Off-Topic #4: The Worst Credit Card in the World

My friend Ellen Cannon, an editor at Bankrate.com, has just started a blog about credit cards. Ellen's the kind of person who can read things like, say, the Statistical Abstract of the United States and then produce 400 or so actually readable words on its Table 1167, "Percent of U.S. Households That Use Selected Payment Instruments from 1995 to 2004."

One of the tasks Ellen's taken on is digesting all of the fine print that's run at the very very bottom of credit card offers (in what's called "mice type"). It's a quest to find what she calls "the worst credit card in the world." Her current candidate is Tribute MasterCard, whose terms include:

Available Credit Limitations: Your initial credit limit will be $300 and the following fees will appear on your first statement: Annual Fee of $150, and an Account Opening Fee of $29. After making your initial minimum monthly payment of $20, following the receipt of your card mailer, your available credit will be $141. You will be billed a Monthly Maintenance Fee of $6.50 ($78 per year), beginning after you make your first purchase. Your available credit may also be limited, from time to time, if you give your account number or card to a merchant that processes advance authorization, such as a hotel, motel or car rental office. Such an authorization may limit your ability to make purchases and take cash advance on your account until the authorization is cancelled by the merchant and your available credit released.

Take a minute and do the math. Ellen's blog, "Plastic Rap," is here.