Applied Card Systems is known to be particularly aggressive with fees. There are other options for consumers with less than sterling credit, such is secured credit cards from offered by many major banks including Bank of America.

I find the notion that consumers are unable to fend for themselves absent a paternalistic government to be appalling.  One must be responsible and careful with credit.  The implication you were tempted into debt is ludicrous.

In the case of Miss Alverarez,  she should have returned the card to the issuer as soon as those high fees were billed.  A letter to the issuer statinn that she has just reviewed the cardholder agreement, enclosed with the credit card, for the first time, and she cannot accept the agreement would probably have been sufficient to resolve the matter.

In this instance there are no victims only volunteers. A little bit of research would save a lot of money.

That said, there are many practices in the industry that are of concern to a consumer.  First of all late payments will often result in a higher interest rate.  Interest rates topping 20% can result in a loan that will almost certainly default.  Some banks use a credit scoring process to determine your interest rate. In these instances a late payment on another loan from another company can result in a higher interest rate on your card.

Another common practice now is an arbitration clause. The arbitration clause allows the credit card company and in some cases its assigns to obtain a judgment without going through a court proceeding. That is important, because the standards of evidence for a court proceeding are often much higher than the standards in a arbitration proceding.

Example:  Jennifer owes $5000 dollars on her VISA card. When the debt is 180 days past due the debt is sold to Aggressive Debt Collectors Inc. Aggressive calls Jennifer and offers to settle the debt for $1500.00. Jennifer pays Aggressive the $1500.00 in settlement.

Aggressive sells the $5000.00 debt (perhaps by accident) for $50 to Dead Beat Colllections. Dead Beat Collections initiates a lawsuit to collect the $5000.00 plus interest.

Jennifer's attorney demands that Dead Beat Collections prove in Court that the debt is valid. This involves obtaining testimony from both the original bank and Agressive Collections on the state of the debt.  Both decline to testify and do not have to, since the debt was sold as-is. The case is dismissed by the judge.

Now go to an arbitration proceeding. The arbitrator might well take Dead Beat Collections records as valid unless Jennifer can produce contradictory documentation. She has no right of subpoena.  Jennifer may well have a judgment placed against her for a debt she paid.  

Think it doesn't happen. It does.