McCain's Credit Cards

From Dan Ray at Taking Charge (a blog at CreditCards.com):

If he's elected and has his way, he may end up giving a break to Sen. John McCain, who has been paying an eye-popping credit card rate of 25.99 percent on his personal card.

We know this because, on Friday, the annual financial disclosure forms for U.S. senators became public for 2007, and news coverage has naturally focused on those filed by Obama and McCain, the presumptive presidential candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties.

The full post is here. Felix Salmon over at Condé Nast's Portfolio.com persuasively explains why the high interest rate may be more fiction than fact and that the McCains' high credit card debts are not surprising given Cindy McCain's extensive business interests. Still, it makes for fun reading.

Comments

[Dan Ray]

Hi. More fiction than fact? Ouch. I beg to differ.

One thing I know is market interest rates, having spent six years as editor in chief at Bankrate.com before founding the editorial department here at CreditCards.com a year ago.

Those who read my post know that I was not surprised that Cindy McCain had two cards with whopping limits and a zero percent APR.

My central point was about their joint card, the one on which they owe $10,001 to $15,000. It's really tough to find a deal that bad -- a 26 percent rate -- without having had payment issues.

Thanks for the "fun read" remark, though.

[Bob Lawless]

Sorry, Dan. That was a poor choice of words on my part. Maybe "more sound than fury" was closer to my intended meaning. It's a good post, and I have no about about the accuracy of what you wrote. Many persons will see the amounts outstanding on the McCains' credit cards and see it as a sign of irresponsibility. Given Cindy McCain's business interests and general wealth, I think that would be an unfair inference. As the Portfolio.com report indicates, it is likely they are paying off these huge credit card debts each month.