Daily PUMA Column - Commentary by Alessandro Machi

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

What is going on with Target? Target's Credit Card interest rates are outrageous, next is a crazy coupon offer for a free WHITE BREAD loaf.


Target seems to be going downhill fast (in my opinion). It appears that Target is using profits from excessive credit card interest rate charges so Target can promote their own political agenda and political lobbying. Target customers are being charged 23-24% interest rates on their Target credit card!

When a retail company entraps their own customers at 23-24% interest, not only do they suck their customers dry of spendable cash, the store is also siphoning their own customers spendable money to buy products in their own store!

Customers owing 1,500 dollars on a Target Credit Card will pay 29 dollars every month in INTEREST RATE charges alone! The problem is if the customer spends 50 bucks a month at a Target Store, over half of their spendable money will now go towards paying ongoing, never ending unseemly credit card interest rate charges. We're talking 358 dollars a year in interest rate charges alone on a 1,500 dollar debt.

Since when is it good for a company to dilute the spending dollars of their own customers so they buy less products in their store because of huge interest rate charges? Might as well call themselves Target Bank and focus on ripping customers off with excessive fees and interest rate charges and forgo selling products in their store at all.

If Target is concerned that customers are running up debt they may never pay off, there are logical solutions. Offer incentives to those who PAY DOWN their debt. If the customers refuse, then keep the interest rate charges where they are at.

If I were a vendor who sold to Target, I would be upset knowing that the Target Customer base is being skimmed off the top by Target's own credit card interest rate charges to the tune of 23-24% monthly interest rate charges.
The obvious solution is to NOT USE the Target Credit card and pay it off, or pay down the debt and then LOWER the Target card's credit line to a very low amount, say, 250 dollars, max. In both instances, the goal is to reduce Target's ability to rip off the consumer with ridiculously high interest rate charges.
My source tells me that Target is actively trying to recruit new customers to use their credit card and its overinflated interest rate charges. It is sad to me how much the media reports about wall street, and how companies like Target have to victimize their core customer base just to make it look like they are profitable. Profitability at the expense of their own customer base makes Target a company I no longer see as my number one alternative to Wal Mart.

As bad as Target's Credit Card interest rate charges have become, now Target is offering a store coupon to its own customers for a free 20 or 24 ounce loaf of white bread in a day and age when white bread has become passe. I plan on trying to convert my free 20 or 24 ounce Target Pantry white bread coupon to whole wheat. The fact that it appears that I don't get a choice seems to be Target's new way of operating.

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