New Terms

Hey, it looks like the banks have discovered a way to regain solvency: by screwing their good customers! What a plan!

See, although the Fed rate is now practically zero, my bank just sent me a letter notifying me that the interest rate on my credit card will almost double next month, even though I have not had a single deliquent payment - ever - and my credit rating is, as my real estate agent told me last year, the highest she has ever seen.

So as I am just the sort of good and loyal customer that Regions bank needs to pull their asses out of the hole they're in, they've decided to give me a damn good reason to close my account, cash in my points, and get a card from another company.

Which is what I'm going to tell them at the bank today.

PS. This happens at the same time that the rate on a 39-month CD continues to fall - now down to 3.0%. I'm starting to think I'm in the wrong business. I should take what little money I have and open me a bank. All I have to do is not screw the customers and I'm sure to become a millionaire.

Get Up Stand Up

Here's a great example of how credit card companies try to swindle their customers. The man's mother dies, so he calls her credit card companies to tell them. One asks him how he plans to pay off her debt.

When you die, your credit card debt dies with you. That's why they call it unsecured debt. But not everybody knows this, including one of the commentors to the article. Sad.

You have to fight for every dime and know your rights, otherwise they'll dollar you into the poor house. Think about that phrase - the poor house. It comes from Dickens' time - a period we usually think of as cruel and pitiless to the poor and underclass. But at least they had poor houses back then. Now we just kick ours out on the street.

Revised Terms and Conditions

Yesterday, I received a set of revised Terms and Conditions for my credit card.

It seems the new penalty rate for being late twice in six months is now 35%.

35% interest. Nice racket.

This is the face of evil, children. There really are monsters in the world. They issue credit cards.

Meanwhile, the US national debt topped $9 Trillion dollars.

This is the other face of evil. There really really are monsters. They run for office.

Update: Speak of the devil!

I have to add here that you should always wade through your terms and conditions. They are written in such a way as to discourage this. They don't want you to read them, because if you did, you might discover that you have the option to opt out of the 35% penalty interest rate by writing a letter and sending it to them before a certain date. Thanks, I certainly shall. And to be certain they get it, I'll send 10 copies of the letter.