Credit Cards Notice

Although this blog is focused on my issues and research as a small business owner accepting credit cards online, I'm also a big user of credit cards. As much as possible, I try to run as many expenses as possible from my 15 person company through my American Express Gold card. Frankly, my wife LOVES the miles which gives my life a very pleasant feel.  At one point, the major software that I license, that I pay tens of thousands of dollars for every month, was run through my credit card. That was great.

This post is to point out how messed up the credit card industry is.  It's ridiculous that there isn't a simple summary of Terms and Conditions associated with every credit card. A truth in labelling if you were. If the industry doesn't do it, the government should.  I started thinking about this when I opened this morning's mail and found:

Important notice about prime rate. As a result of new federal credit card regulations, we are simplifying the way that the Prime Rate is dermined for a variable interest rates. Accordingly, effective April 8, 2010, the secon and third sentences of the subsection about the Prime Rate in you Cardmemember Agreement are deleted and replaced with: "The Prime Rate for each billing period is the Price Rate published in The Wall Street Journal 2 days before the Closing Date of the billing period. The Wall Street Journal may not publish the Prime Rate on that day. If it does, we will use the Prime Rate from the previous day it was published."

Am I the only one who wants to fix those last two sentences into:

If the Wall Street Journal may not publish the Prime Rate on that day, we will use the Prime Rate from the previous day it was published."

A trivial point but still, given the millions of people receiving this notice and the number of lawyers and marketers that saw it, shouldn't they write clearly? It feels like I put more effort into this blog (which nobody reads) than they do into their text.