用卡。在此之前她在用信用卡时一直非常小心谨慎，并且也很少用信用卡。由于她是学生，又很少用信用卡，她的信用额度自然就比较低。

17     毫不奇怪，她甚至无法偿还信用卡账单的最小还款额。所以她不仅欠银行手续费，而且还欠信用卡的账款及利息。当然，她因此被银行登记为信用风险高的客户。

18     事情越来越糟。大学最后一年刚过几个月，银行就通知她：她的透支额度由1,500英镑减少到1,000英镑。他们让她申请学生贷款来填补缺口。可是，贷款公司检查她的银行信用时发现了她的信用卡欠款。

19     猜猜结果如何？她没有申请到学生贷款。

20     凯丽是个讨人喜欢的孩子，消费节制有度，生活节俭。她并没有疯狂刷卡买鞋子，也没有把信用卡当成时髦玩意儿（不像我），她只是用信用卡买食物等生活必需品。结果怎样呢？她不得不退学。

21       结果怎样呢？她不得不退学。

22     我希望凯丽的故事会有个好的结局，也许会有好结局的。现在，她在当地的一家超市工作，等她还清债务后可能会继续完成大学学业。

23     这就是银行的所作所为。他们常常利用我们的虚荣和贪婪，有时也利用我们生存的基本需求给我们设下陷阱。等我们掉进陷阱时，他们就会大喊：“抓住你啦！你当初没想到这是个陷阱吧？”

24     这就是我们现在的处境。随着世界经济一落千丈，我们都处在信贷危机之中。所有这一切都是因为邪恶的银行家通过大量广告推销他们压根就不存在的贷款来吸引我们，给我们设圈套！现在真相大白了：他们也在用自己手中金光闪闪的金卡借钱！

25     我有一个破解信用卡圈套的办法，各位请仔细听。

26     我要你们把所有的信用卡排成一排，拿一把大剪子把它们剪成碎片，然后把碎片装进信封寄回给银行，并附上一封信，上面（或多或少地）写上：“我信任你，可你却欺骗了我。你让全世界的人都钻进了这个荒谬的信用卡圈套。我把你的卡剪成了两半，让你再也不能像骗我这样的老实人一样去骗其他人的钱了，也许该让你来体验一下身无分文的滋味了。”

27     至于我，我再也不想要信用卡了，也不要身份的象征了，也不用费心思去炫耀我比别人优越了。我再也不会去奢望我买不起或我无法得到的东西了。