Dave Lieber: I wrote in my Watchdog column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram a little ditty about being grateful around Thanksgiving. The column contained this 14-word negative comment about credit card companies:

“Suddenly we have a common goal in our lives. Get rid of credit cards.”

Not longer after, I got scolded by an economist I know. The well-respected financial analyst e-mailed me:

“Now I fear that you’re going after the credit card industry with too much vigor. Be careful, my friend. They’re financial tools, and for people who pay their balance they’re convenient, a source of an interest free loan and cash back. They’re smart. So why would people get rid of them?? I think you narrow your appeal as a watchdog if you pander to a particular demographic.”

Of course, I thought about what this expert said. Then decided to share with you where I am coming from when I scratched those simple 14 words.

I found a recent report by The Pew Charitable Trusts that is the most devastating study of what is going on in U.S. credit companies now, i.e. the big-boy banks. I knew it was bad, but had no idea …

“One hundred percent of credit cards from the largest 12 banks used practices deemed `unfair or deceptive’ under Federal Reserve guidelines. None of these banks issued cards would meet the requirements of the Credit CARD Act of 2009.”

That simple sentence by the Pew project team couldn’t be written any clearer. But let me try anyway in my own WatchdogNation.com brand of plain talk:

The largest dirty dozen banks are breaking the law that is about to go into effect in a few months. Grab all the cookies before they put a lock on the jar. Only here, the cookies are American families getting raked by their own banks.

The banks aren’t even trying to comply. 100 percent! Not a mensch in the bunch. And this is the same group that buys Congress with PAC donations and vows, “We can regulate ourselves.”

The Dirty Dozen has so much dirt under their fingernails that the original 14 words that upset the economist were far too kind.

Time to name names, pal.

Want to know The Dirty Dozen 12 Biggest Banks? Courtesy of WatchdogNation.com via the wonderful folks at Pew:

American Express

Bank of America

Barclays

Capital One

Chase

Citi

Discover

HSBC

Target

U.S. Bank

USAA

Wells Fargo

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Final note: My Nordstrom Visa bill came recently with a new 29.99 percent rate. I called and complained. They said it was a mistake and quickly moved me back to 12.99 percent. A recent Frontline show on PBS used Nordstrom Visa as an example of bad practices. Only 9 months ago, the Nordstrom Visa card was rated as one of the best cards to get on lowcards.com. That’s how quickly things have slipped, even among the better ones. Point is: CALL AND COMPLAIN.

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The full report was written by the Pew Health Group, Shelley Hearne, Managing Director. Contributors were Nick Bourne, Eleni Constantine, Ardie Hollifield, Alexander Martone. You can learn more about their work at Pew’s Safe Credit Cards Project. You can read their full report here.

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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. His book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, won two national book awards in 2009 for social change.