When one thinks of landmark Supreme Court cases, several immediately come to mind: Brown vs. Board of Education, Roe vs. Wade, Bush vs. Gore, Marquette National Bank vs. First of Omaha.
Say again? Marquette National what?
A 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case called Marquette National Bank v. First of Omaha Service Corporation effectively nullified many usury laws. The Court held that states cannot impose interest rate caps on national banks that are headquartered in other states.
The result? Indirectly, the ruling threw open the doors to punishing interest rates on bank credit cards.
As a result, you may have paid a good chunk of change in interest over the years.
Congress could amend national banking laws and effectively allow for the reestablishment of state laws limiting interest rates – if only it wished to do so.
Forty-three years have passed. Month after month, Americans docilely pay huge amounts of interest on credit cards.
The big banks love it. Why would they want to change a thing? The profit margins on bank cards are enormous.
My point is this: the banks would (and should) remain profitable if usury laws were to be reinstated. Their credit cards simply wouldn’t be off-the-charts profitable.
In short, Congress has the power to rein in bank card interest rates. But they’ll do so if and only if enough of us insist that it be done.
I’m Scott Summers, and that is my perspective.
