As mentioned earlier here, I completely agree legal robbery by predatory lenders has been ripping vast numbers of people off and its not just credit cards by any means.
Americans, especially poor urban African Americans owning a home and receiving a pension or social security check (but race is not the only issue as victims come from every demographic) are routinely & legally ripped off in an eye-popping

fashion and most have no idea just how routine this is.
Here is how it works, some little old lady walks into the finance office like Associates or American General (go ahead and sue me for saying that you pathetic bastards although I already know you will not do that because a court case will force you to open your books which we both know will prove me correct) needing money for medical bills or some other crisis that has her worried. The first thing the friendly finance scum-bag establishes is how much of a payment she can afford and fits any interest rate into the equation he or she can get away with. This interest rate has nothing to do with the person’s credit worthiness, its all about what they can get away with when taking advantage of the uneducated that were brought up trusting their “banker”. People that deserve say 10% interest will end up with interest rates of 20-30% on secured home equity loans!
I have seen countless little old ladies & others lose what little they have worked hard for in life so many times it hurts to think about it at the hands of these dirt-bags that high five each other when she leaves their office with her new loan. Another savvier person with the same credit score & other criteria will walk out of that office with much lower interest.
This practice is very common with auto & other installment loans also and it never ceases to amaze me how many get taken by this.