Credit card statements

Every time I read an article with quotes from the average American consumer, it makes me scratch my head. It seems that so many people are in outrage or sorrow over the rate hikes on credit cards. Apparently it’s common to carry thousands of dollars of credit card debt at all times.

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that a credit card is for making routine purchases convenient, not for outfitting my wife’s dance studio, like the man quoted in the article.

For those of us frugal Americans who actually pay our credit cards off in full every month, these rate hikes elicit a collective shrug. We’re not worried about making big purchases -- for those, we save or take out real loans.

Will Katz

Hollywood

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If you’re wondering what a “co-op” healthcare system will look like, check out what was billed as “landmark credit card reform.” As your article notes, the banks have “jacked up interest rates, switched from fixed to variable rates and raised ... penalties,” thereby negating every aspect of “reform.”

One would think that a “landmark” bill on credit cards might have a clause dealing with the ancient concept of usury, no? No, not any more than landmark healthcare reform will deal with anything as fundamental as your health.

Bruce Kranzler

Tomales, Calif.