Same Old, Same Old

[rolanni]

Is it just me or are the credit card companies double-dipping? I mean, here they get all this "bailout" money, which is supposed to, well, bail them out of the consequences of their actions. Then! Bailout money in one hand, they turn around and raise interest rates on accounts that are being paid on time and always a little (sometimes a lot) more than the minimum. Because... because... ah... because -- oh, yeah!

Because they can.

*sigh*

So, I wrote letters to my congresscritters and to the president, too, because I could, and a fat lot of good it will all do me. Except that my feelings are, somewhat, relieved.


Only a little bit of new wordage today; I spent my writing time going through the last two chapters and fine-tuning.

SRM meeting on the agenda tonight, and maybe a house meeting, too. Summer's coming, and that means my schedule goes from 35 hours a week at the day-job to 15. Which is nice in all ways except for the paying-the-bills aspect of things.


Progress on Mouse and Dragon

52896 / 120000

He sipped, and lowered his glass. "I need your advice, Thodelm."

Golden brows rose slightly. "Shall I be alarmed?"

"You may well become so; who am I to know?"

Comments

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

According to my tame economist (aka my husband) there are no rules to determine how much or how little credit card companies can charge. Thus when interest rates according to the Bank of England are 0.5% my credit card can still charge me 13.5%. It is a snare and a delusion, aka money for old rope for the banks. At the moment (at least here in the UK) one is better off paying-off credit cards than putting money into a savings account. Which is nuts!

/end rant

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be interesting if the banks were required to pay you back any overpayment at the same rate that they charge you for extending credit? Suddenly we would see people happily paying their bills ahead of time, even putting extra money into their "credit" account to get the payoff. And I'll bet the banks would insist on tying that rate to the loan rates...

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Actually, one of mine does almost that. Egg Money pay me interest at 4% on positive balance (of which I get about 80%, or nett 3.2%, because the revenoo take tax on it), they charge about 13% on negative balance. This means that they actually pay me more interest than any of the savings accounts I have! Oh, and they pay me 1% "cashback" on every purchase with it (credited once a year; I got around 15 pounds back last month). So I keep it in credit and am thinking of transferring some of my savings onto it to get more interest...

[keristor.livejournal.com]

It has always been the case that you are better off paying credit card debts -- in fact most bank loans as well -- than putting the money into savings accounts. By the nature of banks, that they have to make a profit, they pay less interest on savings than they charge on loans. I believe that was also the case before banks (pawn shops and the like).

The difference now is that it is very obvious. When the difference was between 13% on credit and 10% in savings there wasn't much incentive, but now that most savings have dropped below 1% (i.e. virtually nothing in return unless you have very large amounts invested) it is very beneficial to clear credit card and other loans as fast as possible instead of saving.

Exceptions...

[jane-barfly.livejournal.com]

But it does pay to have an emergency fund ~$1000 - $1500, so that one does not go deeper into debt to the credit cards when small to medium emergencies pop up. (X-rays, replaced tires, dead refrigerators, broken window, but not all at once.)

[(Anonymous)]

Nothing to do with credit card companies (I'm down to using a debit card and that's all-hooray!) BUT today at B&N they finally had a copy of Longeye! Yea hooray!

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Amazon UK have told me that they have a shipping date, it should be with me between 22nd and 24th of this month. But given Amazon's 'interesting' ideas of time it wouldn't surprise me to get it next week...

Beware the fine print...

[(Anonymous)]

I once worked in the Banking Industry. Those within the Banking Industry have a name for people like me and my spouse: they call us "deadbeats". And it's not because we don't have credit cards. We do. Banks make much of their profit from those who only pay a portion of their bill because what isn't paid is what they can charge you interest on -- with no legal restrictions on high they decide to make it. If one pays anything less than the full amount due due each month, it's a sure-fire recipe for debt. Which they want: they _want_ you to pay only the minimum due!

Banks can't make the profit from us that they can from others because we are never charged interest. We're "deadbeats" because we _always_ pay our bills in full and on time even when it may be unexpectedly higher than normal. Every single month. So there is never any unpaid amount they can charge us interest on!

Eta

Re: Beware the fine print...

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

> We're "deadbeats" because we _always_ pay our bills in full and on time even when it may be unexpectedly higher than normal. Every single month. So there is never any unpaid amount they can charge us interest on!

...which is why some companies have been known to hold on to your check for a few days, so they can deposit it late and charge you the fee.

http://www.pirg.org/consumer/credit/creditcards1nov.htm

I've got no time in my life to mess with those clowns. We're another family on the debit card/cash wagon. I've traveled in Europe, rented cars and hotel rooms, and bought expensive items online with a debit card.

~ R

Re: Beware the fine print...

[(Anonymous)]

Virtually all financial transactions are by credit card except the drafts to the bank covering the credit card bills as they come due. It's been years since any company "held" one of our checks for any reason. We issue so few.

What can't be paid by credit card, we'll typically use cash. It now pay via cash. Even the last chapbook from SRM.

Re: Beware the fine print...

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

No, it was the CREDIT CARD companies holding the payments - First USA, in particular.

http://securities.stanford.edu/1013/ONE99/complaint022500.htm

Cash is good.

edit: to add another, more interesting link - the prepared statement (PDF file) of Dr. Robert Manning, before the Hearing on “The Role of FCRA in the Credit Granting Process”.

http://www.creditcardnation.com/pdfs/061203rm.pdf

Re: Beware the fine print...

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I pay via online banking, not by cheque, so if any of them tried to do that (more than the 4 working days the law allows for the transfer) I have proof of the transfer. My bank will have evidence that they transferred the money, so it will be very clear who is at fault.

And indeed, when I have had problems with credit card companies saying that a payment was 'late' I have done just that, provided them with evidence, and they have backed down because they know that they would not only lose in court but would also have to pay court costs (and possibly a punitive fine if the court thought that it was deliberate).

I pay almost nothing by cheque these days, I dislike the uncertainty of when it might be cashed (or even 'if' in some cases), and certainly don't send them through the mail. Almost all of my bill payments are straight from my bank account to theirs so it is traceable and predictable (these days most of them even go through on the same day; a few still take a couple of days because they have old systems).

Re: Beware the fine print...

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

I agree. I pay most bills online, directly through my bank account. I have the mortgage automatically drafted, and initiate the utility payments myself.

As you said, the bank will send as many of those payments electronically as it can. Several times I've set up the payment with the company's mailing address, which was all I had, and the bank would come back a month or two later with a message saying they were switching to the company's electronic delivery address. They either had it on file already, or were able to find it.