A worried parent on Democratic Underground tells how his daughter made partial payments on credit card debt for a few months only to find the credit card company is demanding full payment of the entire bill or it goes to collection and probably garnishment.

The new guidelines required that 4% of the principal was to be paid every month. Since my daughter had missed that more than once, they were calling up the entire debt. I cannot believe this. They are going after the people who are trying to pay, but fall short.

Credit card companies are tightening requirements and canceling cards both in the US and UK. No doubt they are getting squeezed by rising nonpayment rates and thus they are squeezing whoever they can.

Are the credit card companies in such dire straits, that they have resorted to this? Are they hoping to cash in on the folks that can’t cough up the balance in the 4 days notice that she was given?

We haven’t even begun to see the nightmare that is coming.

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Nearly 10 million American households, or 9.2 percent, don’t have bank accounts of any kind, according to Federal Reserve data.Those folks rely on payday lenders, pawnshops, rent-to-own stores, tax-refund lenders and other high-cost, quick-cash lenders to get by each week.

Thus, the reason they don’t have a bank account is not ignorance of them, but probably  because they don’t have any spare money to deposit into one.

Americans spent more than they earned in both 2005 and 2006 by charging the difference on credit cards.

At 18-30% too.

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