Higher rates! Bigger fees!
In recent weeks, you’ve heard plenty about the sleazy side of the subprime mortgage business. Rising numbers of borrowers are losing their homes after being lured into high-cost mortgages they couldn’t afford. But there’s another piece of the painful subprime story that hasn’t hit the headlines yet: costly—sometimes abusive—subprime credit cards. They’re bleeding millions of borrowers who didn’t know what they were getting into.
Subprimes come in two types: Cards that are crazily costly to begin with and cards that look good but hide big traps. You know about traps if you’ve paid some bills late and are now being charged with interest at 30 percent. In general, here’s how the business works:
The bottom-feeding cards—for people with damaged credit—offer you a decent interest rate on credit lines “up to” $3,000. When the card arrives, however, your line might be only $250. And then come the fees! “Program” fees. Account set-up fees. Participation fees. Annual fees. They’re charged to your tiny credit line, leaving you almost nothing to spend.
Two better-known card issuers with a big subprime business are Capital One and HSBC’s Orchard Bank. They charge lower upfront fees than other cards do. But if you fall behind, it’s tough. Cap One’s penalty rate is currently 28.15 percent. Orchard Bank doesnt disclose its penalty rate online and wouldn’t tell me what it is (that didn’t engender confidence!). Cap One has a reputation for issuing multiple cards to people who bump up against their credit limits. That gives them two cards, with two low limits, to overspend.
Lenders have figured out many ways of extracting fees. There’s “universal default”, where a late payment on one card can trigger high penalty rates on every card you own. There’s the “endless late fee”, where your payments never catch up with the new penalties you’re charged. There’s “two-cycle billing”—too complicated to explain here, but which amounts to charging interest on balances that you’ve already paid. And “retroactive price hikes,” where banks impose higher rates on old balances as well as new ones. “What other business can get away with raising the price of something you already purchased?” says Travis Plunkett of the Consumer Federation of America.
These practices startle consumers who think such high fees and interest rates must be against the law. But the Supreme Court effectively deregulated credit card rates 30 years ago, and 10 years ago it deregulated the size of the fees a bank could charge. Prior to fee deregulation, late fees hovered between $13 and $15, says Robert McKinley of CardWeb.com, which tracks the business. Now they run from $30 to $40. “Its out of control,” he says. “Banks know theyve pushed this too far.”
This year, however, the new Congress started holding hearings. Suddenly Citi dropped universal default and JPMorgan Chase ended two-cycle billing. But those are just gestures. Without fee caps or usury laws, we’re in the bankers’hands.
考研詞匯：
sleazy[’sli:zi]
a.質(zhì)地薄的, 質(zhì)量差的, 廉價的;烏煙瘴氣的
charge[tʃɑ:dʒ]
v.①索(價)，要(人)支付，收費;②控告，指控;③充電;④承擔;n.①[pl.]費用，代價;②電荷，負荷
[真題例句] Railroads typically charge (v.①) such “captive” shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business.[2003年閱讀3]
[例句精譯] 通常，鐵路公司對這些“被控”客戶的收費要比有另一鐵路公司競爭業(yè)務(wù)時多20%～30%。
[真題例句] Now he is suing the casino,charging (v.②) that it should have refused his patronage because it knew he was addicted.[2006年新題型]
[例句精譯] 現(xiàn)在他正在起訴這個娛樂場，起訴它應(yīng)該拒絕自己進入并參與賭博，因為它知道他已經(jīng)上癮了。
[真題例句] (48) I have excluded him because, while his accomplishments may contribute to the solution of moral problems, he has not been charged (v.④) with the task of approaching any but the factual aspects of those problems. [2006年翻譯]
[例句精譯] (48) 我之所以把普通科學(xué)家排除在外，是因為盡管他的成就可能有助于解決道德問題，但他還沒承擔起研究道德問題事實方面以外的任何責任。
credit[ˈkredit]
v./n.信用，信任;n.信用貸款，賒欠;名譽，名望;光榮，功勞;學(xué)分
penalty[ˈpenlti]
n.處罰，懲罰
[真題例句] In a significant (32：tightening) of legal controls over the press, Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, will introduce a (33：draft) bill that will propose making payments to witnesses (34：illegal) and will strictly control the amount of (35：publicity) that can be given to a case (36：before) a trial begins.[2001年完形]
(35) [A] publicity[B] penalty
[C] popularity[D] peculiarity
[例句精譯] 為了更有效地對新聞界實施合法監(jiān)控，大法官Irvine勛爵將引入一項草擬的法案，該法案將提出，付款給證人是非法的;在審判開始前，對案件的曝光度要嚴格控制。
(35) [A](公眾的)注意，公開，宣傳
[B] 處罰，懲罰
[C] 普及，流行
[D] 特性，特色
bump[bʌmp]
v.①(against，into)碰，撞;②顛簸著前進;n.①碰撞;②隆起物
retroactive[retrəʊ’æktiv]
a.反動的;追溯的, 有追溯力的, 從以往某天開始生效的
背景常識介紹：
按揭貸款市場大致可以分為三個層次，優(yōu)質(zhì)貸款市場(Prime Market)，“ALT-A”貸款市場，和次級貸款市場(Subprime Market)。優(yōu)質(zhì)貸款市場面向信用等級高(信用分數(shù)在660分以上)，收入穩(wěn)定可靠，債務(wù)負擔合理的優(yōu)良客戶，這些人原來主要是選用最為傳統(tǒng)的30年或15年固定利率按揭貸款。次級市場是指信用分數(shù)低于620分，收入證明缺失，負債較重的人。而“ALT-A”貸款市場則是介于二者之間的龐大灰色地帶，它既包括信用分數(shù)在620到660之間的主流階層，又包括分數(shù)高于660的高信用度客戶中的相當一部分人。
參考譯文：
高利率，高收費!
近幾周，很多媒體報道了次級按揭貸款業(yè)務(wù)的負面新聞。越來越多的借貸者卷入他們無法償還的高價按揭貸款中，失去自己的房子。 但是還有關(guān)于次級消費的事情并未成為報紙頭條：昂貴并且有時泛濫成災(zāi)的次級信用卡。他們正在從數(shù)百萬不知道自己已經(jīng)掉入陷阱的借貸者身上榨取錢財。
次級信用卡分為兩類：一種卡一開始收費就極其昂貴，另一種卡看上去不錯但隱藏著巨大陷阱。大家都了解有些陷阱，比如如果你推遲償還帳單就會要付30% 的利息。一般來說，這項業(yè)務(wù)如下開展：
對于信譽不良的人來說，信用卡提供的利息率可以接受，其底線額度達到3000美元。 然而當卡拿到手中時，額度可能只有250美元，還要收費�！绊椖俊辟M， 帳戶開設(shè)費，參與費以及年費。收費幾乎達到你小小的信貸額度，幾乎沒有留錢給你花。
兩家比較著名的發(fā)卡銀行第一資金和匯豐Orchard銀行都擁有龐大的次級信用卡業(yè)務(wù)。他們比其他卡收取的預(yù)支費要低，但是如果你拖欠還款，那就日子艱難了。第一資金現(xiàn)在的罰款利率是28.15%。Orchard銀行沒有在網(wǎng)上公布其罰款利率，也不會告訴我是多少(這毫不讓人產(chǎn)生信心!)。第一資金會發(fā)多張卡給借貸者，而這些人常常消費達到其信用限貸。借貸者擁有兩張第一資金的卡，兩張卡限貸都很低，使得他們很容易超支。
放貸人想了很多方法來提取費用。當你拖欠一卡的付費時引發(fā)對你每張卡的高額罰款利率，稱之為“普及違約”。“永無休止的拖欠費”，因為你還的款總也趕不上對你追加的新罰款。雖然“雙計費周期”難于解釋清楚，但其所收取的銀行結(jié)余利息你早就已經(jīng)支付了。還有“追溯漲價”，銀行對你的新舊帳戶結(jié)余征收更高利率。美國消費者協(xié)會的特拉維斯·普朗凱特評論說：“有什么業(yè)務(wù)能不提高你已經(jīng)購買東西的價格就賺錢的呢?”
這些做法令消費者震驚，他們認為這樣高的收費和利息肯定違反了法律。但是最高法院在三十年前就撤銷了對信用卡利率的有效管制，而十年前又撤銷了對銀行收費規(guī)模的管制。一直跟蹤這項業(yè)務(wù)的來自CardWeb.com的羅伯特·麥肯利說在費用撤銷前，拖欠還款收費在13到15美元間徘徊，而今收費已達30至40美元。麥肯利說：“這已經(jīng)失控了，銀行知道他們已經(jīng)做得過分了�！�
今年,新一屆國會開始舉行聽證�；ㄆ焱蝗环艞壠占斑`約收費，JP摩根大通銀行結(jié)束雙計費周期。但這些只是擺擺姿態(tài)。沒有收費最高限額或針對放高利貸的相關(guān)法律保護，我們就只能任由銀行家宰割了。
