Corporate Responsibility for Personal Debt?

One of Google's corporate philosophies is "You can make money without doing evil", which you have to admire.
Many companies have shady dealings and do very well from them.

Burger Lawsuits
Initially, the idea that obese people could sue McDonald's for making them fat seemed absolutely ridiculous to me. That is until I saw Super Size Me and the penny dropped. I then understood the point. Whilst there may be consumer demand for a 1lb portion of fries and a 64 fl/oz soft drink, there's actually no need to make it and sell it other than for profit. This strategy exploits peoples weakness for gluttony. If people do not know any better and buy it and then consume the lot, who's to blame?

Since the lawsuit, the film and a shift in public opinion, Maccy D's have removed certain mega-size product lines and introduced many more healthy options. Which is nice.
Not so nice is the American Food Industry's Cheese Burger Bill which will prevent any future 'Burger Lawsuits.'

More Addictive Than Burgers
The same initial thought occurs to me about borrowing; people should manage their own debt levels. But when the wolves are at the door and credit facilities are so abundantly available, the situation is more sinister than feeding gluttons, its is exploiting personal circumstances.

Introductory offers on credit cards allow you to subsidise your income. You can amass a considerable debt just by exceeding your income by £100/month. But once you are used to that overspend you are hooked. To revert back to your original outgoings requires a drop of £100/month. The real kick in the nuts is that drop just keeps you standing still! That will never repay any of the debt!! To reduce the debt requires a further drop in your outgoings, so you would need to drop £200/month to undo each month of overspend. Subsidising your income with credit cards is not sustainable and will end in tears!

I think that the credit card companies know all about this, and can help you out of this mess with a debt consolidation loan which allows you to start all over again! How can that be right? Having taken a debt consolidation loan, your credit rating improves, so now you can establish new lines of credit before you have repaid the loan?

Credit Card Lawsuits?
There is not a week goes by without some more unsolicited balance transfer cheques to put through our shredder or pre-approved credit card or loan applications. If you watch much daytime telly you will be very familiar with debt consolidation, equity release loans and car credit available to you (even if you have CCJs!)

Given the frequent news stories about the levels of consumer debt in the UK, when will the Personal Finance companies accept some responsibility and stop making it so easy to get hold of their 0% interest purchases and balance transfers and ask-no-questions debt consolidation loans?

I would love to see the Yes Car Credit woman in the dock!
Lawyer: Can I ask you some questions Ms Car Credit?
Ms CC: Yes! YOU CAN!
Lawyer: (punches her in the face)

Are you a 'Rate Tart?'
There can be no denying that introductory credit card rates are ideal for low cost borrowing and are a valuable tool for managing debt.
I guess its just the same as diet pop: "can help slimming as part of a calorie controlled diet."

Things are improving
The financial services industry has already been given a much needed slap on the ass over thousands of misold endowment mortgages and the FSA regulation of insurance and mortgage companies is also good for the consumers. Some credit card company bosses were recently dragged over the coals by MPs on a Treasury Select Committee where Barclay Card's boss, Matthew Barrett, admitted "I don't borrow on credit cards because it is too expensive."