'Fee-harvesting' credit cards target cash-poor consumers

'Fee-harvesting' credit cards target cash-poor consumers

cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com

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(visit the link for the full news article)



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[edit on 3/27/0808 by jackinthebox]

If this isn't a conspiracy to prey on the lower and middle classes I don't know what is. No wonder this country is going down the tubes, while the elites seize record profits.

cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 3/27/0808 by jackinthebox]

On a personal note, I had to bankrupt tens of thaousands of dollars in credit card debt, long after the principal had been paid.

They charge fee's because the people they are targeting are a huge credit risk thus have to pay fee's to obtain credit. Its a way for the bank to protect themselves. Banks are in the business of making money, not lending it out on good will. Interest rates are ridiculous on credit cards because they are unsecured debts.

On a side note what does your filing BK have to do with this thread? Did the bank make you charge the credit cards up?



[edit on 27-3-2008 by BluByWho]

[edit on 27-3-2008 by BluByWho]

reply to post by BluByWho

They charge fee's because the people they are targeting are a huge credit risk thus have to pay fee's to obtain credit.

They are knowingly targeting people whom they are fully aware do not have the means. Would you loan money to someone you knew could not pay you back?

Did the bank make you charge the credit cards up?

Yes.

They are knowingly targeting people whom they are fully aware do not have the means. Would you loan money to someone you knew could not pay you back?

How high do you think the limits these people are getting are? Probably $200, a drop in the proverbial bucket, in the off chance they score some customers who might build credit and become more credit worthy in the future, not much of a risk, with a great potential for future reward.

Yes.

Hahahaha and I bet they signed your name for you too, right? Your not the victim. That isnt a topic for this thread though.

reply to post by BluByWho

...the people they are targeting are a huge credit risk thus have to pay fee's to obtain credit.

...not much of a risk, with a great potential for future reward.

Do I really need to elaborate on the contradiction?

So they were too stupid to read what they were agreeing to pay.

I don't see the conspiracy. These people were idiots and got themselves into debt due to their refusal to read what they were signing.

"Hey, free money!"
Well, sweetheart, you're agreeing to certain obligations in return for temporary use of someone else's money. If you don't bother to read the contract, then expect a surprise.

Meanwhile, those of us who actually do research and actually read something before signing it will be fine.



As a side note, anyone else wonder why the hell she's using a credit card to pay for college instead of a student loan?

[edit on 27-3-2008 by Johnmike]

reply to post by Johnmike

As a side note, anyone else wonder why the hell she's using a credit card to pay for college instead of a student loan?

Porbably because she got suckered in by some smooth-talking bank worker who had a table set up on campus. You know, the ones who tell an innocent girl not to bother reading what she is signing, or that there are far better resources available.

reply to post by jackinthebox


In other words, because she and her mother were both too stupid to spend the time doing research?

I find it hard to believe that if she spent five minutes asking the college itself questions, if she spent five minutes asking her high school questions, or if she spent five minutes researching on her own, she would have known not to use a credit card for that. And maybe she would have gotten the hint that maybe -- just maybe -- you should read something before signing it.

I have zero sympathy for people who dig holes for themselves because of their willful ignorance. I'm not fan of banks, but come on.

[edit on 27-3-2008 by Johnmike]

reply to post by Johnmike

I have zero sympathy for people who dig holes for themselves because of their willful ignorance. I'm not fan of banks, but come on.

Ever been talked into buying something you didn't really need? Ever buy something somewhere when you thought you might be able to get it somewhere else cheaper, but didn't want to risk coming back and it not being there?

I did sales for many years and sold a lot of people a lot of junk they never needed. I was a predator without scruples. A mark like that cute little gullible girl would have been taken to the cleaners.

I remember when Star Wars Episode One was coming out on tape. I sold 155 copies in one week before they actually came out. And I had sold the pre-orders at double the release price. In another store in one week, I sold 375 gallons of ice cream in the middle of Winter! To put that in comparison the runners up sold 62 and 95 respectively.



[edit on 3/27/0808 by jackinthebox]

Do I really need to elaborate on the contradiction?

Yes actually you do since you have taken bits of two seperate sentences and twisted them to suit your arguement.

Credit wise they are considered a huge risk, a couple hundred dollars to a major or minor bank is not a huge risk, now compund that by the thousands and it becomes a larger risk. If these people want credit they have to pay extra for it, thats how the bank offsets the potential risk due to their low creditworthiness.

Seems to me like someone just harbors some ill feelings towards the bank due to some past experiences mentioned above. Trying to make something out of nothing to prove what point? Banks charge fee's on credit cards? Then don't use em'.

[edit on 28-3-2008 by BluByWho]

[edit on 28-3-2008 by BluByWho]

Credit scores are the biggest form of discrimination out there. If you don't have it, it's near impossible to get it which means your going to pay more for anything that your name is attached to.


The system is set up to make the rich, richer and the poor, broke. If you appear to not be able to afford it you get charged the highest intrest rate.

Banks are a joke! The whole freaking system is a joke.

Originally posted by ATruGod
Banks are a joke! The whole freaking system is a joke.

Right you are, such a joke that they allow your family and others to finance a house, or vehicles, or that big screen they dont have the cash for but have to have. They allow people to buy things that wouldnt normally be affordable, its up to the individual on what to buy, how much to charge, and to determine if it is affordable for them. But, when the individual overextends themself all of a sudden it become the banks fault for their lack in judgement or failure to read in full the cardmember agreement before making the charges.

When you borrow money from someone else you pay it back on their terms, the terms you sign your name and agree to, it starts and it stops there its a pretty simple contract.

[edit on 28-3-2008 by BluByWho]

reply to post by BluByWho

They allow people to buy things that wouldnt normally be affordable...

Wrong, they are the ones who have made it so that even the necessities of life have become unaffordable to millions of Americans. My grandfather, who was by no means a wealthy man, paid for his house in cash not long after WWII. Where in America today can the average worker buy an average house without the need to finance it?

Now today, we see people putting their groceries and the heat bill on a credit card hoping and praying that something will change so that they will eventually be able to pay off the mounting debt against them.

Originally posted by jackinthebox
Ever been talked into buying something you didn't really need? Ever buy something somewhere when you thought you might be able to get it somewhere else cheaper, but didn't want to risk coming back and it not being there?

No.

I haven't. I almost always do research on products before I buy them, either by shopping around or using the internet. Almost exclusively using the internet now.

reply to post by jackinthebox


I agree with your whole banks need some moral backbone and to stop screwing the poor, especially after this morgage crisis, however that screwed them too, so maybe they learned. But comparing this to the disproportionate increase in cost of living to the rises in wages, that allowed your grandfather to buy a house in cash and you not to, has nothing to do with this? The banks aren't setting the prices of food, or houses.

reply to post by Johnmike

I haven't. I almost always do research on products before I buy them, either by shopping around or using the internet. Almost exclusively using the internet now.

I find it hard to believe that never once in your life you made an unsound financial decision, or irrational purchase.

Furthermore, you must not have children, who need to have the latest holiday gift.

Lastly, even if that is true, do you suppose that just because everyone is not as perfect as you that they should live the rest of their life as a slave?

reply to post by Tenebrous

...however that screwed them too, so maybe they learned.

You are failing to see the larger picture. Just because one smaller bank fails does not mean that the bigger fish have not reaped enormous profits as a result.

The banks aren't setting the prices of food, or houses.

The Federal Reserve Bank ultimately dictates every aspect of our national economy, without any consideration for the people of this country.

Originally posted by jackinthebox
I find it hard to believe that never once in your life you made an unsound financial decision, or irrational purchase.

Maybe a bad purchase, but nothing impulsive.

Originally posted by jackinthebox
Furthermore, you must not have children, who need to have the latest holiday gift.

That's where the cornerstone of good parenting comes in:

"No."

Not that that has anything to do with something huge like paying for college.

Originally posted by jackinthebox
Lastly, even if that is true, do you suppose that just because everyone is not as perfect as you that they should live the rest of their life as a slave?

It has nothing to do with perfection. Banks charge these huge fees because by extending credit, the temporary use of their money, to these people who have shown financial irresponsibility, they're taking a huge risk. They're going to lose a certain percentage of the money they give out because people don't pay them back.
So a bank has two options:

1) Completely refuse credit to people without a good credit score, potentially killing their chances of recovering their credit in the process.

or

2) Charge fees or a higher interest rate for people who are a higher risk and are less likely to return the money they promised to pay back.