Consumer-unfriendly boilerplate credit agreements

On Jul 20, 7:02 am, Stan <stanle...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Over the years, I've seen credit card "agreements", customer
> "agreements", and "terms of sale" getting longer and longer as "the
> lawyers" keep closing loophole after loophole and businesses try to
> protect all their new ways of screwing us.  Is there any way to fight
> back?

Yes, you can refuse to deal with companies whose agreements you find onerous.  Maybe if enough people do that, the ones whose boilerplate armor is heaviest will find they are losing business to the more consumer-friendly firms.  But don't count on getting _all_ of the complex terms and conditions of a modern commercial contract eliminated.   As another poster mentioned in a related thread, modern life is very complex and the law plays a large and necessary role in that; without the assurances of limited risk that the law and a well-drafted contract can provide, the web of credit that holds together just about all modern enterprise and consumer life too, would cease to exist.  These terms are needed just as much to protect businesses against other businesses, as to limit the remedies of consumers.   And at least in USA, consumer watchdog groups do a pretty good job of "outing" the worst offenses against average customers.

Also, if your rant is against the law itself and not against companies that try to gain unfair advantage by using the law, keep in mind that the original purpose of all kinds of government regulation was mainly to protect consumers, and to keep businesses from being as fully rapacious as they would otherwise be in an unregulated, laissez-faire economy.   Of course, the Current Occupant and his administration want to roll back many of these protections to, say, 19th century levels, to the days of robber baron monopolies, hotdogs filled with sawdust, factories full of dangerously unguarded moving parts, and patent medicines containing heaven knows what.   Or, you could just indulge in some recently imported Chinese products, who seem to be at about that level already.

<OP's sad history snipped>

> At what point can we "do something" and what can we do?

You can also drop off the Net, and live below the radar.   Stop using credit, pay cash or barter for everything, don't use anything made in a modern factory, move out to the country, and eat a lot of peaches.

Hey, I'm not knocking it.   It works for the Amish.

--
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Mike Jacobs
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