CREDIT CARD MINIMUM PAYMENTS TO DOUBLE

I must have missed something: Lou Dobbs just reported that the Treasury Department wants to force credit card companies to double the minimum payment of consumers by the end of the month. Average consumer debt is $9000 per family, so the increase would be about an additional $200 per month. More here. Yikes. It couldn't come at a worse time, with gasoline prices escalating. Where do they think that extra money is going to come from? Such a move could drive many families who live paycheck-to-paycheck into bankruptcy.

Their thinking was that the minimum payment doesn't diminish debt, and the Treasury Department thought that it should. This is reasonable and logical, but the change will be painful for many, and with the bankruptcy bill scheduled to take effect October 17, that option is removed.