Frontline: The Secret History of Credit Cards

Guided Watching Questions

1. How many credit cards does the average American Family have?

2. What did South Dakota do to help people get loans?

3. Why were the credit card companies hurting financially?

4. What Supreme Court decision helped South Dakota become the "Credit Card Capitol of

America?"

5. How much profit did the credit card company get last year?

6. The "real consumers" on the show gave a lot of examples of why they like credit cards. What

were two?

7. Why does Ben Stein like credit cards?

8. What kind of customers do credit card companies hate?

9. What do they call them?

10. Where are the profits in the credit card business?

11. How much credit card debt does the average family have?

12. Why do they get in debt?

13. How does this happen?

14. What happens if you miss a payment?

15. What can you do if your debt gets too high?

16. What are the three things that lead to bankruptcy?

17. How did Kahr change the minimum payment?

18. Why do people only pay the minimum payment?

19. Why was the 0% offer so bad for consumers?

20. What is a FICO score?

21. What does your FICO score tell you?

22. Can credit cards change the terms of the contract easily?

23. What is "Universal Default?

24. Are late fees legal?

25. What are the three types of fees?