Larry, Moe and Curly of Credit

No, I am not referencing Visa, MasterCard and American Express as Larry, Moe and Curly (Stooges MasterCard commercial) of credit. Nope, it’s us, the consumers of credit that are the Stooges. And I say this out of my own personal experience. You see, for a couple years now, I have been questioning the credit corporations and the credit system. I’ve written a book, I talked about it and berated the creditors for their unsavory practices. And for years, friends, colleagues, creditors and yes, even book publishers gave me the proverbial CRACK! POW! on the head with a wooden mallet.


The inspiration for the Stooges references comes from an article written in the Providence Journal, “Consumers speak out on the burden of debt.” One consumer (of professed good credit) quoted when realizing a creditor was raising his interest and changing his terms without reason, “It should be illegal. How do they get away with it?” BANG! CA-POWIE! And then I had a good chuckle. That was funny.


“At our discretion,” is written in the contract. “At our discretion,” it is one of my favorite all time phrases. Quite catchy, has good ring, but yet direct to the point. It means, that at the creditor discretion, they can change your terms, interest, fees and billing cycle without your knowledge, consent and even without any reason. And yes, they can do it to those of good credit as well. How do they get away with it? Simple, it is in the contract you sign when you receive your credit card? You all know that fine little print you toss away when you receive your credit card. It is legal because you sign and you accept the terms. BACK ATCHA! BO-ING!


For many years, it has been fine to SMACK those with credit card debt, and those who suffer from financial illiteracy, but now the financially savvy are getting caught in the trap and suddenly it is not fair, and it is not funny. Suddenly, it is illegal. Maybe it is what it takes to revise the system. It’s always okay to punish the bad, but when the good are being abused. Now there is trouble.