Obviously, a rapid and unexpected cost increase at any time is not a happy scenario. We had business members actually send us their monthly invoices that showed these 25% to 30% increases from one month to the next, thousands and thousands of dollars in any given month, naturally depending on the nature of that particular business and what it used credit cards for.
I think the equally important point was the confusion. You can't run a business when you don't even know one of your key costs on an ongoing basis. You're accepting cards and you don't even know what you're paying for, and then you get a bill at the end of the month and get a rude awakening. Those are the two bottom line factors. There's no consultation. We know consumers are getting these cards unrequested in the mail. I got one. I'm sure a lot of you have got them. I thought gee, has my card expired? Because I had no idea just looking at it that it was a different type of card.
Something else that you might not be aware of, or maybe you are, is that the credit card companies tell us they're sending out these premium cards to high spenders. I got one in the mail the other day that was unaddressed ad mail. In other words, they had no idea; it was to the householder, basically. They had no data on my spending. I actually don't happen to be a big credit card user. So please don't buy that argument, that it's a very small slice of the market. They're being sent out willy-nilly. That's why you need the individual banks before you too, because they all have individual strategies.