Household Debt

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Congress should pass federal legislation banning Predatory Lending due to manipulative tactics, deceptive terms, and exploitive sales on a national level. These laws can include a limit to interest rates (within a range of what the national level is) and other abusive lending practices. Or, press states to pass State laws and encourage them to look into it in order to reduce or remove these unethical loans. Once there are actual laws against these practices, the Executive Branch can go after those choosing to follow these practices.

There needs to be regulation on the maximum amount a credit card's margin rate can be for American households. The base interest rate is already set by the government via the Federal Reserve, and the Margin Rate is attached on as a profit for the credit card companies. This rate has increased to 20%+ over the last decade to the point it is predatory and there are currently zero regulations on the amount a credit card can charge its users, even to the point that they hide rate increases and apply extra increases over time.

Student Debt

Judges have stated that the President is not allowed to forgive existing student debt because it was money spent by Congress and the public that was guaranteed to be returned when it was borrowed. However, people who take out these loans pay it off for decades without making a dent. Also, these loans are always attached to the individual, even through bankruptcy, so the government has guaranteed that it will get its money back. Since the President can't lower the actual amount owed back to Congress, he should set the interest rates of all student loans to zero, potentially even backtracking the reduction to the loans inception. This promises that Congress will receive every cent that was borrowed, but no more. The fact that the loan can't be ignored, or removed from the borrower's credit, and that their salary can be docked before they even receive it, means Congress has already guaranteed they will get every penny back. Demanding a high interest on a loan that will never go away is demanding additional funds that they did not give to the student. It should not be the next generation's wages that pay for the past generation's wealthy lifestyle.

The funds received from these student loans should also go into a Congressional Trust, used to further fund future student loans. This makes it so the fund becomes self-perpetuating as graduates pay off their debts, they will pay for future students coming right behind them.

Car Debt

Almost half of drivers have skipped routine maintenance, such as oil changes or tire rotations, on their vehicles due to strained budgets. 86% of Americans say they couldn't afford to purchase a new car within the following year. 45% want or need to replace their current vehicle, but can't afford it. Nearly a third of all drivers work a second job just to afford paying for their vehicle. Nearly 1 in 5 have borrowed money from friends or family just to keep their car running.

Inflation and future planning only promises this will get worse in the near future. Both the used car market and the new car market is outpacing wage growth. One of the more telling statistics is that 84% of drivers now operate vehicles older than three years, and nearly one-third are behind the wheel of a car more than a decade old.

Hospital Debt

Hospitals being run as a business should be able to answer general and simple pricing questions without needing to run something through a graphing calculator.

A hospital should not be allowed to bill its customers for additional money beyond what the insurance companies have agreed they owe. Patients should not need to wait to see what their insurance says they owe, only to find the hospital is billing them for more. This is predatory as the hospital is taking advantage of people in their weakest moments.