Anti Credit Card Activist's topics - tribe.net

You all said it was coming!

Leslee — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:51:22 GMT

And what a mess we are in now. And not just from the cards the entire credit industry has screwed us good.

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Thank heaven for activists

Leslee — Fri, 09 May 2008 03:44:14 GMT

Thank you for the great tribe.

There is so much corruption, so many hustles, so many nasty traps, that we all could avoid with a little education. But some one must gather the info and make it available to us. What if every one, picked one subject and did the research and shared the needed info?

This is my share of the activist work

http://www.prescriptiondrugtruth.org/Drugs/Home.html

http://theeffexoractivist.org

http://community.webshots.com/user/effexoractivist

And some of my colleagues must see work.

http://www.ssristories.com/index.php

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/effexor/petition.html

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 2 replies

Credit card companies need to be abolished! (Duh!)

Yul — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:57:24 GMT

As most of us know, credit card companies follow a policy similar to that of the military-industrial-congressional complex. That is, they want most -- if not all -- of their customers (or victims) to remain in debut for life just so they (the credit card companies) can continue to make billions. This sort of thing is obviously very bad for the customers, but very good for the credit card companies. Thus, I have to conclude that any business that requires the financial ruin of all its customers doesn't deserve to stay in business. Credit card companies need to be abolished! I don't know how to achieve that now, but I still say these greed machines need to be put out of busniess.

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 2 replies

Business Week Story: Prison of Debt

NickD — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:40:32 GMT

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2007/db20071031_039775.htm?chan=search
Here is the podcast episode regarding this story:
http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/qt/podcasts/cover_stories/covercast_11_01_07.mp3

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 0 replies

Game of LIFE (the board game) featuring credit cards

NickD — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:16:16 GMT

http://consumerist.com/consumer/debt/hasbro-and-visa-pervert-life-board-game-to-train-children-in-racking-up-credit-card-debt-258478.php
"As if credit card-related debt wasn't a big enough problem in the U.S., Hasbro and Visa want to fuel the fire. Hasbro is launching a new edition of The Game of Life called Twists and Turns that will replace play money with a Visa-branded card."

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Elizabeth Warren's blog

NickD — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 23:12:39 GMT

http://warrenreports.tpmcafe.com/user/26/recent

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Elizabeth Warren on NPR's Fresh Air

NickD — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 23:07:39 GMT

http://corporatecrimereporter.com/warrengross032807.htm

“Thirty-six percent of Americans with credit cards is worried they're not going to be able to make their credit card bills,” Warren said. “Sixty percent of Americans are carrying a balance on their credit cards. Forty percent of Americans missed at least one credit card payment in the last two years. Twenty-three percent is maxed out on at least one credit card. And here's the one that just scares me to death. One in every seven Americans today is dealing with a debt collector because they can't make their payments. This is a world turned upside down. This is not what America looked like in 1980. This is not what America looked like in 1997. But this is what's happened to America in just the last half dozen years.”

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Citibank in Pakistan charges 36%, roughs people up who do not pay?

NickD — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 07:48:35 GMT

I received an e-mail from someone in Pakistan who made these claims. He wanted me to help him let people know bu putting ads in the paper. Instead I suggested that he start a blog. I asked him if he could post photos of bills, and give more details to verify his claims, and I would help him get the word out.

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Good God Damn!

GiNA — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 19:08:03 GMT

RIGHT ON!!

Just discovered this tribe.....FUCKING AYE!

The most amusing thing though, is when you tell people.."I don't have a credit card or bank account, I don't believe in them." People look at you like your a fucking mutant! Like some strange scientific experiment gone horribly wrong, like a big fat green worm in a basket of sweet red tomatos........

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 1 reply

New to this tribe...

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 00:53:18 GMT

Somewhere around the year 2000 it seems I became completely emotionally unable to deal with money anymore.

I used to be ANAL about balancing my check book. I used to throw temper tantrums, literally, about my check book and the lack of money in my checking account, but bouncing a check was a rare occurrence for me. I knew EXACTLY how much or how little (or how overdrawn) to the PENNY I was...until about the year 2000.

Basically, in 1989, when I was a 19 year old naive, clueless-about-money-sophomore in college, this new "trend" began. Credit card companies started setting up tables in the cafeteria offering what seemed like "free money". I could take my friends out to dinner to TGI Friday's and a month later a bill would arrive. There'd $40.00 balance, and my minumum payment due would be...$0 dollars. Wow! That means, the $80 dollars I'd made working part time as a cocktail waitress could go straight to my science text book...and new college sweatshirt. This trend continued for the next 8 years until I was $20 grand in debt and my minimum payments were $500 a month.

In 1998, I joined one of those rip off "debt consolidation programs" where I was promised that if I made monthly payments of $308 dollars, I'd be out of debt in...approximately 5 years or so. Five years came and went and I was told in 2002 that I still had...oh approximately another 5 years or so.

The more on top of my money I tried to be, the more defeated I felt. Inflation seems to rise faster than my salary and no matter what I seemed to do, I could never get ahead.

Worst of all, around 2002, my field of expertise, Medical Transcription, started getting outsourced overseas to India and the Phillippines. Transcription positions started getting cut from hospitals. What work wasn't being outsourced to cheaper, overseas transcribers was being dictated into voice recognition systems. My job was becoming obsolete. At one time, I worked at such Hospitals as UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai making over $40 grand a year with full benefits...that may not seem like much to some of you, but had my salary stayed at that point for longer than a year or two, I would have been able to catch up, start saving, maybe even buy a condo!

However, now, that same job now pays between $10 to $15 an hour with no benefits. I watched one of the best transcribers at Cedars-Sinai, an employee of over 25 years, get laid off in his mid-50's, too close to retirement age to find a job that would pay him a comparable amount. His gross salary, after spending 25 years with the company, was more than $50 grand a year. So much for loyalty.

At some point, I just said "fuck it" and stopped trying to balance the impossible.

I let receipts pile up in my check book, saying "I'll subtract them later."

Later would never come. My checking account would be beyond reconcilable. There would be more bouncing than Dolly Parton jogging without a bra.

I did manage to get the $20 grand in credit card debt I had piled up while a college student down to a mere $4 grand a decade later. I felt like there was going to be light at the end of the tunnel. However, after spending two weeks in the Neuropsychiatric ward at UCLA (and spending $600 dollars a month on COBRA for my health insurance for several months), my insurance claim was denied, and I was left with a $10 grand hospital bill.

I ended up having to declare bankruptcy anyway.

So today, I realize, I am traumatized by money.

Yes, I realize that my bad decisions have gotten me where I am today, but I also believe that these were joint decisions made by credit card companies who had no business giving a 19 year old with no financial back ground credit lines of $20 grand when my income was something like, $80 dollars in cocktail waitressing tips!

I cannot handle this alone anymore.

I am not in any "trouble" at the moment, but in the past few months since I declared bankruptcy, I am having a serious problem opening my checkbook and keeping it balanced. I am going to head down the same path if I don't get some professional & emotional help.

The last thing I want to do is recreate my past.

Well, it's time to balance the check book. It's time to face my fears of money.

I just printed out a schedule for Debtor's Anonymous 12 step group. Time to reach out for help.

As silly as it may sound, I really need someone to "hold my hand" and help me with this, not judge me or scold me for being "irresponsible". I do that to myself enough on a daily basis.

My check book has been a traumatizing experience for me to look at. I just want someone to help me with this weakness, help me get over this fear. I feel like I have a phobia of finances right now, and I absolutely have to overcome this fear to survive.

I seriously feel like I have developed a fear of finances, a fear of paper work, and a fear of taking responsiblity of money.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 0 replies

no more CREDIT CARDS PRESCREEN & OPT-OUT NOTICE

NickD — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 05:43:28 GMT

http://losangeles.tribe.net/listing/no-more-CREDIT-CARDS-PRESCREEN-OPT-OUT-NOTICE/los-angeles-ca/3d6c24d4-ce80-4d1e-9181-99d6b371292e

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more stuff to get upset about

NickD — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 05:41:55 GMT

http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/

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Boston Legal

bob — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 22:30:54 GMT

.. be sure you catch the rerun of this week's Boston Legal episode "Legal Deficits" .. the credit card company section is priceless and just full of quotable material ..

"The credit card industry is a pack of hyenas crunching on the bones of the poor."

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 2 replies

Capital One SUCKS

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 03:34:55 GMT

I've been on hold with their "service" department for pushing 2 hours... and this with a loan paid off. This was the last straw ... I knew credit cards preyed on the working class, but they suck away our time too. Please share your credit nightmares

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 2 replies

digging up old credit mistakes

me — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 22:04:40 GMT

read this article.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Managedebt/P74812.asp

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 0 replies

road to recovery

me — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 21:24:42 GMT

i have not used a single credit card in nearly 3 years.
i'd accrued some debt in part to necessity but perhaps mostly due to living beyond my means. you know, seeing something i liked, that i really couldn't afford but felt i deserved it and i wanted it so why not...
well, i decided to end that 3 years ago, and i am happier because of it.
here are some things i've done that have helped me. i hope they help you too:

*balance your checkbook down to the LAST penny. keep track of EVERY expense. it's easy to do this if you use a bank debit card as well, because you will always have a record of it.

*make a monthly expense budget. generally speaking monthly expenses are the same from month to month. figure those out, if you have a little bit of extra money make a bigger payment to your creditors. in doing so your debt will come down quicker.

*call your phone (cell phone) company and ask for special deals, sometimes even threatening to cancel service can guarantee a better deal (trust me, i've done it). utility companies as well as phone companies offer discount programs for people who earn a certain amount of money. call them and ask for those offers. don't be embarrassed. some people are, and neglect to sign up for discount type programs for fear of being stigmaitzed as poor...ahem..if you're in huge debt forever, you WILL always be poor.
the extra bit of money you save can go to reduce your debt.

*NEVER pay full price for things. MOST if not ALL things come down in price. this is especially true of electronics (since new and so-called improved things are always appearing) and clothes. usually within a month's time clothes goes down in most stores. you can look hip and trendy and not have a nice handbag or wallet be empty because you spent all your money buying it!
try outlet malls, sales racks, discount stores like loehman's that carry designer labels for more than half the price.
for girls especially, try indepedent boutiques and sellers, often you can find the same goodies there for a lot less, than at department stores.

*consolidate debt.

*pack your lunch! on average you spend between $20-30 on lunch a week. you can use that money for groceries instead and make large dinners that will allow for leftovers and next day's lunch.

*perhaps most importantly don't buy what you can't afford. if you create a budget that sticks solely to the things you need, you will eliminate many unecessary things.

this doesn't mean that you ought to deprive yourself entirely...if you stick to this you will be able to get rid of debt faster, you can save some (even if it's a little each month), and even have a little extra from time to time to treat yourself. i've done all these things and they have worked. i hope they work for you too =)

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 5 replies

www.truthaboutcredit.org/

NickD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 21:27:35 GMT

I am not sure about the motives behind this site, but worth checking out. I'll read into it some more later.

http://www.truthaboutcredit.org/sampleltr.htm
http://www.truthaboutcredit.org/

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 1 reply

Radical Activism

NickD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 15:08:21 GMT

A couple ideas here.

A way a representing our movement whenever there is a CC company with a booth at your campus. It could be sings stating the facts about Universal Default and the bank member "regulation" organization the OCC. You could by the DVD or VHS tape from PBS (I hope you can use PayPal) and play it on a laptop or portable TV through some computer speakers. Perhaps, by joining the student union, you could pass a proposition banning CC companies from college campuses. This may be difficult because sometimes someone like the school president or chancellor is getting a kickback from the CC companies.

Heard of stickering? We could sticker storefronts that feature credit card logo stickers with a circle and a slash through it (like the no parking sign) in through the slash it could say something like "live within your means."

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 0 replies

found a book on talking your way out of debt

NickD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:54:54 GMT

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0964840154/104-6540183-9828701?v=glance

Our mission is to protect consumers so they will not need to do things such as harass credit card companies. If anyone buys this book and tries the techniques, please let us know how it is working for you.

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Julie Williams, public enemy number two

NickD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:50:06 GMT

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/interviews/williams.html

Julie Williams is the head of the Controller of Currency (OCC), a branch of the Dept. of Treasury. When consumer rights organizations called to complain to her regarding Porvidian Bank cashing people's checks but not crediting their accounts until weeks later to induce late fees, she took action only when the consumer rights organization in San Francisco went to the press regarding Mrs. Williams lack of action. Her latest "action" is to "guide" (not enforce) banks on the following unethical practices designed to deceive consumers:

-Fail to disclose fully and prominently in promotional materials the circumstances under which the credit card agreement permits the bank to increase the consumer’s annual percentage rate (APR) (other than due to a variable rate feature), increase fees, or take other action to increase the cost of credit, such as failure to make timely payments to another creditor.
-Fail to disclose fully and prominently in marketing materials and credit agreements that the bank reserves the right to change the APR (other than due to a variable rate feature), fees, or other credit terms unilaterally.

More at http://www.occ.treas.gov/toolkit/newsrelease.aspx?doc=lhmid9og.xml

One can only assume that it is in the OCC's interest to continue to allow such deceptions by US banking institutions.

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Edward Yingling, public enemy number one

NickD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:38:22 GMT

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/interviews/yingling.html

This man must be stopped at all costs. He defends:
-confusing legal wording in credit card agreements
-allowing interests rates of one account to go up if another is late (universal default)

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Chris Dodd, champion of the people

NickD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:32:25 GMT

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/interviews/dodd.html

http://dodd.senate.gov/

posted in Anti Credit Card Activist - 0 replies

watch the movie

NickD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:18:19 GMT

This is the primer for all anti credit card activists:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/

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Universal Default

NickD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:16:38 GMT

If you are late any any one payment by one credit card company, the another one can raise their rates on you. Universal default is entrapment. Contact your senator today, and tell them that you want a law against Universal default.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

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