{Consumers are]…carrying less debt. The New York Federal Reserve reported this week that consumer debt had dropped by $60 billion in the most recent quarter as households “deleverage” to cope with tough times.
So how are some banks responding? They’re making it easier for people to run up balances on their credit cards.
In other words, they’re trying to get people to once again bury themselves in debt.
Case in point: Chase Freedom MasterCard holders are receiving notices that in addition to new benefits, their cards are being automatically switched from having credit limits to credit access lines ”” unless customers opt out of the change.
People in this branch of banking are manifestly intelligent. They know a ton about how money works and about human behavior.
But let’s not let go of the fact that Biblical teaching on debt places a moral onus on the lender – while it is manifestly dumb to place oneself in burdensome debt, it is offensive to God to practice lending in a way that perpetuates it. There’s a difference between a mortgage (rooted in the word for “death,” because the debt dies off as the borrower makes scheduled payments) and credit cards, with their “revolving debt” gimmickry that can dig the borrower in deeper and deeper.
While borrowers have to look out after themselves, this is simply enabling debt slavery by lenders.
Banks are the enemy.
The lack of personal self discipline is the main contributary factor here, and the banks contribute to it by making credit too easy to obtain.