Originally Posted By fkurucz <<Capitalism is good, but greed and evil policies suck.>> I suppose it depends on how one defines capitalism. Adam Smith insisted that if everyone was selfish and only looked out for their own self interest that the "invisble hand" would make everything OK.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer There is some good information about what the credit card reform laws going in to effect shortly have in them at <a href="http://www.stopbuyingcrap.com/personal-finance/credit-card-act-2009/" target="_blank">http://www.stopbuyingcrap.com/...ct-2009/</a> Also, if you have the Chase Disney Visa, cash out your Disney dollars ASAP. <a href="http://consumerist.com/5313729/chase-cancels-your-credit-cards-with-no-notification" target="_blank">http://consumerist.com/5313729...fication</a>
Originally Posted By Mr X Good advice TS! I'm thinking Passholder is on to something, when good customers get screwed over needlessly do these companies even consider the fact that there could be a backlash down the road? I mean, if that happened to me I'd be pretty steamed and not in the mood to sign up for any credit cards in future, and certainly not from the same bank, and even if I did have to get one I'd use it as little as humanly possible so as not to give those guys one bloody penny of my money more than I'd have to.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>do these companies even consider the fact that there could be a backlash down the road?<< I think the powers that be are focused on this quarter, maybe next, not down the road much at all. By then, it'll be "somebody else's problem."
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan And I wholeheartedly agree with the subject line: They are pure evil.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>No offense, but if the interest rate change alone resulted in a $210 a month increase in your minimum payment, you have WAY TOO MUCH debt on your plastic. In this economy, I can understand why the credit card company would be concerned and want to increase your rate. With that kind of payment increase you must have more than $20K on that card alone. If you have additional unsecured debt the increase is entirely understandable unless you have an income in the mid-six-figure range.<< It's actually about $11,000 and it's one of two. The second we have is much lower, around $4,000. I agree that it is too much debt. We haven't charged anything in a while and are working on paying it down. But it's a fair criticism - we're guilty of doing what other Americans have done and racked up too much debt under the assumption the economy would always cruise along nicely. We're some of the lucky ones - at our current plan we'll be able to pay ours down in about 14 months. We've closed them and aren't charging anymore. Of course, then we'll be accused of hurting the economy for not racking up more debt
Originally Posted By ecdc >>It is a horrible, dishonorable way to run a business. Those credit card companies are evil. Capitalism is good, but greed and evil policies suck.<< Josh, I know you're unfairly picked on sometimes, so I hope you take my question sincerely, since that's how it's intended. How do you separate this statement from your support of someone like Glenn Beck, who's accusing the President of socialism for supporting regulation of the banking industry? I mean, the President and the Democrats aren't advocating complete government control or true socialism - just the kind of regulation we had in the 60s and 70s that prevented this kind usury and greed you're denouncing. There seems to be a disconnect here.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "No offense, but if the interest rate change alone resulted in a $210 a month increase in your minimum payment, you have WAY TOO MUCH debt on your plastic. In this economy, I can understand why the credit card company would be concerned and want to increase your rate. With that kind of payment increase you must have more than $20K on that card alone. If you have additional unsecured debt the increase is entirely understandable unless you have an income in the mid-six-figure range." I know why you're saying this, but the banks aren't doing this just to people with huge balances. They're doing it across the board. My mother in law has no credit card debt. None. Yet the cards she does have have hiked her rates, slashed her limits and informed her if she does charge again, the minimum due formula is ridiculous. The FIA/Prudential Visa card my wife has had forever has a $29,200 limit. We owe something like $1500 on it. If I use it again the interest rate goes from 9.24 % to 27.99%. Amex raised our interest rate and we don't even owe them. The L.A. Times recently has done stories about millionaires with no debt who were declined for a purchase on their credit cards because of a late payment 2-3 years ago. Trying to find logic behind their decisions is futile.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/22money.html?_r=1" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08...tml?_r=1</a> Good NY Times article.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder A mortgage horror story: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus4-2009oct04,0,6782539,full.column" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/busines...l.column</a>
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Just look through the articles at <a href="http://consumerist.com/tag/credit-cards/" target="_blank">http://consumerist.com/tag/credit-cards/</a> and see how credit card companies are panicking and cutting limits and increasing rates. Consumerist.com rocks, by the way.
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^Its a great way to make huge profits to cover the losses on all those bad loans they made. Borrow the money from the Fed at 0%, lend it out for 20%. I wish I could do that!
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<A mortgage horror story:>> I have heard through the grapevine that BofA isn't approving any loans in some metro areas.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder So Wells Fargo did it to us today. They took our 9.9% rate and more than doubled it to 21.99%. Won't much affect us, but we called, because we like to get annoyed, and were told they're doing it "across the board", without regard to the individual. I asked what they'll do when they end up getting nothing from people because so many will have to file BK. The girl on the other end said "that was a choice the financial consumer would have to make". I said that she should step back from her script and be asking her company that, because if that does indeed happen often enough, she'll be out of a job. She was silent, so I said her script must not have a prepared answer for that. She still said nothing. We closed our accounts with them, opting out of the rate increase because we don't really need the Wells Fargo card. Stupid, stupid, stupid on the part of the banks. Just moronic.
Originally Posted By Mr X "that was a choice the financial consumer would have to make" Sounds like a prepared line to offer up to the customers who DO say "well this will force me into bankruptcy!". Swell.
Originally Posted By ChurroMonster All Americans should stop paying their credit card bills until the government shows it will support Main Street as much as it has supported Wall Street.
Originally Posted By Mr X Now THAT I'd like to see. Or maybe not though. Considering what a Corporatocracy America has become (I know that's not a word, but it's all I could come up with), THAT might be the sort of thing that gets the Federal Government up in arms (literally) against the general population. That might be scary.
Originally Posted By ecdc Actually it is a word. It's one that's still new and much in dispute, but it's a word
Originally Posted By Mr X My spell checker didn't like it. Then again, my spell checker still doesn't care for Barack nor Obama. Hussein works okay, though.
