Don't want to leave off at #13
Hey -- these Credit Card Companies need to 'make money' too
Oh Gossshh
When we bought the house the lady at the bank told us our credit score and both of us were really surprized it was 'That LOW' - which sounded LOW to us -- when the Best Score was like 850.
It's funny because the lady at the bank thought it was great but both of us wanted to get it higher ... and couldn't imgaine why it wasn't.
Soooo she told us if we had 'Credit Cards we weren't using' to get rid of them and close them out. That's the only thing I could think of that stood out.
Well we got it to 832 -- and I'll just have to settle for that. To get 850 you probably need 'The Black Card' with unlimited balance.
BTW - I don't sign my cards -- but ask for verification
Don't want to leave off at #13
Hey -- these Credit Card Companies need to 'make money' too
The stealth Annual Fee addition, if you get one, would be a problem. Then it's time to call up and complain. I'll take on that issue if it happens, I hope not.
"All the prophets of Doom, Can always find room, In a world full of worry and fear..." - Protest Song, Monty Python
FICO score plays to much of an importance in this world. More than it should. FICO score represents two things to me. One being how well i pay debt, and two that i like being in debt. I'd rather have a bad credit score and be a SLAVE to nobody, than have a good one and be a slave to anybody. I'll pay cash thanks.
BTW just a funny story. I went to the store the other day to finish up christmas shopping. I handed the woman cash for my purchase and without thinking she asked "is it credit or debit." After a few seconds we both chuckled.
"Live like nobody else, so later you can live like nobody else." -Dave Ramsey
SilverBird,
Remember that we are talking about someone with a balance. I don't know how big - but, any balance is big when we are talking about huge interest rate hikes. In that case, it is better to take a rather small and temporary hit to the ole' FICO score by closing the card. She should also ensure that it is SHE that closes the card - do not allow the card company to claim they closed it...
Lookin' up at the 'G Fund'!!!
I'm dropping a check in the mail tomorrow to pay off another one of my cards.
I watched this tonight. Anybody else seen it?
Please forgive me if this is a repost.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...tm_source=grid
FRONTLINE - The Card Game
As credit card companies face rising public anger, new regulation from Washington and staggering new rates of default and bankruptcy, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates the future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy.
In The Card Game, a follow-up to the Secret History of the Credit Card and a joint project with The New York Times, Bergman and the Times talk to industry insiders, lobbyists, politicians and consumer advocates as they square off over attempts to reform the way the industry has done business for decades.
"The card issuers could do anything they want," Robert McKinley, CEO of CardWeb.com, tells FRONTLINE of the industry's unchecked power over consumers. "They could change your interest rate. They could impose an annual fee. They could close your account." High interest rates along with more and more penalty fees drove up profits for the industry, Bergman finds, as the banks followed the lead of an aggressive upstart: Providian Bank. In an exclusive interview with FRONTLINE, former Providian CEO Shailesh Mehta tells Bergman how his company successfully targeted vulnerable low-income customers whom Providian called "the unbanked."
"They're lower-income people-bad credits, bankrupts, young credits, no credits," Mehta says. Providian also innovated by offering "free" credit cards that carried heavy hidden fees. "I used to use the word 'penalty pricing' or 'stealth pricing,'" Mehta tells FRONTLINE. "When people make the buying decision, they don't look at the penalty fees because they never believe they'll be late. They never believe they'll be over limit, right? ... Our business took off. ... We were making a billion dollars a year."
It took the economic collapse in the fall of 2008 to set the stage for potentially historic change in the consumer credit business. President Obama and his team pushed through a credit card reform bill in May, and they're now looking to establish a new Consumer Finance Protection Agency. But the banking and financial services industries contribute huge amounts of money to Congress -- and the jury is still out on whether the new regulations can pass. "It's a step in the right direction, but it's a modest step," says Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren. "It's a set of very discrete new laws. And the credit industry instantly set to work on how they could run around them. By itself, that set of rules won't change the game."
"It's hard for them to get a bill through the U.S. Senate when the industry is pouring money into Washington," says Martin Eakes of the Center for Responsible Lending of the banks' political clout. "As Sen. [Dick] Durbin from Chicago recently said, 'the banks, even as unpopular as they are right now in this crisis, still own this place.'"
New Credit Card with an interest rate of
79.9% APR.
Yes, that's rightl 79.9% APR.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Credit....html?x=0&.v=4
What is the worst thing about a credit card with an APR of 79.9% ?
THERE IS A MARKET FOR THAT--THAT'S WHAT. THERE WILL BE PEOPLE WHO USE IT.
Years ago there was a limit on the intrest rates that Banks, Credit Unions, Title Pawn SHARKS could charge!! What happend to that?// Who changed the law to allow this crap? mad.gif
The Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that the Arkansas Check-Cashers Act, a payday lending law, is unconstitutional. Interestingly, the Act was found by the Court to be unconstitutional in its entirety. This was a tremendous victory for consumers in Arkansas and hopefully was a fatal blow to the payday loan sharks who prey on folks in that state.
Absolutely Amazing...
The previous offer (pre big-gubmint regulation) was equally amazing. Imagine even wanting a card with a $300 limit. Then accepting that you pay a larger startup fee than the limit to get one. However, at least you then got a smallish card with a 9.9% rate. Now, with the help of the US Gubmint you get the honor of paying $75 for the $300 limit card and paying at an almost 80% rate. That is an improvement
If my credit was this crappy I would be living like a college freshman. Been there, done that.
Lookin' up at the 'G Fund'!!!
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