DISQUS

Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 1 year ago

When I was a kid, my dad had one card: AmEx. He was a top exec at ATT. He traveled and this card got him what he needed for that. He never used it for shopping. Ever. I got a MasterCharge when I graduated college unsolicited. He warned and warned that this shit would be very bad and very dangerous for me. Like all college kids, I learned the hard way and got rid of it. About ten years ago, I needed a card for some travel. And somehow had ID theft although it was from stolen paid bills in a mailbox, not any online stuff. My score is now the tank because the police did shit to help me at the time. I now live with a debit card only. I pay my savings car payments for the NEXT vehicle so that I can save interest. Other than a mortgage, I am debt free. I love watching people in malls in December throw their plastic around thinking they've made it, they've gotten to the top, they've achieved wealth. Or young gay men spending 1000 bucks on a goddam shirt at Niemans. My preppy old well made clothes,which never go out of style, last me many years. Other than underwear, I rarely need things other than maybe shirts when they finally wear out.

The credit card scam has fucked us up big time. I hope they all go down in flames.

booboo07 · 1 year ago

Its true that credit cards were and are addictive not to mention foolish , however, when will the credit card companies be called out for charging 18%, 21% and on many 31% interest.? Obviously they want you to default so they can turn it over to debt collectors, (who by the way will hound you, your aging mother, dog and neighbor you just say hi too, till the grave) and quickly write it off their books to be deducted from what little corporate taxes they do pay.
Then, they can turn around and do it to someone else. If you have ever tried to get a credit card company to lower the interest because you truly and
honestly want to pay it off, then you know what I mean....and when you look at these very same corporations and their CEO's walking on the tax payer..
well it hardly seems worth sticking to the straight and narrow..

bumpkis · 1 year ago

I strongly suspect that when Pelosi reconvenes Congress, another tax rebate check will be in the mail instantly....for more than $600 this time. Otherwise, corporate donors who own or are heavily dependent on Christmas shoppers will really see RED this year....

PRINT MO MONEY....

Amicus · 1 year ago

Well, the first rebate check, as many predicted, appears to have been used to pay down debt (the growth in consumer debt figures went negative for the first time, on the last reading by the Fed - July or August figures).

That's fine, reducing risk. But, we really could use some .. targeted spending, instead...

Oh, all those accelerated depreciation allowances and big tax breaks for wealthy small business owners? It appears that, just like the Bush debt-spend tax cuts, it really isn't turning around the outlook for business spending or boosting anything but the bank accounts of the wealthiest ...

Amicus · 1 year ago

I just saw a survey that the overall figures are being greatly skewed by the areas in which huge homeowner defaults are occurring. Bringing us back to the same conclusion: the "Hope Now Alliance" was a wimpy GOP nod to the Left, is not sufficient.

There should be no such thing as an interest rate over 20% or late-fees that triple your balance in order to improve 'recovery rates' in court. No such thing. Banned as a matter of public policy. (Although I think the card companies took that last one all the way to the Supremes, and won, partly). It's enough to ask people to pay back, even to raise rates. It's immoral to get punitive.

At 7% default rates, a decent retail operation can probably still survive.

Slamming all low FICO score people out of the credit market is probably ... an irrational panic that will cause more of what they are trying to forestall, because the general economic downturn it risks will put the credit card companies "healthy" customers at risk.

Indigo · 1 year ago

Credit-based spending as the lynch-pin of the US attack economy was the brain child of Reaganism. It worked well enough to outspend the Soviet Union and collapse their civilian economy. Now it's collapsing ours. The message is: Never turn an economic weapon on yourself.

Amicus · 1 year ago

More:

For some, they will get a government guarantee on their debt issuance. This means that their cost of funding at the margin, perhaps even their cost of funding on average (no one knows exactly how the program will work, yet), goes down to circa 2%-3% at today's rates.

These companies will be quite profitable, even with default rates at 8& at the worst.

The math: 15% credit-card interest rate - 2% funding cost - 8% default rate - 3-4% cost of operations = 2-3% net interest margin. Leverage that up 5x and you get 10-15% net profit, during the "worst of times".

Conclusion?: no reason to let credit card companies cry "pain" and get draconian or allow them to fall prey to their own fears, to panic

caerbannog · 1 year ago

Now, I wonder how many credit default swaps have been piggybacked on top of all this credit-card debt. I wouldn't put it past the geniuses on Wall Street to do so.

Hmmmm.... I wonder if there is a way that I could buy a bunch of credit-default swaps on my own credit-card accounts. I could max out all my credit cards, walk away from the debt and then cash in on all the CDS's that I just bought!

Wouldn't be surprised if some Wall-Streeters tried that one, too.

Mickey7 · 1 year ago

With many cards charging 20-28% interest, it's not hard to figure out why people finally just give up on them. I have good credit and recently needed to take out a "healthcare" loan from Capital One for some emergency dental work. The application listed the interest rate as between 2.9% and 15.99%. When I actually got approved, the rate was 26.99% because the loan amount made my credit/debt ratio too high. I knew what the rate was, but really had no choice (short of losing all my teeth). The work, none of which was cosmetic or elective, was estimated to be $8,000. The interest on that amount charged by Capital One was more than $7 a day. It is not hard to see how people get upside down in this current credit climate. My goal was to get the damn thing paid off as quickly as possible to deny interest payments to Capital One. I have it down to less than half after 3 months of working 2 extra jobs (none of which provide health or dental benefits, btw). I'm finding my rage at these credit card companies to be very motivating in paying them off quickly so they don't profit from the interest on my accounts.

Ferry_Fey · 1 year ago

Much of the credit card debt these days is entirely due to the higher, usurious interest rates and fees that the card companies have unilaterally added onto the accounts of their customers. Soon it becomes impossible to keep up with the steadily rising debts added on, often with fees and interest rates being jacked up by all cards someone has, despite a long-term relationship with a credit card company that used to be workable and manageable. Add to that the decision by the card companies to lower how much money is available to be loaned, and a shaky situation gets shakier. A credit card debt on $5000 worth of goods bought may balloon to tens of thousands of dollars of interest fees accumulating.

Switch to a different card? Even knowledgeable professionals now have a difficult time reading through the dense legalese. The average consumer who is trying to switch to a more reasonable card will find themselves being screwed after the the first payment comes in hours after its deadline. This is just as predatory as the mortgage lenders debacle, and as deserving of attention and change.