Secret History of the Credit Card

The video that covers the secret history of Credit Cards is very interesting. It relates to other videos that we have covered and watched in class. It talked about how people found loop holes in the system and how they were able to make it last for a long time before other people saw what was happening.

Being an owner of a credit card, it really made me think about reading the original contract that I received when I first signed up for my card. But I do remember skipping over all of the contracts, since I didn't understand what they said. Though this is a little concerning about how a company can raise your rates, if they find out that you are running late with other companies. That information is really concerning, since where will it end. Does that mean that everyone that you are paying will end up taking advantage of you?

Another concerning part of the video was the fact that 7 million people file for bankruptcy in the past 5 years (though I know the video was a little old). That is more than 1 million people a year, and that turns out to be almost 5% of everyone that has a card (154 million have cards).

Frontline does a terrific job of covering issues, and reporting them so people can understand what is going on. I really enjoy learning about issues, and loop holes in our systems that I wasn't aware about.