Dow Continues to Fall as Stocks Drown in Sea of Bad News

[Lord Undies]

I heard earlier that Citi was down to 97 cents.....

Just for grins I bought 500 shares of CitiCorp today.  Last week, my wife received a letter canceling her CitiBank credit card due to a "review of creditworthiness".  I will look into that next week.  Meanwhile, I sent their letter back to them with the information that my wife has never missed a payment or a payoff, and that given the current situation of CitiCorp, we are the ones judging them...and we don't want to be associated with such an unstable and flaky corporation.

(I can't wait to see the new erroneous mess the credit bureau has in my wife's file.  The last time, it was about a woman in Utah who has the same name)

[Wretched Excess]

The primary reason the DOW is tanking is the repeated mis-steps by "the messiah" and his economic advisors.

Instead of looking years into the future, they need to start looking at the here and now, but they are too lame to get it.

The DOW took a major hit the other day when they decided to give another $30 BILLION to AIG.

Enough already, just let the big 3 and the financial institutions go into bankruptcy so they can reorganize and come back on their own instead of saddling our great-great-great grandchildren with the bill.

agreed.  there is no question that bankruptcy is the solution for many of these company's problem.

[debk]

Just for grins I bought 500 shares of CitiCorp today.  Last week, my wife received a letter canceling her CitiBank credit card due to a "review of creditworthiness".  I will look into that next week.  Meanwhile, I sent their letter back to them with the information that my wife has never missed a payment or a payoff, and that given the current situation of CitiCorp, we are the ones judging them...and we don't want to be associated with such an unstable and flaky corporation.

(I can't wait to see the new erroneous mess the credit bureau has in my wife's file.  The last time, it was about a woman in Utah who has the same name)

Citicorp seems to be doing that to a lot of people.

Citicorp raised a friend of mine's interest rate because she had "too much other credit". She closed the account.

My brother was 5 days late on his payment....he didn't either didn't get the bill or it was misplaced. They called him....he paid it in full - $1400....went to lunch with a client and went to pay the bill with his Citicard and it was denied! He used another card. Called them after his client meeting and they told him his card "was on hold" until after the payment cleared and that they were raising his interest.

He asked them what kind of customer he was to them. He was told he had an A+ rating with them. So he asked why his card was denied when he always paid his balance off every month. They told him it was their "new policy" and he should have read it in the flyer they sent out regarding that. He told them that they would just have to do without the 20 grand plus that he charged annually on the account (he uses it for business only), if they could not release the card immediately. The woman told him that was against their policy.

He told them that it was now against his policy to continue to do business with them and he would no longer be using his Citicard.
 
Woman told him she was sorry he felt that way and thanked him for calling Citicard!

He called me and ranted for 45 minutes!!!!   (Thank God for unlimited long distance cell minutes!)

For the last year or so.....I only use my debit card. I save my credit cards for emergency. With the business that I'm in....I never know when the next check is going to show up....especially these days.

[NHSparky]

debk--sounds like what happened to me while I was in the frozen tundra with AMEX.

I canceled them today once I paid them off after they put a SECOND hold on my card (paid in full the first time with per diem check).

[Lord Undies]

Citicorp seems to be doing that to a lot of people.

Citicorp raised a friend of mine's interest rate because she had "too much other credit". She closed the account.

My brother was 5 days late on his payment....he didn't either didn't get the bill or it was misplaced. They called him....he paid it in full - $1400....went to lunch with a client and went to pay the bill with his Citicard and it was denied! He used another card. Called them after his client meeting and they told him his card "was on hold" until after the payment cleared and that they were raising his interest.

He asked them what kind of customer he was to them. He was told he had an A+ rating with them. So he asked why his card was denied when he always paid his balance off every month. They told him it was their "new policy" and he should have read it in the flyer they sent out regarding that. He told them that they would just have to do without the 20 grand plus that he charged annually on the account (he uses it for business only), if they could not release the card immediately. The woman told him that was against their policy.

He told them that it was now against his policy to continue to do business with them and he would no longer be using his Citicard.
 
Woman told him she was sorry he felt that way and thanked him for calling Citicard!

He called me and ranted for 45 minutes!!!!   (Thank God for unlimited long distance cell minutes!)

For the last year or so.....I only use my debit card. I save my credit cards for emergency. With the business that I'm in....I never know when the next check is going to show up....especially these days.

That is what's so strange.  We never really carry a balance.  We bought a new range at Sears and used the CitiBank card.  It has been a while since we've had any "monthly payments" on my wife's credit score, so I thought I would pay it out over three months...then this.  It was less than a thousand dollars.

I'm having the balance transferred to our Sears card, which will take until May.  Then I will pay the damn thing off.

[debk]

That is what's so strange.  We never really carry a balance.  We bought a new range at Sears and used the CitiBank card.  It has been a while since we've had any "monthly payments" on my wife's credit score, so I thought I would pay it out over three months...then this.  It was less than a thousand dollars.

I'm having the balance transferred to our Sears card, which will take until May.  Then I will pay the damn thing off.

Wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that you (and my brother) don't carry a balance with them. They aren't making any money off of you guys because you pay off your accounts every month.

[NHSparky]

Wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that you (and my brother) don't carry a balance with them. They aren't making any money off of you guys because you pay off your accounts every month.

I don't think it's that.  I still have a significant balance with a credit card but they're still cutting me back and trying to jack up my interest rate, even though I pay more than the minimum and use it only sporadically.

[Lord Undies]

Wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that you (and my brother) don't carry a balance with them. They aren't making any money off of you guys because you pay off your accounts every month.

They still make money off the merchant's fees and the prospect of future purchases.  It doesn't make any sense.

[NHSparky]

They still make money off the merchant's fees and the prospect of future purchases.  It doesn't make any sense.

The only thing I can possibly think of is that it's even WORSE than what we're hearing, and that they have to minimize exposure to unsecured debt in order to have any hope of ever recovering.

[Lord Undies]

The only thing I can possibly think of is that it's even WORSE than what we're hearing, and that they have to minimize exposure to unsecured debt in order to have any hope of ever recovering.

I thought of that, but it doesn't make sense.  They are in the business of unsecured debt.  It is the only way they survive.  The real problem is their next stockholders meeting.  It's gonna be ugly.  I have 500 shares.  I may be there!

If CitiCorp cannot differentiate between good and bad customers, and if they are relying on some obtuse and ridiculous scheme to rid themselves of the wheat from the chafe, then I say let them go to hell.  They don't have the business sense to carry on.  I'll kiss my $496.00 stock investment goodbye knowing my nation's economy will be stronger in the long run.

[NHSparky]

These people get paid big bucks to read the markets, the money supplies, trend, et al.

Now I'll be the first to admit they've been seriously wrong before, but maybe they just see something we're not seeing yet--something of "perfect storm" proportions which is REALLY going to screw this economy over for the next several years.

[rich_t]

These people get paid big bucks to read the markets, the money supplies, trend, et al.

Now I'll be the first to admit they've been seriously wrong before, but maybe they just see something we're not seeing yet--something of "perfect storm" proportions which is REALLY going to screw this economy over for the next several years.

Perhaps they are merely hedging their bets against even more and more folks defaulting on ther credit card loans.

[NHSparky]

Perhaps they are merely hedging their bets against even more and more folks defaulting on ther credit card loans.

Among other things.  Keep in mind that a lot of the ARM mortgages haven't reset yet either--we won't see that peak until later this year.

God I love being a responsible adult and paying for other people who don't pay their bills!

[debk]

Among other things.  Keep in mind that a lot of the ARM mortgages haven't reset yet either--we won't see that peak until later this year.

God I love being a responsible adult and paying for other people who don't pay their bills!

ARM mortgages were still being written last year (at least here). They are going to keep resetting for several years, unless the homeowner refinances or their lender chooses to reconfigure their loan.

Not everyone with an ARM gets in trouble. I had 3 of them between 1992 and 2006.

[rich_t]

Among other things.  Keep in mind that a lot of the ARM mortgages haven't reset yet either--we won't see that peak until later this year.

God I love being a responsible adult and paying for other people who don't pay their bills!

Sucks don't it?  You spend your life playing by the rules, paying what you contracted to pay...  Then end up paying extra for the lame dick assholes that thought it should be given to them for free.