primitive wants to stiff failing bank

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4010689

Oh my.

redstate_democrat  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 02:31 AM
Original message

I have a credit card with WaMu, can I still use it?
   
It has a zero balance, but ya never know. It's one of my emergency cards. If Wamu files bankruptcy, what happens to it?

samuraiguppy  Donating Member  (586 posts) Tue Sep-16-08 02:38 AM
Response to Original message

1. absolutely.
   
If WaMu goes under another bank will "buy" their credit accounts.

I am a member of a board that specializes in credit related stuff (www.creditboards.com ) and they think that Chase will take over these accounts. That would be a big step up for most of the people. Chase has their problems but still treats customers better than WaMu.

Uh, I don't think that's the answer the original primitive wants; I think the answer the original primitive wants is, "Yes, go ahead and max out the credit card, and you'll never have to pay because the bank's dead."

Have2Win  (8 posts) Tue Sep-16-08 02:58 AM
Response to Original message

3. credit card debt
   
sure you can use it. what is the worse that can happen?

1) WaMu goes under, bought out by another bank
2) You don't pay for 60-90 days and they will make a deal with you for less than 40% of the total debt
3) get all you credit cards and unsecured debt.. get into a debt settlement program..pay off all your debt for 40-60% of what you owe.

This is closer, but I still don't think this is the answer the original primitive wants.

mwooldri  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 03:25 AM
Response to Original message

4. Depends.
   
If there's zero balance on it and WaMu goes belly-up and then you want to use it ... it's a crapshoot. Your best earlier example is NextCard... they (NextBank) failed in February 2002 but the cards were still active... but come June the FDIC shut everything down, made a deal with Merrick Bank to buy a good number of their cards, and some other banks offered a straightforward new account with a simple balance transfer offer. Merrick Bank is a bank that deals with high-risk credit so my guess was that people were able to get new accounts with them, albeit at not as favourable terms as they were with NextCard.

If WaMu is really bleeding red ink then the credit card shutdown may happen sooner rather than later, possibly even same day as the BK annoucement. It might be viewed that if you have a dormant account with a credit card company, and that CC company goes belly up, then you're no risk, but then you might be an asset for "future business" or you might be a "deadbeat" (meaning someone who isn't generating any revenue for the CC)... if you're viewed as a "deadbeat" then forget about that card, hope some other CC Co is taking applications and extending credit and hope your credit is good and your personal financial situation all around is good. I've been seeing CC lines getting slashed, not because a customer is getting into any financial difficulty but merely because the area they live in... their house prices are crashing... no equity in the home to possibly pay a cc debt... hence bigger perceived risk.

If you've got a balance, hurray! You owe someone some money somewhere. WaMu is already trying to sell off its assets... I had an accout with Providian, got bought by WaMu. I closed the account with a balance and slowly started paying it down. WaMu sold this loan portfolio to someone else, and now I'm paying them. They changed the terms and conditions (much higher minimum due, different due date) and the new companies' website sucks BIG time (their biggest feature on there is pay the bill otherwise it's extremely minimalist).

Disclaimer: I am a call center coach for a large CC company.

Nope, nobody gave the original primitive the answer the original primitive wanted.

[USA4ME]

These are the same idiots who are complaining that the banking issues now taking place were because the industry was passing along credit to people who they weren't 100% sure had the ability to repay, right??

.

[Chris_]

General rule about personal debt:

If you OWE money, someone will be coming after you for it -- the worse shape the debtee is in, the harder you will pursued.

If you ARE OWED money and the debtor is struggling (and the debt not guaranteed byu the US Govt) , you will be put in the back of a very long line with no recourse and might get pennies on the dollar in the long run.

[JohnnyReb]

All that discussion for the simple question, "Are there any freebies to be had outta this mess and how do we get in on them?"

[Peter3_1]

tHE IDEA THAT the credit card companies will settle with anyone with anything resembling assets is FALSE. What they WILL do is up rthe interest rates to 31%+ annual. Sort of MAFIA like.

I was hospitalized a couple of years ago for 5 1/2 months, over a month in ICU. tHE TOTAL BILL WAS OVER $800,000, AND ABOUT $200,000 was my share. The bills were $50,000 of them put on my cards, and while I was in an ICU care on a resperator, the Credit card companies were threatening my wife with property seizures, etc. All FEDERAL LAW violations, but what do the creeps that man the phone banks care?

Anyway, when I got out, the scum refused to so much as cut the interest back to rational limits. So, we redsigned our "asset allocation" paid the crooks off and are refunding the assets at a $1,000 a month. 

The only way that the credit card companies will settle is if you have no assets they could attach in any way. THEN, they MIGHT settle and might not.

Obviously we cut every credit card up and closed every account, we use only AmEx, and pay up every month without fail. I suggest everyone do so, as the economic climate makes it easy to bet your butt in a crack. And the credirt card company, like the MAFIA, don't care, they want the MONUY, or they'll break your financial legs.

[jtyangel]

tHE IDEA THAT the credit card companies will settle with anyone with anything resembling assets is FALSE. What they WILL do is up rthe interest rates to 31%+ annual. Sort of MAFIA like.

I was hospitalized a couple of years ago for 5 1/2 months, over a month in ICU. tHE TOTAL BILL WAS OVER $800,000, AND ABOUT $200,000 was my share. The bills were $50,000 of them put on my cards, and while I was in an ICU care on a resperator, the Credit card companies were threatening my wife with property seizures, etc. All FEDERAL LAW violations, but what do the creeps that man the phone banks care?

Anyway, when I got out, the scum refused to so much as cut the interest back to rational limits. So, we redsigned our "asset allocation" paid the crooks off and are refunding the assets at a $1,000 a month. 

The only way that the credit card companies will settle is if you have no assets they could attach in any way. THEN, they MIGHT settle and might not.

Obviously we cut every credit card up and closed every account, we use only AmEx, and pay up every month without fail. I suggest everyone do so, as the economic climate makes it easy to bet your butt in a crack. And the credirt card company, like the MAFIA, don't care, they want the MONUY, or they'll break your financial legs.

yeah, I gotta agree with peter here. We really get on the DUmmies over this kind of thing, but I think it is more because they are deliberately looking for handouts and scams to get over. It's important to remember there are people who have had legitimate reasons they fall behind and they are treated just as shitty as the lowlifes trying to perpetrate fraud over at the DU. Peter is right about the tactics that make it harder and harder to make good on your debt once you are in a hole and the harassment of family members to obtain money that they are probably only half entitled too ie part of the bill is the humungous rate they reverted to when you got behind and that adds up quick.

[GOBUCKS]

while I was in an ICU care on a resperator, the Credit card companies were threatening my wife with property seizures, etc.

I am a call center coach for a large CC company.

It appears that DUmmy mwooldri is one of the dirtbags in question.

Sometimes we say no legal gainful occupation is dishonorable, but a credit card call center sure does stretch the boundaries of that philosophy.