The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: GOBUCKS on May 19, 2009, 02:40:13 PM
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babylonsister (1000+ posts) Tue May-19-09 03:00 PM
Original message
Senate's credit card crackdown: 90-5
Posted May 19, 2009 2:00 PM
The Swamp
by James Oliphant
Heeding a call from President Obama and riding a wave of populist anger, the Senate today overwhelmingly passed a sweeping bill that promises to transform the relationship between consumers and their credit-card companies.
The bill, which was approved by 90-5 vote, slaps the industry with an unprecedented set of restrictions, and would, among other things, rein in interest rate increases, require advance notice of rate increases, prevent high "over limit" fees, and prohibit lenders from raising rates when a cardholder is late on a separate debt -- a practice known as "universal default."
The House passed a similar bill earlier this month. The two will now be reconciled, with the goal of sending the final version to Obama for his signature by the end of the week.
For much of the debate over the bill, banks and credit-card lenders--which historically have wielded enormous clout in Washington--found themselves easy targets, the objects of blistering attacks from senators who accused them of engaging in exploitative and misleading tactics.
"It was abusive," said Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), a co-sponsor of the bill, said after the vote. "It needed to stop. It needed to change."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5684300
Of course, DUmmies applaud this legislation, not realizing the effect it will have on them. Absent the ability to charge deadbeats the true cost of extending them credit, the credit card industry will simply decline to do business with them. DUmmies, for whom credit cards are the only source of finance more important than payday loans, will be grievously affected. They only see the bill as an assault on a commercial enterprise, which they automatically support.
Once again, DUmmies are bodyslammed by capitalism (and, coincidentally, by their jug-eared Kenyan communist messiah) but are way too dumb to realize it.
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It is geared to hurt good paying customers just as much to offset the deadbeats.
I fully expect a CRA type bill coming along to force credit card companies to extend to deadbeats.
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Thye are going to be shocked when their user fees go up, bounced check charges go to 100 bucks, one hit on their credit reports takes them out of the 0% 60MO car loan. I know that if I ran a bank, I would be very picky on whom I will give a credit card to.
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Let me tell you a story that I've told before, which explains the mindset of a DUmmy perfectly:
A poor Russian farmer is barely hanging onto his farm, and relies on every scrap to merely exist. His crops are meager and he has no mule, so he relies on his cow for milk and for work in the field. One cold day, he wakes and goes to the barn to find that his only cow has died. The farmer hits his knees and weeps, cursing his bad fortune. How will he live without a cow, when a farm needs a cow for milk?
As he wails, a genie appears from nowhere and listens to the farmer. He is moved by the farmer's tale of woe. "Farmer," the genie says, "I will grant you one wish, and one wish only. Wish for whatever you like, and I will make it so."
The farmer rises from his knees and dries his tears. He gazes over the empty barn, and looks with awe and wonder at the genie, who is waiting patiently for the farmer to speak. "Genie," the farmer whispers, "please! KILL MY NEIGHBOR'S COW!"
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lapfog_1 (1000+ posts) Tue May-19-09 03:12 PM
Response to Original message
4. Of course, no cap on interest rates
only restrictions on "increases"... i.e. you will still pay 30%, it just might take two or three cycles to get you there.
BTW, interesting report on Malloy last night (news break), which discussed the gap between what the banks borrow money at and what they loan it out at (across ALL credit card holders)... it's currently at 19 points! Which means they are borrowing at an average rate of 3.5% and loaning it out at an AVERAGE rate of 23%.
This water(boarded) down bill was almost completely useless.
Raineyb (1000+ posts) Tue May-19-09 03:21 PM
Response to Original message
6. If according tothe quote in the article the Senators see how important this bill is
why the hell didn't they do something about capping the interest rates the CC companies are allowed to charge. If 15% is good enough for the credit unions it should be good enough for the banks.
Regards
Only a handfull of replies so far but already the cry is "not far enough!", "we want more" and "still no free pony clause". :yawn:
It will never be enough for them, even when we are all starving unarmed commies they will fight on stupidly and loudly.
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I don't know...I don't get political on this one. I think some of the credit practices have been and continue to be very abusive and bordering on loan sharking. I've been aparty to some of this personally and the credit card companies have no distinction when you miss a payment or are late of one if you are a customer of 16 years or one of 16 months. I always had assumed what I see posted here and there a lot about deadbeats--I mean it couldn't happen to good customers who have a hard time once in a while, but after experiencing some of the shenanigans first hand even with creditors I'd done business with for years, I have no love lost for the industry. I do think they are a bunch of opportunistic sharks and their own arrogance that things would continue status quo now has Uncle Zero all in their business--you reap what you sew--I seem to recall a collector tell me that once--Turnaround on this one seems to be fairplay.
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jty, I agree with you that there has been some scumbaggery going on. I generally then vote with my feet. I keep credit needs to local community banks. Anyway, I fully support this bill because of....sshhhh...
Bloomberg reports:
gun provision added to the Senate bill, which would allow visitors to national parks to carry concealed weapons.
The gun language is necessary to combat increased crime in the parks, said Senator Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who offered the amendment.
Not to mention bears and murderers on the Appalachian trail!
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I
have no love lost for the industry. I do think they are a bunch of opportunistic sharks and their own arrogance that things would continue status quo now has Uncle Zero all in their business
Of course, they are opportunistic sharks. That's why consumers should do everything in their power, including going hungry, to avoid using credit cards.
Like any business in a free country, their only reason for existence is to make profit. If they saw a way to make improve profits by being easier on longtime good customers, they surely would do that. The point is, cracking down on credit card companies, just like taxing other businesses, will always result, without exception, in the cost being paid by consumers. If you force the cc companies to cut their fees and interest in half, they will respond by withdrawing credit from the people who cause half their losses. From their perspective, survival demands it. A hugely disproportionate number of those affected will be DUmmies, but previously good customers who have fallen on hard times will be included as well. If fees and interest are cut too much, they will simply go out of business.
This bill will not do anything nearly so significant- it's 98% political posturing - but it will reduce revenues if the cc companies don't respond. They will, and responsible cc users will pay the price, and some irresponsible users will simply lose their cards.
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Another reason why I don't have credit cards.
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Another reason why I don't have credit cards.
+1 Yup.
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90 to 5?!?!?
That's a #@$%load of GOP sellouts.
What a bunch of spineless pinheads.
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90 to 5?!?!?
That's a #@$%load of GOP sellouts.
What a bunch of spineless pinheads.
It does tell us that we don't need to be particularly selective in cleaning out that particular Augean Stables. Just divert the Potomac and flush the whole damned lot of 'em.
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Well, the most obvious thing this does is shuts off primitive credit-cards.
It puts the primitives in a quandary.
The primitives usually pay their drug dealers cash, and their grocery bills using credit cards.
Now the primitives are going to have to decide between getting high or getting fed.
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Well, the most obvious thing this does is shuts off primitive credit-cards.
It puts the primitives in a quandary.
The primitives usually pay their drug dealers cash, and their grocery bills using credit cards.
Now the primitives are going to have to decide between getting high or getting fed.
...Or donating to $kinner's retirement fund.
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I've got no problem with doing somthing on this. What upsets me more is that the credit card companies themselves didn't better police their own industry. If companies did a better job of setting their own industry standards and making them reasonable then people wouldn't feel like they need to turn to the gov't to help them out. So on some level, I blame the industry for it having come to this point.
OTOH, I agree with those who say that credit cards are going to be more difficult to come by, and they should be. Banks don't need to be issuing cards to people just because they can fog a mirror and hope that if they throw enough lines into the water they'll get enough that will pay to cover those who don't. You can do that short-term, but eventually it's going to catch up with you. I wouldn't mind seeing credit cards holders only being maybe 20% of the population that has them now.
But like I said, industries better policing themselves will not only build a stronger capital system, it'll diminish the need for gov't intervention, or maybe better said it'll weaken the argument of those who desire gov't to become more involved.
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Once again, DUmmies are bodyslammed by capitalism Socialism (and, coincidentally, by their jug-eared Kenyan communist messiah) but are way too dumb to realize it.
fixed.
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I don't know...I don't get political on this one. I think some of the credit practices have been and continue to be very abusive and bordering on loan sharking. I've been aparty to some of this personally and the credit card companies have no distinction when you miss a payment or are late of one if you are a customer of 16 years or one of 16 months. I always had assumed what I see posted here and there a lot about deadbeats--I mean it couldn't happen to good customers who have a hard time once in a while, but after experiencing some of the shenanigans first hand even with creditors I'd done business with for years, I have no love lost for the industry. I do think they are a bunch of opportunistic sharks and their own arrogance that things would continue status quo now has Uncle Zero all in their business--you reap what you sew--I seem to recall a collector tell me that once--Turnaround on this one seems to be fairplay.
The thing is they (the senate) is right about some of these items. Universal default is a crock from the word go and varying interest rate unexpectedly is equally foolish. Thankfully, I never have more than about $1000 total in credit card debt at any time.
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The thing is they (the senate) is right about some of these items. Universal default is a crock from the word go and varying interest rate unexpectedly is equally foolish. Thankfully, I never have more than about $1000 total in credit card debt at any time.
Anymore, we don't either, but I stand by what I said. Just because DUmmies get into trouble with credit does not mean some of the points made about credit lending are not valid. Not everyone takes out credit with the intention to not pay it back. People do still fall on rough times that couldn't be anticipated folks or miss a payment in the middle of a crazy month to find a rate jacked up and refusal of the credit card company(no matter your history with them) to negotiate that rate back down. I'm personally tired of the vultures who look to take advantage of those moments and credit card companies have done just that. It pains me that in the interest of hoisting DUers up on their petard, others would dismiss the disgusting behavior of credit card companies. Loan sharking and blatantly violating collection call rules are not just a part of 'doing business'. Even pro-business people should hold other business people to a standard of ethics. Unfortunately, the pressure to adhere to an ethical standard in the credit card industry was ignored and now government stepped in. I hate that the gov. has to step in and I hate that it was necessitated by the credit card companies ignoring the pressure to reform their own house.
I'm going to sound like a moonbat on Bush here, but I really think Clinton's years did a lot to push the unethical behavior in both realms that got us to where we are today with unethical business practices and even more bloated government with no restraints. Yay:-P
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I don't know...I don't get political on this one. I think some of the credit practices have been and continue to be very abusive and bordering on loan sharking. I've been aparty to some of this personally and the credit card companies have no distinction when you miss a payment or are late of one if you are a customer of 16 years or one of 16 months. I always had assumed what I see posted here and there a lot about deadbeats--I mean it couldn't happen to good customers who have a hard time once in a while, but after experiencing some of the shenanigans first hand even with creditors I'd done business with for years, I have no love lost for the industry. I do think they are a bunch of opportunistic sharks and their own arrogance that things would continue status quo now has Uncle Zero all in their business--you reap what you sew--I seem to recall a collector tell me that once--Turnaround on this one seems to be fairplay.
They are worse than loansharks...A loanshark doesn't change the interest on you in the course of a loan for no other reason than they can! :cheersmate:
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Anymore, we don't either, but I stand by what I said. Just because DUmmies get into trouble with credit does not mean some of the points made about credit lending are not valid. Not everyone takes out credit with the intention to not pay it back. People do still fall on rough times that couldn't be anticipated folks or miss a payment in the middle of a crazy month to find a rate jacked up and refusal of the credit card company(no matter your history with them) to negotiate that rate back down. I'm personally tired of the vultures who look to take advantage of those moments and credit card companies have done just that. It pains me that in the interest of hoisting DUers up on their petard, others would dismiss the disgusting behavior of credit card companies. Loan sharking and blatantly violating collection call rules are not just a part of 'doing business'. Even pro-business people should hold other business people to a standard of ethics. Unfortunately, the pressure to adhere to an ethical standard in the credit card industry was ignored and now government stepped in. I hate that the gov. has to step in and I hate that it was necessitated by the credit card companies ignoring the pressure to reform their own house.
I'm going to sound like a moonbat on Bush here, but I really think Clinton's years did a lot to push the unethical behavior in both realms that got us to where we are today with unethical business practices and even more bloated government with no restraints. Yay:-P
President Bush's main problem is that because he was generally an honest and honorable man he assumed everyone else would follow his lead. It was a false assumption, and he never did quite shake it. That is why he was so vulnerable to the constant attacks by Democrats. It is also why the financial industry was able to steamroll the government when everyone knew it was a house of cards.
It may also explain his political deafness when it came to amnesty legislation. Almost every American knew it was a sham and wide open for abuse, but he couldn't bring himself to believe that, or that the process would be abused.