The immorality of economics?

I hate people being taken advantage of. When I got a letter from a credit card company today from Vanguis I thought: "not another one". I'm fed up with the bloody things!

This time I actually looked at it. The bit that shocked me the most was the variable APR of 39.9% - yes you read that right.

As I've got a bit of education in this market the less emotional of my sensibilities kicked in. I understood that this credit card is not targetted at the financially lazy. It's targetted at people that have had financial problems in the past.

Many of the people I know have had financial problems, things have gone "tits up" in the past with no intent on their own part to get themselves into financial difficulties. They weren't profligate with their cash, just personal circumstances but them in to a sticky position.

Some of them now use "pre-pay credit cards" and if that's their choice fair play to them. But I don't know how those cards let them build up their credit history. The Vanguis card promises to allow them to do just that.

If you know that you'll pay off your card every month and card get a credit card anywhere else then look at it. If you won't be able to, then I'd say you really need to have a good look around, weigh up your options and ask for professional advice.