It is ridiculous, and it is the new scam of "Semantics"!!!

Our politicians do it when they say they won't raise taxes (meaning "income" taxes), and then they add all types of new fees, and sales taxes, and property taxes, and estate taxes, etc.

The banks have been doing it for years under the guise of "fees"!

Example (this actually happened to me): My bank has a policy of covering checks that cause an overdraft up to a certain amount if you have a certain daily balance, and a good history. I checked my balance online and had $40. I deposited $60 cash (before 2 pm) and proceeded to spend about $90 (which was approved on my debit card) a little while later the same day (after 2 pm). My regular Direct Deposit paycheck went in that night for about $1000.

So, the next morning, I should have had $1010. But, I had $853?

Turns out, the off-site debit was processed before the cash deposit causing me to go overdraft, which they covered (for a fee)! Then, I had a negative balance overnight which caused a new fee! Because I had a negative balance, they transferred $100 from my credit card to the checking account (incurring 2 fees).

When the deposit was processed the next morning, the "loan" was repaid to the credit card (fee), and I was left with $150 worth of fees for loaning me $100 to cover $40, that I didn't need in the first place!!!

Now, you think 79.9% is bad, try 400% daily!! That is the net result of my transaction! That is 146,000% without compounding!!

Don't be surprised when you get a bill from Premier.

I have a very uncommon last name.

They sent me a bill with a similar sounding, but different first name.

I didn't pay it and they're still sending it.


For the record, I've never had their credit card.






[edit on 23/10/2009 by Desert Dawg]

they need the high rate of 79.9 percent.
Identity thieves love these out of state bank offers because they never have to go to the bank where the security cameras will have there photos.

If you ever have someone steal your identity and go to a bank and get a card in your name there is a bank security tape that can prove that you did not open the card account,
The banks are required to keep security tapes for a year or more.
and most stores keep security tapes for 6 months or more and can be used to prove used counterfeit cards

I've been hit with these bull# fees before from my bank. Couple of examples for you:

1) Deposited $2,700 check at lunch time. Later the same nite I wrote a $17 check for some food at a local eatery, small place locally owned, not a big franchise spot. I figured the withdrawl into my ledger, like you're suppose to. I done the usual, paid bills, gas, various expense etc. and kept track of everything, like you're suppose to. I go to the bank a few weeks later to make a withdrawl and they tell me that I have a negative balance in my account. I pull out my ledger and it shows that I should have $300+ in my account, so I ask what their computer shows my balance to be and the lady tells me -$278.
Major WTF!! moment right? Turns out, the $17 check I wrote was processed through my account before my $2,700 deposit and it bounced, which incurred a $35 bank fee PLUS a $25 Returned Check Fee from the business. To make matters worse, the $2,700 deposit didn't show up in my account for nearly two weeks after the date of deposit.
So in that two weeks of not having any money in my account, they attempted to process the $17 check 14 times, which incurred a $35 bank fee each time, totaling out at $490 in bank fees. After the last attempt to process the check, the restaraunt turned it over to a collection agency. The collection agency then contacted me and told me that I owed them $119 and threatened me with legal action, including jail time, fines, court cost, and administration fees to be added.
The bank never gave me a definitive answer on why the $2,700 deposit took 2 weeks to process and why theyscrewed me out of $490. I contacted the District Attorney's office about the situation and she told me that what they had done was within the law and there was nothing I could do. I closed the account and I have still never paid the collection agency.

She did give me an invaluable piece of advice when bill collectors contact you about delinquent accounts, so I'll pass it on because it has worked for me on numerous occasions.
When a collection agency contacts you about a bill that you owe, all you have to tell them is that you will not recognize any attempt to collect on the bill unless it is from the original creditor and that all communication regarding the matter should be ceased immediately.
By Law, that collection agency can no longer contact you in an attempt to collect for that past due bill. You are not legally bound to pay a 1st party debt by way of a 2nd party collector or their additional collection fees. Here's what I mean:
For this arguement, we'll say that you have lost your job and can not pay your bills.
- You owe Company A $100 for their service/product.
- Company A makes numerous attempts to get you to pay the debt. But you can't afford to.
- Company A then sells your $100 account to Bill Collector B for $25.
- Bill Collector B then adds their collection fees to the original balance of $100 which brings it up to $175.
- Bill Collector B then contacts you by mail and/or phone and informs you that they are making an attempt to collect a debt for Company A, but now you owe Bill Collector B $175 for the past due bill. (The same bill that THEY paid $25 for, remember? Of course they're not going to tell you that.)
- You tell them that you will not recognize any attempts to collect on the bill unless it's made from the original creditor.
- Bill Collector B can not contact you again for this particular bill, however, some of them will try to and may even try to bully you or threaten you into paying the bill. Maybe not so much anymore, but they used to be REAL bad about doing this.
- Bill Collector B will most likely sell your $175 account to Bill Collector C for $75.
- Bill Collector C will then add their collection fees to it, bring it up to $250 and then attempt to contact you, so the process starts over.
Once the debt has been sold two or three times with no success on collection, it is usually dropped.

Continued .....

However, sometimes the collection agency will report it on your credit report as a negative account. If that happens, you can dispute it with the credit companies and most times it will be removed.

2) I wrote a check for $400 to buy a camera while I was in college. When I got my bank statement I noticed that there was a $50 "ID Safety Fee" charge. I aske the bank about it and they told me that for large purchases by check, they charge the $50 fee in case an unauthorized person had written the check without my knowledge or consent. It didn't make any sense to me then and still doesn't now. BTW, this was the same bank from example 1.

Predatory lending for people that have no other options.... Unfortunately I would bet people that have ruined their credit will take on this offer in an effort to rebuild it.

On a side note aren't we all just ants feeding the banks our entire lives and get rewarded for our good behavior by having a good score just like in grade school?

Let me help you understand what is happening. Lots of people are failing on payments because of the economy, so banks are raising interests to cover their losses. The result is that even more people are defaulting on payments and now the banks end up with no liquidity. Capitalism is a bit like eating, if you do it too much too fast you end up throwing up and wasting all the food that you though was in your stomach. Soon the banks will need a 3.5 trillion bailout but you need to understand that the banks are quite helpless by now they are not benefiting from losing money. They have lost the money by lending it to people who couldn't pay it back and now there is simply no getting it back. If they lower interest rates now it's hyperinflation and if they don't the recession will be even more drastic than the last one. We have reached a cyclic runaway effect that will not regulate itself. The only way to stop the system from collapsing is by direct intervention of the government into the economy but the public opinion will not allow this because they think the government is some evil thing that is out there to get them. Obama is no Roosevelt and things will get harder before they can get better.

Mathematically, usury should be charging anything more than 0.00% interest.

Why?

Because if it's any value above zero, then the formula becomes an exponential equation. This presents a problem in the real world, because nothing in life or nature follows an exponential growth curve, except cancer.

If the banking industry loans the public its money and demands interest on it, the collective debt of the public will eventually exceed the public's ability to pay for it. The fact is inevitable, and unavoidable. The only question is how much time it will take. The higher the interest, the sooner the collapse will come.

The only way out of the situation is to pay off the debt, all of it, before it becomes too large to do so, then make the bankers go away. Or... charge zero interest.

Right now, the national debt is approximately $140,000 for a family of four. Most families could not write a check for this amount; neither do they earn enough money that they could pay it off in their lifetime with all the interest attached.

Something's got to give, and it can't be us.

These comments how just how terrible the current financial system is.

It's loan sharking made legal.

And it's disgusting usury and debt slavery.

This financial system is near the end of it's life cycle, it will end in total collapse.

This debt issue is like a chewing gum bubble that has grown to an unbelievable size, and we can all see it's in popping range, when it pops and covers the face of the entire financial system it's going to make huge mess.

The fed just keeps feeding more base material (bubble gum) but no matter how much gum you have eventually it must pop.

As one economic professor once said when this happens, it's going to be the worst economic time in modern history.