Yes, but you could also be living in a very nice 4,000 sq.ft. home as a subprimer. Don't worry about that mortgage payment - Obama to the rescue.
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Yes, but you could also be living in a very nice 4,000 sq.ft. home as a subprimer. Don't worry about that mortgage payment - Obama to the rescue.
Will 'The One' help me if I live in a condo, own a CIVIC, am paying down my credit debt, and still have a job?
Or, will he tax me? :p
Taxing me will help my family, my charities, my city, and my state so much…
Living middle class in shamblin' California puts me in a tax bracket substantially below the $250,000 limit - but, as with everything stated during "The One's" campaign, all promises come with an expiration date:cheesy:
Anyway, President Obama, bite that lower lip and tell me I've got to dig deep to fund the 'Big Dig' in Boston. I will accidentally commit more assets to my 401(k) account. In spite:)
Two things you HAVE to read:
1. http://www.creditfyi.com/Creditpedia...egislation.htm
"In 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First Omaha Service Corp. The court found that the National Banking Act of 1864 allowed a bank to charge its credit card customers the highest interest rate permitted in the bank's home state, regardless of where customers lived.1 In other words, "lex loci," or local law, ruled.
Credit card lenders began moving their base of operations to those states, notably Delaware and South Dakota; in South Dakota, where plans were already afoot to eliminate usury laws to stimulate the local economy, the governor welcomed these moves because they provided thousands of jobs.2 Not wanting to lose tax revenue, individual states began lowering their own usury rates in a bid to keep lending institutions from leaving. Ultimately, the entire market became deregulated in this fashion."
and
2. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...more/rise.html
An excerpt:
"In recent years, however, the credit card industry has found -- and aggressively exploited -- yet another rich vein of profits: penalty fees.As with interest rates, an obscure ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, this one in 1996, cleared the way for higher fees.
Duncan A. MacDonald, a former general counsel of Citibank's credit card division, spearheaded the case. "We were working this thing here for a good cause, free-market pricing,'' he said in an interview. "The late fees that were common across the industry, up until [the Supreme Court ruling], were in the $5 and the $10 range. And the economic thinking was that there had to be flexibility to allow up to $15.'' Instead, Mr. MacDonald said, the decision "took the lid off,'' as fees quickly shot up from $15 to $29 to as high as $39.
"I certainly didn't imagine that someday we might've ended up creating Frankenstein,'' he said.
"It's been very dramatic,'' said Robert B. McKinley, founder and chairman of CardWeb and Ram Research, a payment card research firm. "A lot of banks didn't even charge an overlimit fee at that time."
Last year, penalty fees alone generated $12 billion in revenue. "
Read the whole thing of both those articles for a good perspective on how we ended up here.
I know some one who had paid, with credit card before!
Consumer Debt down!!! Isn't that surprising since the banks have raised rates, fees, and lowered limits??? Maybe consumers are smarter than they think.
"Consumers shed credit debt like crazy
The Federal Reserve says outstanding credit debt fell by the largest amount ever in November. The biggest declines were in credit cards.
Posted by Charley Blaine on Friday, January 8, 2010 6:04 PM
Consumer credit outstanding fell a greater-than-expected $17.5 billion in November from October, the Federal Reserve reported today.
That was larger than the analyst estimate of $5 billion and follows a revised $4.2 billion decline in October. "
Hello Fellow TSP'rs, Called my credit card company today re decrease in interest rates. Suggest calling customer service number but ask for "account retention specialist" . They are higher up the food chain and generally have more authority to make the requested changes (decreases). Was first offered 7.99% for 6 months, then 5.99% for six months, and then 0% for 12 months. The specialist wouldn't or couldn't offer any fixed rate options but suggested taking the short-term low rate and calling back in a few months. As always, you may have better luck with companies you have a long-term relationship with. There seems to be more competition and better interest rates to be had.