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...The good news is that the CARD Act did away with many of the practices that were targeting women, including retroactive rate hikes and arbitrary late payment rules, and will help expose traps by requiring more transparent agreements. But it also may have an unintended consequence. The act mandated that the Federal Reserve issue rules limiting to whom companies can lend, excluding those who can’t afford loans. One of those rules is that an applicant’s income must be taken into account. It sounds like a no-brainer. But now banks can only consider an individual’s income and not a household’s. Will women be sent back to the 1960s, once again having to rely on a husband’s income for credit?
Will Better Consumer Protection Lead to a Credit Crunch for Women?
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Sometimes it's the woman that's the main breadwinner in the house you know. That's a bit presumptuous to assume that doesn't happen the other way round too.
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The only reason I can think of why "banks can only consider an individual’s income and not a household’s" is that living together's much more common now and so is divorce. They can't count on the other half of the relationship footing part of the bill if they are the higher earner, in case the relationship breaks down.
Good grief, I certainly hope not! Why the heck would they think that change was needed anyway?? That's insane.
When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a rose with the other.