There's a reason it's such a concern, contrary to what the Bankers Association has said. Its self-serving internal survey said that 71% of people pay off their balances, but the Bank of Canada, which has done many studies on this, has shown that it's about 46%. According to its most recent study, the per cent of people who carry a balance is growing. When you're charging almost 30%, as most retailers are—and that's another issue that needs to be looked at, because 30% interest is loansharking, in my view—you're preying on the most vulnerable people, who get trapped in a loop.
Bankers bragged at committee that there are other debt alternatives, that you could move your debt over to a lower rate line of credit. I will ask the Public Interest Advocacy Centre about that issue, because it looks to me like credit cards are a great business development tool for banks to move people to lines of credit while not pulling away their credit card. They'll zero-balance their credit card and move it over to a line of credit, and now they have free room to grow their credit again. Is that what's happening?