It occurred to me as a programmed payments in one month in advance into Quicken software that the credit card issuers are fighting the last war. The reason I am programming my payments one month in advance is that I have about 15 minutes from the time I receive my bill to write a check, plop it in an express mail envelope, then race after the mail carrier to send it back the same day to avoid a late fee.

The late fees were rolling in bulking up bottom lines at Chase and others. The reason they implemented these fees was that interest rates were low so they jerked customers on late fees to raise revenues. The interest rate far exceeds the paycheck loan rates. $40 on a one-day late $400 payment is 128 quadrillion percent annual interest.

But now they are faced with an anxious set of commercial paper buyers and collateralized debt obligation buyers demanding to know the credit quality of the borrowers. Well, it sucks. Because it has become impossible to pay a credit card bill on time without a flow of quantum entangled photons becoming disentangled selectively at the instant you get your bill so you can pay it faster than the speed of light. Credit card issuers, do you feel that petard? It’s going to get hoisted a lot higher.