Baldwin on Credit Cards

Representative Tammy Baldwin recently issued a press release entitled Cracking Down on Credit Card Companies and which included this item:

A woman from Madison wrote to say that the 2 percent she’d been required to pay each month on her credit card balance had suddenly been raised to 5 percent. “It has doubled our payment and it will be nearly impossible to keep up with my payments,” she said.

Without any additional details, this sort of fragmentary anecdote seems like a flimsy reason to crack down on anyone,credit card companies included, so I sent the following email to Baldwin's office:

Ms. Goodman,


This recent press release from Congresswoman Baldwin's office included this item:


A woman from Madison wrote to say that the 2 percent she’d been required to pay each monthon her credit card balance had suddenly been raised to 5 percent. “It has doubled our paymentand it will be nearly impossible to keep up with my payments,” she said.


While I am sympathetic to the plight of those who have been negatively impacted by circumstances beyond their control, I'm not sure this fits that category. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that a person unable to make a payment of 5% of her outstanding credit card debt each month has too much credit card debt?


Perhaps you can share some additional details of this woman's story that could add needed context to this press release. Otherwise it just seems like Ms. Baldwin is fighting to protect people from the consequences of their own bad choices.


I do want to say that I do not live in Ms. Baldwin's district, but I am aware that she may have aspirations for statewide office, perhaps replacing Senator Kohl. Any information you could share on that matter would be greatly appreciated.


Jeremy R. Shown
De Pere, WI

No response yet, but I did see that Paul Ryan is considering a run for Senate in 2012 (H/T Fox Politics).