As the credit card industry has boomed, so have self-help books.
The titles in any bookstore's personal finance section- "New Money Strategies for the '90s," "The Ultimate Credit Handbook," "10 Minute Guide to Beating Debt" - tell the story of a culture hooked on credit and the excesses that can lead to financial ruin.
Books aimed at helping consumers navigate the treacherous credit card waters proliferated as bankruptcy filings were soaring to record levels.
It is part of an explosion of interest in personal finance topics of all kinds, said ricka Westbrook, spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble Inc. "That category ... has grown tremendously," she said.
She had no specific sales breakdown on books that focus on credit card management. Also, many broader financial management books include discussions of credit cards and debt in general.
The mainstreaming of credit and books about it is quite different from the situation six years ago, when Gerri Detweiler began work on the first edition of "The Ultimate Credit Handbook."
At that time, a few expensive consumer financial tomes were available, but none really hit the mark, said Ms. Detweiler, a former director of Bankcard Holders of America and the National Council of Individual Investors, two nonprofit organizations representing consumers.
This year, Penguin Books printed a revised version of Ms. Detweiler's book.
Today, there are many high-quality books on the market helpful to consumers, Ms. Detweiler said. But she believes banks should take a greater role in customer education.
So does a banker turned author whose latest book is titled "Your Bank is Ripping You Off."
The book, by Edward Mrkvicka Jr., published by St. Martin's Press, takes a cynical view of current banking practices and advises consumers on how to improve their financial situation.
"From ATM charges to credit card interest to checking fees to loans on your car and home: how to fight back and save a fortune," the cover teases. The introduction claims a typical consumer overpays banks more than $100,000 in a lifetime.
Mr. Mrkvicka, who was once chief executive officer of First National Bank of Marengo, Ill., said banks have not done their civic duty in educating consumers.
"Quite the contrary - they've gone out of their way to make sure consumers don't understand," he said.
Like Mr. Mrkvicka, Ms. Detweiler contended that banks have been reluctant to educate consumers because consumer ignorance is profitable.
"I would like to see an industry campaign like we've seen with, say, drinking and driving," Ms. Detweiler said. "I don't think you can help consumers enough."
To be sure, the industry has made some efforts in that direction.
"In the last six months we're starting to see more of a trend toward saying we need to be socially responsible," said Jim Larranaga, vice president of Priority Publications, Edina, Minn., which publishes 120 newsletters on banks' behalf.
The change has not been driven by pressure from consumer advocacy groups. It has come from the knowledge that "more and more people are going into debt," he said.
Still, in Priority Publications' newsletter are nuggets of advice followed by marketing initiatives plugging bank card features.
"Banks don't spend money for consumer education out of the goodness of their hearts," Mr. Mrvicka said.
Ms. Detweiler said bankers view detailed educational initiatives as double-edged swords. While there can be benefits to customers and reduced bank chargeoffs, credit cards - banks' most potent profit machine - might be used less.
But consumers who cut back on credit could channel their savings into investment products, benefiting banks in a different way, Ms. Detweiler said.
Some are taking steps to better educate customers. Visa U.S.A. last week announced a multimillion-dollar nationwide consumer education initiative. The campaign, which is not being tied to any marketing effort, includes seminars by financial journalist and author Terry Savage.
"If we judge by need, we will have extremely high attendance" at the seminars, said David Melancon, a Visa spokesman.
Ms. Detweiler praised Ms. Savage and said her participation gives Visa's initiative instant credibility.
"There are a lot of good credit education materials out there, but one of the problems is that they often say what the banks want customers to hear instead of what customers actually want to hear," Ms. Detweiler said.
"Directing consumers to quality information will help banks," Ms. Detweiler said. "The more specific you can be, the better it is for customers - because if you don't answer their questions, they are going to look elsewhere. That's when they fall into using some of the other materials out there that aren't so good."
Some of the consumer advice books on the market still advocate questionable tactics like challenging every detail of a credit report, she explained. New laws could curb that practice, promoted by so-called credit- repair firms, but banks should take a lead role, she said.
Aside from personal experience, only actual horror stories recounted in the mass media will sink in with customers who don't understand credit card pitfalls, Mr. Mrkvicka contended. Generally, those customers are poorer and use cards differently from the convenience users, who are better educated and more affluent.
Ms. Detweiler, however, pointed out that anyone can fall victim to the siren call of easy credit.
In the introduction to her handbook, she told of her first credit card, received just after college, with a $1,000 limit.
"The couch I wanted to buy was only about $800, so I threw in a lamp and an answering machine as well," she wrote. "I didn't even look at the interest rate - all that I cared about was the low monthly payment of just $35. ... Within a few years I had a walletful of credit cards and debt totaling more than $10,000."
It took her years to recover, Ms. Detweiler said. "I wrote this book to share what I learned along the way."
