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Well, you can blame the credit card companies for raising rates on EVERYONE, regardless of if they have poor account history or not. They didn't have to do that. On the other hand, they are certainly getting their point across about the bill. You know how they say, "Vote with your wallet?" Well the credit card companies are doing just that, only with all of YOUR wallets! Haha.
It's a wonderful tactic and hopefully it will work to get people to pull their heads out and repeal that dumb law.
To the guy who's rates got jacked: Call them and tell them to lower your rate or you'll stop spending money with them. I just checked my Chase card... it was 7.24% on the November invoice, now it's 13.24%. I am on the phone now... Well, that was interesting. They won't change it back down. However, they said that since I pay the card off, I shouldn't be incurring any interest penalties. I am going to have to go back and look at my statement more closely to see if that's true.
To those people winging about the CARD act, I'd be interested to know what particular provisions of that bill you don't like. When it went through congress I looked at the highlights of it, and everything seems to be actually in favor of you and I. The credit card companies are now having to be up front about the raep you get from having a revolving balance, instead of hiding it in fees and other sneaky small print.
Also, it passed with 90 votes in the senate, so don't act like the GOP isn't in cahoots here, either. As a libertarian I am getting tired of these republicans acting like they're the party of small government.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoosier
How about the part where in response to this bill, the credit card companies just arbitrarily raised their rates on EVERYONE (including you)?
I'd rather see the fees and penalties up front rather than in the small print and "gotchas" if you don't check your bill carefully. Also, I don't fault the law increasing my rates, I fault the banks who raised them. It's like people blaming guns for violence. The bill didn't stipulate that the rates be raised. It stipulated that they stop "cheating". In order to not-cheat and keep making the insane profit they're use to, they have to show how expensive revolving credit really is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sturtle
They seem to believe their profits are sacrosanct and that they can blame the fact that they're required to be honest as the reason why. I have stock in JPM and still don't think that increasing their rates is going to be beneficial to them in the long run. If they were smart, they would have left rates the same, taken the short term loss and the long term gain (of people switching away from the banks that did raise their rates).
I'm tired of knowing that every legal agreement, terms and conditions, and "Notice of Policy Change" I get is these lawyers finding new ways to screw me. Sorry, I'm not going to shed any tears for these banks "having" to raise their rates because of the big scary government.
H.
Interesting to note according to you that those of us (me) with an opinion different than yours are whining. But, of course, you stating your opinion isn't whining. Thanks for clarifying that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoosier
So, in my opinion, to those people whining about those of us whining about the CARD Act, you completely missed the point. My point was, the government told them, through the CARD Act, their business practices were going to be changing dramatically in 2010. And the credit card companies don't have to do jack, in terms of the CARD Act until 2010. So, big surprise, they beat the gov to the punch. Do I like it, necessarily? No. Do I understand it? Yes. This is what happens when we have incompetent representation in government...republican or democrat or libertarian. The government morons like Dodd and Udall are just smart enough to fuck things up for the rest of us.
If we truly had a free market in place, consumers wouldn't have to worry about this kind of nonsense as the market would sort it out.
Now, I'm not defending the credit card companies. I'm saying they're doing exactly what they're allowed to do by law. And I'm not saying the democrats are totally to blame. I think the democrats must take the bulk of the blame, though. Yes, it passed with strong bipartisan support. But it got the republican support from the CCW in nat'l parks amendment. As a libertarian, you can be proud that no libertarian senators voted for it...I guess.
And, since you brought it up, what has the libertarian party done for anyone lately, in terms of legislation on a national or state level? Being a libertarian just doesn't mean a whole lot to me. Frankly, I like a few aspects of the libertarian platform...mostly their stance on free markets and private property.
I also find it interesting that you're complaining about credit card companies raising interest rates while at the same time you mention you're a libertarian. From the Libertarian Party website and straight out of their Statement of Principles: We oppose all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates.
Simple enough,, Get rid of the CC's,, Then You don't have to worry about the intrest rates.. I haven't had any in at least 10 years... [Tooth]
I have a few credit cards. Some went from 6.9% interest or in that range to, in one case, 29.99%! So, I've been affected by this fiasco just like most others.
I seriously doubt, had this legislation not been on the horizon, my interest rates would have changed, or changed that drastically.
Luckily, I don't carry balances of any significance and almost always pay everything completely long before the payment is due. In the last 5 years, I've paid $2.54 in interest. That was last month when I quickly looked at my statement, saw "No Payment Due", and didn't send a payment. I had forgotten about a small charge that was made by me just prior to the statement closing date. It carried over for a few days and I had to pay the interest. Pissed me off. But it was my fault for not looking closer. I use my AmEx when I can...because I HAVE to pay it completely every month.
Everybody wines, especially me. What other fun are internet forums?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey Guns
I agree a free market would offer better solutions, I think the interests that are stopping it are current large companies using government to intervene on their behalf.
As for Libertarian senators, are there even any? I'm a libertarian with a little 'l'. Not a member of the Libertarian party. Some of their ideas are pretty good. Others are just retarded.
As for CARD, I think there are much better ways that the problems with the credit card industry could have been solved, and I have no doubt they have teams of crack lawyers trying to figure out all the work arounds at this very moment.
W/R/T CCW in parks, I like that law (Or rather, would have preferred the offending law was repealed, but since they don't work like that...). But I still hate the idea of riders. Being able to tack one bill into another like that is disingenuous. However being disingenuous is probably a compliment in Washington circles.
Companies where the best you can say about them is "They're operating within the law" are the kind that should be dying off in a competitive market. At some point the money just takes over, and they do anything for a dime.
Then it seems we agree on most major points. [Beer]
I agree, F credit cards, they're totally unneccessary. I have a debit card, and I dont' buy anything that I can't afford to pay for in full.