Bernie Sanders: Banks have been ripping off Americans for too long. I have a plan to end it

[Uncle Joe]

And when they do that, they get ripped off — big time. Despite the fact that banks can borrow money from the Fed at less than 2.5%, the median credit card interest rate — which is the rate most new cardholders receive — is now over 21%. Last year, Wall Street banks made $113 billion in credit card interest alone, up by nearly 50% in just five years, and accelerating, according to an analysis of FDIC data. In other words, while working class Americans pay outrageously high interest rates, Wall Street banks get rich.

(snip)

And if you live in a low-income community without a bank or cannot get a credit card, what do you do when you need to borrow money? You may have to turn to a predatory payday lender where the average interest rate on an annual basis is a jaw-dropping 391% — meaning that you would pay $520 in fees for a loan of just $375.

Make no mistake about it. When banks and payday lenders charge these unconscionably high interest rates, they are not engaged in the business of making credit available. They are involved in extortion — squeezing working families that are already in financial distress down to the bone. That should not be happening in the United States of America.

Today's modern-day loan sharks are no longer lurking on street corners breaking kneecaps to collect their payments. They wear Armani suits and work on Wall Street, where they make obscene compensation packages and head financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and American Express.

(snip)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/17/perspectives/bernie-sanders-loan-shark-prevention-act/index.html

[aidbo]

1. Postal Banking too!

[Uncle Joe]

2. I believe that would be an excellent policy as well aidbo.

It would open the doors for the people; in places long abandoned by banks giving them more options.

[aidbo]

4. I didn't know this until recently, but it's an old idea too.

Been done here in the US in the past.

[George II]

3. Hmmm, he's been in Washington for almost 30 years, why is this now an issue of his? Could it be....

....that he now has an opponent from Delaware?

PS - equating banks that issue credit cards with "loan sharks" is irresponsible, reckless, and untrue.

[Uncle Joe]

5. "The Predators' Creditors"

https://public-accountability.org/report/the-predators-creditors/

[George II]

6. I don't understand the relevance.