Credit card debt is made worse by the banking system

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Over the last 20 years, credit card companies (banks) have created a financial monster for many unfortunate people. The weakening of the bankruptcy laws have opened the door for the financial abuse of these institutions of their customers with significant unsecured debt. I am not a fan of unrestricted spending. However, this is not always the case of financial hardship today. Many people with manageable debt who rarely make a late payment or miss a payment are being punished because they owe money. Banks examine your credit reports and determine that "someday" you might be a bad risk and immediately raise your interest rate to loanshark level and nearly double your monthly payment. The double effect of this is that someone who was managing $500 per month in card payments and made regular progress on their balances suddenly owe $800 to $1,000 per month with no real recourse except some form of debt relief. Whereas, they could make progress at 12%, progress at 29-32% is nearly impossible. Plus the additional payment now requires that some necessities have to be charged instead of paying cash. Very few people can take a $500 per month unplanned expense in perpetuity without having severe financial hardship. The banks say see we knew that debt would be a problem when in reality they encouraged the debt and created the problem by their shady financial manipulations. Congress needs to adjust the bankruptcy laws to take the teeth out of the banking system and make them more responsive to their customer base. Generally, the reaction today in both Congress and the banking system is "too bad."