January 8, 2010
-
A Global Journey, Pt.1
A brewing controversy.A controversy is brewing over the U. S. role in the questionable activities of a global credit card industry. Some British individuals are blaming the American financial industry for the introduction of deceptive and abusive practices of credit card companies that have demanded government intervention. British critics say that the U.K. card market at one time maintained a low profile of loyal and debt responsible customers. They believe that the introduction by the U.S. of a "no annual fee" and "low interest rate" credit card changed all of everything. The MBNA, which is now a part of Bank of America, launched the first such card in the U.K. which led to the eventual introduction to other countries including South Africa.
With no annual fee and zero or low interest rates, credit card companies were driven to develop new fees and penalties to generate earnings; hence the beginning of a new era of deceptive and abusive practices. The new wave of credit card business quickly spread across the globe to Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. Other disturbing practices of an American financial environment such as awarding mortgage loans to individuals who don't have the resources to repay them, also found its ways into the cultures of multiple nations'. Defenders of the American financial industry say that critics fail to recognize the benefits that accompany the card industry and that overall the world has benefited from these new innovations.
Some individuals say that although the financial industry's predatory practices originated in the United States (U.S.), the nation's leadership has lagged behind other nations in taking timely action to stop these abusive practices. However, experts from other nations place less blame on the U.S. and acknowledge that their credit card companies do a very good job on their own at finding creative ways to deceive customers. Still many Americans say the U.S. faulted by not acting as quickly and responsibly as the South African lawmakers who enacted the National Credit Act 2005 and 2007.