Say Good Bye Wall Street and Hello to Main Street
At some point in the spring Congress passed The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act also known appropriately as CARD. It was supposed to outlaw arbitrary increases in interest rates, fees or finance charges. How did it work… it didn’t! Why? Because for some reason the bill was written in such a way that it really wasn’t going to go into effect until February of 2010! What does that mean? It means this, if you get a letter from your credit card company open it with one hand over the seat of your pants because chances are they are about to put a hurting on you, in some cases to the tune of a 30 percent interest rate!
I can remember some of the financial gurus talking about how to get out of debt ten to fifteen years ago. They would always say pay extra on your credit cards; never make the minimum payment because with interest rates at 15 – 19 percent you’ll never get caught up. Now some of those folks are paying upwards of 25 to 30 percent, which begs the question, what do you do now? Times are tough at the moment people have to watch every last cent, which means occasionally they may be late with a payment, ad when they are that’s when our fine credit companies attack.
But here’s the best part, as they’re kicking you while you’re down they’re doing it with the money you lent them! Citibank, Bank of America, Capital One, HSBC, Chase, American Express and Discover (just to name a few – and the biggest offenders), the same people that could potentially raise your interest rates to 30 percent are the very same folks that took bailout money to stay afloat. So there’s your system at it’s absolute finest. This is no different then asking your neighbor for a cup of sugar then throwing that sugar in your neighbors face. So where’s the outrage? Where are the villagers with the torches and pitchforks looking to tie some big bonus monkey to the stake? And we live in an age where it’s so incredibly easy to contact your elected officials, not enough of you are doing it. Don’t wait until it affects you – just recognize it’s wrong and write your letter.
So back in May Congress passed the CARD bill stating in on February 22, 2010 credit card companies can no longer arbitrarily raise rates and tack on fees. That effectively gave the bailout boys 9 months to scramble so they could serve up another financial bomb to the already struggling consumer. I do think the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act is a nifty piece of legislation but I have to ask who on earth is profiting from it. I say this because the bill gave the creditors 9 months! They went from creditors to a cartel hell bent on making as much money as they can before the lights go up for last call. Now Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd announces plans to introduce a bill that would immediately freeze credit card interest rates on existing balances. Which begs me to ask – WHY DIDN”T THEY DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
This is a mantra of mine – if something seems wrong, if something doesn’t make sense, follow the money trail. Now this bill passed very easily with eighty-two percent of the house giving it the nod. But if everyone was so happy about it why didn’t they put a 30 or 60 day squeeze on the creditors right out of the gate. Why would you give them 9 months to club consumers over the head with a financial hammer? When the bills only opposition was the American Bankers Association what did the House think was going to happen? Did the House believe that team bailout wouldn’t scramble in the pocket and come up with a way to make as much as possible as fast as possible? Of course not – these people are complete idiots so I ask you… are you willing to follow the money trail because something doesn’t add up here?
But there is a solution you can go back to the days of when George Bailey ran the Saving and Loan. That bank wasn’t on Wall Street it was on Main Street. If your bank has abused you then take your money out and find a good Credit Union. I’ve been with a credit Union (Members 1st Credit Union) now for 10 years and I can’t imagine banking any other way. When no bank would look at me, a credit union took me in and helped me rebuild my credit. I have my credit card through them and in the all the years I’ve had I don’t think they raised the interest rate once and there was a time or two that I was late. Now I also had a Chase Card, I was never late paying my Chase Card, they rewarded me by doubling my interest rate! What the hell is up with that?
