I originally found the link to the article at the bottom of this post on John Gruber’s most-excellent Daring Fireball site, a worthy RSS feed if you’re so inclined.
To put a finer point on the already fine point made in this article, about two weeks ago I received a letter in the mail from Home Depot with “good news!” My already considerable credit line had been increased, for no apparent reason, to an insanely high $18,000.
Wow!
This is a zero-balance credit card that I’ve used for the occasional around-the-house projects I’ve completed over the last several years. It’s also a card that gives me 0% financing for a year for anything I purchase over $200. As always, I’m perfectly willing to borrow other people’s money at no excess cost to myself.
But here’s the larger question:
An extra $8000?
Why?
What possible reason could I have for needing an unrequested $18,000 line of credit for a card that I keep a zero balance on? And, to be perfectly honest, if I went out and put $18,000 on this credit card, I’d have to take food off of my table or prostitute myself in order to pay it back. (Bearing in mind that the former, not the latter, is the more likely way for me to make any actual money.)
And the larger question? Why should taxpayer dollars be used to bail out banks that are, without any requests from their cardholders, adding thousands of dollars to cardholder credit limits? And why are banks pushing credit limits into the stratosphere without first checking to see if these people can afford to pay off their balances if they reach the limits they’ve been given?
Read it and shriek.Â
<<Post edited to complete a horribly incomplete sentence>>