Saturday, October 08, 2005

October Surprise!
Hear Me Now and Believe Me Later...

In fewer than 10 days, all minimum monthly payments for credit cards will become roughly 4 percent of your outstanding balance.
Right now, you are paying about 2 percent of the balance.
If you have a $2,000 credit card balance right now, your minimum monthly payment is somewhere around $45 a month.
Just in time for Christmas, your minimum payment will automatically jump to about $90 a month.
Oh, and Chapter 7 bankruptcy? The one where they forgive your debts? Bye bye! Gone after October 16.
Usury laws are also being dismantled.
Companies who issue you credit now can imitate your favorite Mafia loan shark and jack up your interest to astoundingly high rates, as high as 50 or more percent.
Consumers have until October 16, 2005 to file for bankruptcy under the current laws.

Good-bye, Clinton's surpluses and Hello, Bush's Great Depression.
Thanks, Bush and the Republicans.

21 comments:

Unknown said...

The bankruptcy filings have gone through the roof to beat the deadline..basically only people on a fixed income will be able to discharge their debts under the new Chapter 7 guidelines, which is a crock. I believed that the BK laws needed to be tougher but these favor the creditors to an unfair degree.Unsecured Debt should be allowed to be discharged for the majority of people that file a Chapter 7 BK. I worked for many years as a psuedo para-legal for an atty that only filed bankruptcies and I have seen people take advantage of the system and those whom the system saved from losing their homes because of a job loss or major catastrophic illness..Credit card companies are the carpetbaggers of this century.

Karen Zipdrive said...

I think the new laws will end up backfiring on the credit card companies.

Unknown said...

I hope to hell they do..i hope it costs them a shitload of money to process those teensy payments from the folks who are trying to straighten out their lives and have to give those bastards a pound of flesh.grrrrr..dont get me started..

in.dog.neato said...

precisely why i don't have a credit card. never have, never will. granted it's difficult for me to purchase anything on credit, seeing as how i have none. sucks that no credit is worse than bad credit.

i'm going to have to break down and get a secured card from my bank to build some credit so that i can start the home purchasing process in a year or so. family's expanding, and the one bedroom we moved into a month ago is gonna become awful small in seven more months.

qualifying for a house isn't a problem. i can get approved for about 110K on my income alone, but ya gotta have those credit digits to actually get into the damned paperwork.

needless to say, i'm not looking forward to it. the entirety of my adult life (i'm 34 going on 35 now) has been spent in debt free bliss. looks like now i'm gonna be just like everyone else. darnitall.

Karen Zipdrive said...

In.dog.neato- welcome to adult HELL.
Capital One has a nice secured credit card- check them out. They seem nice.
You are gonna be a daddy? When???

in.dog.neato said...

tamara and i are expecting Moon Baby (as we refer to the little one in utero, so as not to give it a gander complex should it turn out not to be a girl) sometime round may 11 or so. very excited, indeed. the future grandmas have been informed and are anxiously awaiting the first ultrasound pics from this last week.

as far a banks go, wells fargo is alright. i've been pretty fortunate in that regard. they'll give me a secured card, with fairly low interest. i tend to trust them a bit more than anyone else, seeing as how i've been banking with them for ages.

Karen Zipdrive said...

Congratulations, dog. A Taurus baby will bring you nothing but joy. After all, both Clyde (nee BarCodeKing) and I are bulls and look how sweet we are?
Glad to hear you have a bank you trust.
Watch those bastards like a hawk!

JimBob said...

yo dog - try a debit card. i'm told that they can help you establish credit. and tbey have the added benefit of being tied to your checking account, so you can't hurt yourself.

another quick way to build credit: take out a small signature loan, say $1000. DON'T spend it. Just put it in the bank and use it to pay back the loan over the full term of the loan. Don't make any early pmts, don't miss any pmts, don't make any late pmts. You lose a few bucks on the interest, but you have paid off a loan and THAT looks good on your credit rating.

Karen Zipdrive said...

Mileah- yeah- not to mention restoring dignity to the White House.

Unknown said...

LOL Mileah..now that DOJ folks are perusing my political blog I am checking my stats daily..today I got a hit from none other than a Halliburton employee..i just love that one..course they didnt comment just lurked..and read a few of my posts..the Rove one seems to get the most hits..gee couldnt be because he is SOOOO guilty could it?

Karen Zipdrive said...

Rove will probably end up doing informercials for his new "Multiple Indictments Diet."

in.dog.neato said...

tankz fer the congrats...we're excited about the whole deal...grandmas, too...the baby purchases have already begun. from the sound of it, the most we'll have to purchase would be bottles and diapers...

Karen Zipdrive said...

jxyz:
You might be slightly out of touch with millions of consumers and small business owners who need credit cards for emergencies that used to be covered by savings accounts.
In this economy, few middle class people have enough money to save from month to month.
Just the skyrocketing gas prices alone are causing families to have to use more credit cards, more often.
Blaming the consumer is a chump's game.
And not everyone pays 19% interest- unless they are either stupid, naive or have horrid credit histories.
Lecture all you want, but the average consumer is gonna be fucked by this latest Bush caper.

in.dog.neato said...

funny...some people are so blinded by the lies they've been told, they can't even see the fucking that's coming their way. either that or they're so much smarter than the rest of us. must be nice.

Karen Zipdrive said...

It might be cruel to hope these wingnut Bush lovers will soon see for themselves how GOP pandering to the banking and credit card industries has crippled them, but they elected these crooks-- and that's what they get.
The word "stampede" is being used in Texas to describe last minute bankruptcy filings.
By November 1, the media will report on all-time record bankruptcies- all because of the GOP's ridiculous new laws designed to screw consumers and small business owners.
Once these Bush-enablers feel the pinch in their own wallets, they'll finally get what the rest of us have been saying for 5 years: He's a LOSER.

in.dog.neato said...

granted, KZ, there are quite a few of the upper middle that care more about their stuff and their status that they feel comfortable with their financial sitch that they put themselves into a deep deep hole with their credit by purchasing that Hummer, trophy home and Louis Vuitton/Prada shit for their trophy wives, weekend trips to Starfucks Coffee...

in.dog.neato said...

i've been known to toss Hummers the bird...

tamara and I were walking down the sidewalk a few months ago when I let one fly as a Hiummer was comin through the stoplight. We had gotten off the walk to check out the cars on I-35, and to scout locations for signs on overpasses, and after a few minutes resumed our walk.

The chump driving the Hummer had pulled into a parking lot across the street from where we were and waited til we got back to the sidewalk. He saw us, immediately sped oiut of the lot, turned around disrupting two lanes of traffic and stopped in the middle of the street to ask me what my problem was.
"What's your problem DUDE?"
I pointed at his 'vehicle' and replied 'this is my problem.'
'What's wrong with it?' he says...
'You're driving it.' i said
'What's wrong with it.?!?' he shouted back...
'You're DRIVING it!'

i was aware this was going nowhere and started to resume my walk, wiht him shouting something to the tune of 'It's American Made!" and "Get a job!"

in.dog.neato said...

BTW...

I caught Chimp on GMA this morning 'working' with Habitat for Humanity for another photo op...he had a nifty tool belt on (backward I might add), and a hammer, which in one clip, he was using to set a nail into a sheet of particle sheathing on a wall frame. I noticed that not only was he having difficulty setting the nail in one tap, but he was also holding the hammer about three inches below the head, and even when he managed to set the nail (again with some degree of difficulty), he continued to hold the hammer close to the head as he tried to drive the nail home.

It was at that moment that I realized that (sorry ladies, I mean no offense by this next statement) GEORGE BUSH HAMMERS LIKE A GIRL!!!

I about spilled my coffee...

Karen Zipdrive said...

This girl's daddy taught her from a young age to hold the hammer down low to get the maximum force from the swing.
Bush has probably drunk plenty of velvet hammers, but probably never swung a real hammer in his life.
Carpentry was always his old battle ax mama's hobby, I'll bet.

in.dog.neato said...

lke my granddaddy always told me...'hit it like you live!'

that little scene this morning reminded me of the King Of The Hill episode when Bush went to Arlen, and Hank got to shake his hand, only it wasn't a Man's handshake...it was a limpy little weak handshake.

Karen Zipdrive said...

I suspect Bush is hardly the firm handshake type. I'll bet he avoids eye contact, too.