Banks have found a way to stick us AGAIN - This time it's PERSONAL!!

Mine actually went down from 10.87% in Dec to 8.87% in Jan.....

I use my CC in a smart way! I never put more on it that I can pay for and I always pay it off. I even make out a little. I have never paid interest and I cash in the rewards from time to time, but I always put it toward my bill. I make a little money using my CC.....

I don't know if there is a limit on the rate they can charge but it's definitely not 30%. One of my card rates went up to 34% and when I called and asked them to lower it... they lowered it to 32%.

I got so mad, I made the decision to throw all the money I have at this account and pay it off. Fortunately, I just recently got a small inheritance and a decent tax refund so it's almost paid off now (only took two months).

I'm looking forward to bringing the balance to zero and then telling them to take their card and SHOVE it.

I will never use credit cards again. This credit score thing is nothing but a trap and I don't want to participate anymore.

If I want to buy something, I'll save up the money and I now have an emergency fund for emergency situations. I don't need a credit score to determine if I'm eligible for apartments or jobs because I have a long list of references for both.

I had about the same thing happen to me. I got a letter in the mail from Citi Bank saying "Important Information", inside is a letter saying that my intrest rate is being raised to 29.99% but I can opt of the increase if I send a letter back to them. I should say I've always paid my statements off soon as the arrived. A week later I get a phone call from them. The boob on the phone says they're very disappointed that I choose to opt out, and that with opting out I have closed my account with them. Would I like to change my mind? I told him nope, I'm already cutting up my credit card as we speak.

With 500,000 people being laid per month for the last three months, the credit card industry is shaking in their boots.

Recently, they jacked the rates on MOST of their credit card accounts so THEY can stay afloat.

When things are going okay, your credit card bills are usually in the middle of importance when you pay your bills.

When things are going bad, like now, credit card payment plummet to the bottom of the priority pile.

When people get laid off, they get unemployment for awhile. But unemployment won't pay for everything so certain things, like credit cards, don't get paid.

With unemployment continuing to spiral to greater numbers, more and more people are ceasing payments. THis is weakening the CC industry.

It also hurts the retail industry and every industry plugged into retail.

There is a second tidal wave approaching the banks and that tidal wave is the credit card industry.

When this nation loses the ability to swipe their cards, this economy is going to stop like a train falling off the tracks.

With every country in the world plugged into our economy within two degrees, every country in the world will be affected. Every human being.

The stimulus packages of Bush and Obama will not work because they are giving the money to the very people that created this crisis. If you give free crack to a crack head, how does that help the people that depend on that crack head?

The world as you know it is coming to an end. It's a slow bleed and it's working. $30 million a year for the CEO BEFORE the perks, $7.00 an hour for the 18 year old entry level employee.

Two years later, the now 20 year old makes $7.80 an hour and the CEO is taking the $4 million jet to his second $5 million vacation mansion. This one is in Italy.

The powers that be don't care if we get on the internet and whine about it. Just don't take to the streets to challenge them.

The credit card industry is going to crash. An APR of 29.99% is not going to save it. An APR of 0% won't save it either. If you don't have a job, you can't pay the bills. It's that simple.

No job is recession proof. If the recession has not caused layoffs at your company, your turn is coming. I promise.

BOA is notorious for doing that, keep watching as they will eventually take it up to 32-34% They did the same to me years ago and I never even carry a balance on it. Then about a year ago popped it up to 32.99 so I just canceled it, I'm sure they just wanted it canceled in the first place because I was costing them money having to send me 0 balance statements every month the past few years.

I had family who worked for them who quit and said they were crooks and didn't want to be a part of it anymore.

After reading all your comments, I realize how right Gerald Celente was...

Next, on America's favorite reality show, Great Depression 2:

-People start realizing Obama is "not their man of change"
-Protests/ Riots
-More huge businesses tank
-Commercial real estate sector collapses
-Crime soars
-False flag attack on American soil
-People go nuts

I am glad this info is being shared. I hope everyone reads this thread and makes it a goal to get off the card!

I remember what it was like before the major credit cards existed. Just store and gas company cards with maybe a $200.- $500. limit. People used mostly free lay-away service or simply saved till they could afford to get what they wanted. You saved in several ways. First and foremost...no impulse buying. Time to ask yourself in reflection, do I really want this? Probably half of what we buy is somthing we really didn't need and seldom use. Avoid immediate gratification!

It has been 12 years since my credit card providers have gotten a cent of interest from me. I pay off the entire balance each month and watch very closely what I charge. In fact, with my card, I get about $10. per month in rewards cash back from them.

I know many are suffering right now, but running up debt on credit cards is a no-winner. My best advise is cut-em-up, pay them off and save for what you need...and reflect in debth on what you want.

Fight back by declaring bankruptcy! I think everyone in America should declare it in retaliation for this mess. Stick it to them! They just did it to you!

Everyone as a whole needs to not pay any of their bills to the credit card an mortgage companys for about 3 months, but specifically let them know the reason that you are not paying is because of their Racketeering.

www.theinternationalforecaster.com...
Removing toxic assets from banks’ balance sheets is an exercise in futility. The lenders get off the hook and the public pays for the mistakes. If government pays marked-to-market price for toxic assets then all the other financial firms that haven’t received the same treatment as yet will have a large hole cut in their balance sheets, triggering losses and precipitating the collapse of companies throughout the banking system. There is no easy way around the problem. The only sensible thing is to allow these speculating financial firms to go under. They took the risks, lost, and we pay for it. As you can see if allowed to continue the bailout will take many other firms down the same path they would have embarked on anyway. It will just take a little longer and cost the taxpayer $20 to $30 trillion. Their game of 3-card-Monte is not going to work and Illuminist Obama’s team A knows that. The pricing of these toxic assets is at the heart of the matter. In fact they have to be dealt with directly. If that happens the system can be purged. Buying up the distressed assets just allows the movement of them from one balance sheet to another. It matters not what you call it – it is a Ponzi scheme.

If all this wasn’t enough, having bailed out the commercial paper market as well, the Fed is poised to launch an initiative soon to restart into highly rated commercial paper, ABS, asset backed securities, such as credit card debt, student loans and auto loans. Then they intend to expand their initiative to help free up loans for municipalities, small business, commercial real estate and other consumer debt. There is no end to the bailouts. It has become a nightmare. They are worse off now than when this began 19 months ago. What you are seeing has been deliberately done to bring you into the world of corporatist fascism and into World Government.

Yes, we certainly need banks and they need leverage, but not 40 to 1 leverage, 8 to 1 leverage. We need a central bank. The US Treasury not the Federal Reserve. Banks should effectively price the cost of money and use that mechanism to finance our economy. Banks should never have been lending to Wall Street and hedge fund speculators that were and are using enormous leverage. The Fed and the bankers allowed unfiltered, credit creation, which was very profitable while it lasted. All of this financial wealth was concentrated among the wealthy and powerful – the elitists of our time. In its process a bubble was created, which has enveloped and is in the process of destroying our financial system.

Many want the Fed, the government and the taxpayers to bail out the system. If we do that we are playing their game and we accept defeat. We are told there is no real alternative, but that is not true. Government, the bankers and Wall Street have never done anything right. They have had the power to do so but have refused to do so. It is always, more profit and power for the rich and that never-ending desire for World Government. It was all planned that way. There has not been a free market in our capitalistic society for a long time. These hucksters should be criticized and exposed to the fullest for what they have done and are now doing. They won’t compromise and neither should we. There is nothing inevitable about government control of banking, finance and commerce. We have been sold out by all our leaders, but the game isn’t over yet. We’ll either stop these people or die trying. Putting it blandly, we are surrounded by whores. The madness of espousing invasive fiscal and monetary stimulus to ward off the horrible evils of deflation is an excuse to lay the groundwork for a greater depression and a greater collapse.

We say it is insane to target asset prices, rig all stocks, forex and commodity markets, to suppress prices in one area and increase them in another. It is insane to bailout banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies and select elitist transnational corporations. It is insane to borrow and print money and credit to support prices in the debt securitization marketplace. It is insane to try to bail out one quadrillion dollars worth of derivatives. There is no way you can reverse a black hole. $100 trillion won’t resuscitate the system.

Washington cannot run Washington, so they can’t run long-term investment or wealth creation. Economic stabilization should be pointed toward long-term jobs and that can only be attained with tariffs on goods and services. No more market manipulation and unreasonable leveraging.

The greedy and corrupt of every nation in history have always found justification whether it’s cold war or terrorism to peddle national security as a front. Everything bankers, Wall Street, corporate America and government do is for personal profit. It is always conflict of interests, and double standards. Only today it is worse in America than it has ever been. Politicians, diplomats, bureaucrats, military officers, and businessmen have been involved in falsification and manipulation of facts and records. There are the cynical, misguided and the profiteers and those bent on one-world government, all aided by extraordinary corruption. All the filth manages to be swept under the rug and this vermin lives on.

In facts and stores from another world. William Lynn was appointed to be Deputy Defense Secretary. He was the Pentagon comptroller who somehow lost $2 trillion in defense contractor funds.

Mark Patterson is Chief of Staff for Timothy Geithner and was a high level Goldman Sachs lobbyist.

Why is the fraud by Bernie Madoff any different from other frauds on Wall Street by Goldman Sachs, Lehman, JP Morgan, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Citigroup ad infinitum? With AIG, as we said in the last issue, half the government is involved.

The same government agencies such as the CFTC and the SEC are going to get more funding and power to better engage in corruption, arrange international market integration, asset controls, data collection and to put a worldwide stranglehold on your assets. They want to know what you own and where it is, so they can control everything you do financially.

The insolvency of the financial world has to be hidden as long as possible or until the Illuminists can start another major war. In the meantime the lemmings are flocking to US treasury and agencies in what they perceive as safety. The only safety is in gold and silver related assets. In stimulus little will reach the average household. The majority of funds will go to bailout the fraudsters in banking, insurance and Wall Street. This is no chicken in every pot.

Today’s zero interest rates punish savers and force people to speculate in such places as the stock market. The bulk of the stimulus is for further speculation. What else can you call bailing out companies in or on the edge of insolvency? We’ll let you in on a secret. Ten times more stimulus, $100 trillion, won’t fix our financial system. Can there be a recovery? Not a chance.

Layoffs and store and factory closings will go on indefinitely. Volume will fall in exchanges, as banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies and all matter of employers go out of business. The biggest companies are getting hit very hard exactly as we predicted.

Almost five years ago we forecast the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the fall in real estate. We followed that with recommending bailing out of the market at 14,000 and getting out of commercial real estate.

The next bomb to hit will be the pension bomb. Both the stock market and bond markets are headed much lower; 50% lower. That is bad news for pensions and insurance companies, as well as anyone invested in those markets. The only thing left that is safe are gold and silver assets.

The implosion will probably begin in state, local and private pension plans. Good portions of their assets are illiquid, perhaps 15% to 20% and there is no telling how long they will remain that way.

Last year funds lost about 30%, the worst year on record. Cities such as Vallejo, California has filed for bankruptcy, and CALPERS lost 35%. San Diego is on the edge of disaster as well.

America’s 500 largest companies have a deficit of $200 billion in their pension plans. We would guess that if our prediction of a 4,000 Dow becomes a reality that the deficit would rise to $400 to $500 billion. Those with defined-benefit pensions may soon find themselves choosing between making payroll or pumping money into their pension plans. You know what the companies will do – stop contributing. As usual government will let them off the hook. They may cut benefits by 50% to 75%, so get ready for it. It’s when government decides to cut back on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc., that the real revolution will get underway. We predicted all this eight years ago and it will soon come to pass.

Only 19% of corporate workers have pension plans. The retirement system of 2,600 public pension funds, federal retirement accounts and union-based defined benefit plans and union pensions are worth $4.5 trillion. They cover 27 million people or 30% of the $15 trillion held in retirement accounts. Many of the pensions were heavily into socially responsive investing, which has proven to be an expensive experience. The most aggressive has been CALPERS, which lost 35% last year. Others were AIG, Citigroup and Bank of America, all of which are bankrupt. Social issues should play no part in investment decisions, especially when it is someone else’s money you are losing. It is not the intention of retirement pools to become political footballs. Over a 20-year period public pension plans earned rates of return substantially below those of other professionally managed funds. This is a result of political pressure and outright payoffs. CALPERS sold all their tobacco stocks and following that tobacco stocks rose 250% versus S&P and 500% versus Nasdaq. Financial stocks were just right for pension and profit sharing funds. We do not have to tell you what a disaster they’ve been. The geniuses at CALPERS had 25% of its $20 billion in real estate assets in the California market that is still a long way from the bottom with no buyers in sight. What happens when there is a shortfall in pension assets is that taxes are raised. The pension bomb is on the way. Within two years the worst will begin to be realized.

Budgets for education are being slashed and there are lots of unhappy people out there. In Nevada, the governor proposed cutting higher education budgets by 36%. At UNLV, that means a cut of 52% and a tuition increase of 225%. This is happening all over the country and could lead to rioting as we saw in Paris in 1968 over educational issues.

States are looking at $300 billion worth of deficits this year and next, because the people running state and municipal governments are so incompetent. Twenty-six states have already either cut their budget for higher education; raised tuition fees or both. While costs skyrocket the increases still are going to administrative and support services. What a scam.

Fifty percent of high school students do not graduate. We have a nation where half our students are morons. We do not have vocational schools - so what do we do with them? Waste more money on them? At least 1/3rd of college students should not be in college, where only 45% graduate. We meet people who have graduated from college in the past 30 years and are simply out to lunch.

All you have to do is look at history to see the tried and true method of failure. In a credit collapse you issue massive amounts of money and credit. That is what America and the world is doing. We are in an inflationary spiral that cannot be stopped because if it is the entire system will collapse. When this hyperinflation is over deflation begins and that is when the political response will be the imposition of a full fascist government. Your currency will have fallen in value as well as other currencies. The only thing people will want will be gold and silver coins.

The pending bailouts will take up to 3 to 9 months to be felt and then they’ll have exhausted themselves physically and psychologically. That is when the next cycle of bailouts will come. All this money and credit will have little affect on your keeping your job and paying your mortgage. The only real change will be the US Treasury and the Fed to take over the government.

There is little difference between a Paulson or Geithner, it will be the same old thing. Both were in part responsible for the death of Glass-Steagall during the Clinton terms that prohibited banks and insurance companies and brokerage houses from engaging in nefarious Ponzi schemes, as they had in the 1930s. Just more of the same gang of elitists. These crooks that caused all these problems are still in command of the economy.

People will start to realize over the next six months how serious this depression is when they see ¾’s of malls empty and whole buildings in Manhattan without a tenant. The entire brokerage, insurance and banking industries are frozen and huge amounts of money will be lost taking down banks, insurance companies and private equity groups. This depression we are already in will be far worse than the 1930s.

In an economy where 72% of GDP is the engine of success that sector has to be catered too. As unemployment rises income stops and as house prices fall asset depreciation takes place. At the same time 10% inflation eats away at buying power. These are the people who need help, not Wall Street and the bankers. The stimulus of $850 billion should go to the public to spend and to pay down overdue bills. In fact a lot more than $850 billion is needed, probably 10 or 15 times that amount. This could get America back on its feet. The dollar would fall 40% or 50% against other currencies but so what. It is going to fall anyway with all the trillions of dollars being injected into the financial sector. In this process we could get rid of the Fed and the income tax.

California officials must immediately implement Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s order that state employees take two days off without pay each month, a judge has ruled. Starting next week, 238,000 state employees will be furloughed on the first and third Friday of each month. Even the DMV will be closed. This is a tribute to the incompetence of some state governments. California is in a dreadful mess that began in 1990.

Such an adjustment will have devastating financial consequences for some workers and on the economy as a whole. By June 30, 2010 the state will owe $42 billion.

Refunds to taxpayers and other payments will be suspended 2/1/09, because the state doesn’t have the money to pay them.

The furloughs will remain in place even if he and lawmakers reach a budget agreement that addresses the deficit. The equivalent of a 9-1/2% pay cut, the move will save the state about $1.3 billion through 6/20/10. Unemployment-insurance call centers, where the phones have been ringing off the hook, will get shut two Fridays each month. This has been coming for 18 years.

New York City says they will probably cut 23,000 jobs.

I maxed out all my credit cards bought a new car,filed bankruptcy and stopped using credit cards 15years ago. I got back all my interest...in my own way. and will never use credit cards again. Just the Pre paid ones.

Lately I feel that there should be a concerted effort on everyone in this country to go out and buy as much as possible, on credit, and when the bills start pouring in DO NOT PAY THEM. Finish off the banks so we can start all over again and maybe get it right.

It won't help many of us in the short run but why delay the inevitable, but atleast banking as we've known it won't exist any longer.

I find it amusing that those that do have credit cards get hit with usury rates and abusive debt recall practices and those of us that don't get barraged with endless proposals for credit (I got over 100 000€ in the last two years offered). Oh, and we get a small part of the profits as interest on our deposit.

This is the real evil thing about the modern banking system, it's not just that it's based on usury, it's that part of the population, the part that has real savings, gets paid part of the money the debt slaves owe the system, which effectively turns society in on itself and creates a stable platform from which the usury dealers, no need to name names, maintain their financial empires.

Sure, periodically we get hit with "depressions" and "bank runs" and lose some of it, but for the most part the ones that are screwed are the ones that took debt. I'm not one for interpreting biblical scripture to understand reality, but imo the metaphor of the number of the beast refers to any bank balance with a "-" in front of it. Think about it.

So please, folks, stop taking on debt, it's ruining the whole of society. It might take a couple more decades, but it's much better to save assets than to be lent them. We still have the problem of excessive taxation of course, but that is another thread...

reply to post by TypeSH2001

The credit card companys have also started raising customers rates if they have always shopped at higher end stores and have ventured into a walmart lately.

Originally posted by TypeSH2001
Lately I feel that there should be a concerted effort on everyone in this country to go out and buy as much as possible, on credit, and when the bills start pouring in DO NOT PAY THEM. Finish off the banks so we can start all over again and maybe get it right.

It won't help many of us in the short run but why delay the inevitable, but atleast banking as we've known it won't exist any longer.

I understand your anger and frustration. Understand though, that the bankers own this country. Unfortunately, you will end up the looser if you seriously do what you suggest. One of the last messages George Carlin left said it best:

www.youtube.com...

Deny ignorance.


[edit on 14-2-2009 by romanmel]

I've had a BoA card, for about 10 years and they did the same thing to me.

I called them up and told them I was going to close the account and transfer my balance to AMEX.

The turned right around and offered me my old rate (14%) again, and I told them to stick it. "After 10 years without missing a single payment, you do this to me without even a letter?"

So they lowered it to 10% to keep me.

DON"T TAKE THIS WITHOUT A FIGHT! Right now, these SOB's need you more than we need them. If you are able to pay your bills regularly, USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE.

I didn't think it was just a coincidence, that after the bank bailouts I started getting letters in the mail from all my credit card companies saying they were changing things...

So I decided it was time to do some changing of my own.

I felt in my heart that it's only right to pay back the money I borrowed on their terms as I did sign the agreement - regardless of how ridiculous their terms are. Since many were in the low to mid 20% APR range and I'd only been able to pay the minimum for a while now, I called all of them (around 8 or so) and attempted to negotiate a lower interest rate, as I'd just seen a news story on TV about how it can be done and how easy it is.

No luck.

Not a single credit card company would lower my APR...with the exception of ONE, which had just RAISED my APR the previous day. They graciously lowered it to 1/2 a percent higher than what it HAD been. YAY!

So then I decided to go to my company credit union and see about a personal loan for bill consolidation. I was able to borrow enough to pay off the bulk of my credit cards (around $5000 and those with the highest APRs) at 11%, paid over 3 years which is automatically withdrawn from my paycheck every two weeks. I then changed my withholding from 2 to 3 (on the advice of a popular financial adviser on AM radio & Good Morning America), which gives me more money each paycheck and that amount covered the amount of my loan payments.

Then I called and closed the accounts of the cards I'd paid off. And low and behold NOW they wanted to negotiate a new APR rather than lose my business completely! I told them no thanks, the APR still wasn't low enough.

I'm down to 5 credit cards now. 3 will be paid off this week when I receive my income tax refund. The last one will take a little longer, but it's manageable and due to the restructuring of my loans and credit cards my total monthly payments have gone down around $400 since this time last year. The last credit card had one of the lowest APRs and it I'm keeping for emergencies only. (ie. a plane ticket due to illness or death and that sort of thing.) If I ever have to use it, I'll do all that I can to pay it off the following month in full.

Lesson learned. Don't live beyond your means. Know the difference between want and need. Be content with what you have. Be thankful for what you're given.

[edit on 14-2-2009 by ReginaAdonnaAaron]

reply to post by ReginaAdonnaAaron


Great! You are on track! You will feel so much better when you are free of this debt. Oh that more would do it your way. God speed!

Originally posted by romanmel
reply to post by ReginaAdonnaAaron

 

Great! You are on track! You will feel so much better when you are free of this debt. Oh that more would do it your way. God speed!

Thank you! I already do feel much better...not only because I'm honoring my agreements, but because my life is becoming simpler. All debt does is cause worry and anxiety and this world is full enough of that as it is. I would encourage readers to do the same. Honor your agreements, even if you're angry. Two wrongs don't make a right. Just find a smart way to do it and in the end, you'll feel better about yourself and you'll have done the right thing. Let God handle the rest.

This type of garbage is exactly why I never get credit cards. I spend the money I have and **** credit! It's slavery plain and simple. Working that debt! No Thanks! I'd rather drive a crappy car then be another debt slave screwed over by pocket busting big bankers and employee lay offs.

No sympathy for OP, you played in the park of the devil and your getting burned.

This system works against working men and woman. Why would you use the system the way they want you too? Make your own, Save your money, spend your money.