"Thus the most logical interpretation is that as other sources of cash are drying up – jobs, equity lines, etc. -- consumers are now turning to credit cards for basic expenses, and as credit lines become exhausted another round of defaults is in store. Some may say that cash sales are not reflected in the data, but the American way of life and the core economic engine has been plastic-based for as long as we can remember, and is not about to change anytime soon."

"So, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. If consumer debt was $13.8 trillion at the end of 2008 and the banks have since written off 5.66% of that debt, total write-offs were $800 billion. If total consumer debt now sits at $13.5 trillion, then consumers have actually taken on $500 billion of additional debt since the end of 2008. The consumer hasn’t cut back at all. They are still spending and borrowing. It is beyond my comprehension that no one on CNBC or in the other mainstream media can do simple math to figure out that the deleveraging story is just a Big Lie."

"The Blue Cash card’s tier is at $6,500, but by purchasing these coins you can are really looking at a tier of $4,000. As more coins become available and included into this program, you can drop that “real” tier down lower and lower. Not bad huh?"

"Now we can add to all the backslapping and self congratulatory rhetoric about avoiding a full-blown crisis, another financial milestone – Australia’s debt to GDP ratio has now broken through 100%. That’s right, Australian households collectively hold more debt than the entire Australian economy earns in a year. Let the good times roll!"

"To make that clear, rather than having the consumer pay off the full loan over 4 years with 100% certainty at 6% and no fees, it’s more profitable to charge 30% interest and fees for 2 years and then simply forget about the $1,250 that is still on the balance when the consumer finally goes under. Anything more you could get out of them, in court or with a few more minimum payments, is gravy."

"According to the Center for Responsible Lending, issuers are using the power they still have for a few months to implement “any time any reason” price changes to raise the interest rates for large groups of customers. "

'The article states that the new law “does little to address affinity-card contracts, which encourage colleges and universities to sell students’ contact information to credit-card companies….Students at the University of Michigan, for example, probably aren’t aware that their e-mail addresses and contact information are worth a whopping $25.5 million. That’s how much Bank of America is paying the Michigan Alumni Assn. over an 11-year affinity-card contract to market school-branded plastic to students, alums, and sports fans.”'

"I recently had a client apply for a credit card. She is a homemaker, with no personal income. The house she lives in is in her husband’s name. She would have asked for a $3,000 credit line, just to pay miscellaneous expenses and to establish some credit on her own. So the computer is told that her household income is $150,000; her mortgage/rent payment is zero. The fact is that her husband’s mortgage payment is $7,000 a month (which he got with a no income verification loan). She had a good credit score, but limited credit since she has only lived in this country for the last three years. The system gave her an approval for a $26,000 line of credit!"