Bankruptcy Bill -- Are they really DOUBLING minimum payments on Credit Cards??

[Rosemary2205]

at least 6 times in the last 2 weeks I've seen junk mail or heard radio ads telling people who are carrying so much debt they can only make the minimum monthly payments to contact one credit counseling firm or another to negotiate with the CC companies before "the new law takes effect that will double your monthly payments". -- One junk mail said this was a provision of the Bankrupcy Bill.

PLEASE tell me this is dishonest hype on the part of predatory companies. PLEASE tell me Congress isn't that damn stupid. We have millions of people already losing their homes because they are in more debt than they can handle - now we are going to force people into bankruptcy because they aren't paying back the loan sharks fast enough?

If this is true, God help the USA when it hits the fan.

[spotbird]

1. IIRC

The Creditors "agreed" to raise the minimum to get their way on the rest of the bankruptcy bill. Believe it or not, the minimum payments are a bad thing, but doubling them at this point will cause more harm than good. It should have been applied to the terms of new accounts, not retroactively.

[sandnsea]

2. The idea was so people would pay them off

The credit card companies have the payments so low that people will never pay them off and the companies will collect interest forever. This was a provision Democrats fought for. Nobody knew how badly the economy would crash.

[Atman]

3. "Nobody knew how badly the economy would crash."

Well, actually, a lot of us did. Some of us have even been warning about it for a couple of years. If laymen like me and scores of reg'lar folk DUers knew it was coming, I find it hard to believe the "Washington Insiders" didn't. My contention back when the Bankruptcy Bill was being passed was exactly because they knew how bad it was going to be, and somehow thought this bill would protect them. As usual, the uber-riche with no connection to daily American life had no idea how we'd actually react to it all. IE, people paying off credit cards before their home loans. People ALWAYS used to pay the mortgage first, so the CC companies figured when the defaults came there'd still be assets to go after. Little did they expect that they now have billions of dollars in bad CC debt from people who are already too broke to lien on.

Edited for tpo...the y is sticking on my keboard)

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[sandnsea]

5. bla bla bla

Endless negative rants about everything the Republicans do is not knowing anything.

[Atman]

6. Blah blah fucking blah yourself.

Jesus...who pissed in your cornflakes this morning? I didn't make the shit up, I based it upon what everyone except the corporate media was saying.

Believe it or not, some of us actually HAVE been paying attention.

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[sandnsea]

9. Kneejerk reactions to Republicans is not knowing anything

Did you know the mortgage crisis was all the poor people's fault? Or did you know it was the speculators' fault?

This bankruptcy bill has been negotiated for years - way before they even started writing these mortgages. They were talking about predatory credit card practices back in the 90's.

Believe it or not, bad shit didn't just start happening with Bush.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sandnsea]

14. Hey, you got on that horse first

I pointed out the reality, and oh yeah, you suddenly remember how it went down.

[Atman]

17. You didn't point out shit!

You made an personal observation, nothing more. Read your post #2 again...what reality, exactly, did you point out in that very deep two-sentence economics lesson?

When I pointed out that you were mistaken, that some people DID know it was coming, you mounted up your steed and galloped off. What the hell "reality" did you point out? You posted your opinion. We all got 'em.

.

[sandnsea]

19. No, you got up on your steed that you knew something

about the bankruptcy bill and the mortgage crisis, when you couldn't have because the negotiations on credit card problems were going on way before these mortgages were even being written. You based your statement on reactionary rantings that always attack Republicans, not any kind of fact.

Now why don't you apologize.

[Atman]

24. "Now why don't you apologize."

Because you are completely wrong, that's why. I have nothing to apologize for. You've made up a bunch of bullshit (a very small bunch, at that!) assuming that you're simply smarter than everyone else. At least, smarter than me. Clearly, you're not.

I've tangled with you before. I won't get sucked in again. I hope you got a chance to read my "deleted message." G'night.

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[sandnsea]

25. You were wrong, you attacked me,

and pretended you were smarter than everyone else with your "everybody knew" bullshit. And now you won't admit it.

[spotbird]

34. Anyone who wanted to know

knew the shit would hit the fan. If a policy is unsustainable it will fail, by definition. The economic policies had disaster written into them, like it or not.

Enough Democrats supported this crime, including the likely nominee, that there is plenty of blame to go around. But it is indisputable that the current economic crisis was foreseeable.

[yardwork]

22. Psst. Come over here a minute...

There's this thing called the ignore button...I only have two DUers on ignore....but it's a powerful little thing, lemmie tell you. Just sayin...

[Atman]

27. I don't have anyone on ignore.

No one. I think everyone's opinion is at least worthy of a forum. I'll listen (or read). If I disagree (or am induced to projectile vomiting), I'll either comment or "manually" ignore. But thanks anyway...I know what you're saying. I just don't like the idea of an ignore button. I don't need a button to ignore people who are full of shit.

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[Double T]

7. What are YOU trying to say because what YOU have said doesn't make ANY sense?

[sandnsea]

10. See #9 n/t

[Atman]

12. Sandnsea was/is actually correct, albeit an ass

Forgive me, for I know nothing, but...

The idea was that the extremely low minimum payments served only to keep people forever in debt to the CC companies. You can almost literally never pay off a CC debt if you only make the minimum payments. The Democrats, instead of exhibiting actual spine, opted for this lame-ass compromise wherein the minimum payments would be increased to the point where if you paid it you would at least pay down SOME of your obligation. It really was a reasonable idea, even if it was a terrible sell-out.

But, lo...I should let Sandnsea explain it. I'm not worthy. :eyes:

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[Double T]

16. The actual problem are the interest rates on CC. They need to be much lower..........

at a fixed percentage rate. The banks are extremely greedy and their greed creates much of the repayment problems.

[salin]

31. Not only were people paying interest forever - the amount owed kept *increasing*

the "double the minimum payment" was pushed/sold as a means to make sure that folks were paying down principle as well as interest.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. He is right, many of us have seen the writing in the wall

by the way... why are you defending Republicans? Or perhaps you are defending DLC folk who also believe in Laizze Faire trickle down crap economics?

[sandnsea]

28. Back in the 90's?

When this debate first came up? No. You did not. People have been trying to get something done about the shoddy way credit card companies operate for years, way way before this mortgage stuff was ever going on.

[lonestarnot]

32. Republicans suck ass in every fucking form blah blah. Why is truth bothering you?

[Mountainman]

8. There were many sub-prime loans too. I'm sure they figured that a certain percent would default.

They had to protect themselves from the fall out of what they were doing.

I heard on NPR last night that the sub-prime problems are spilling over into the consumer credit market.

[Atman]

15. You're going to have to have A++ credit to get a loan on anything pretty soon.

Lender are going to back so far off of risk that only Bush's Base will be able to get a loan...of course, the people that don't actually need low interest rates or even credit, will benefit from all this. Joe Middle Class will get fucked, as usual.

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[InkAddict]

37. I no longer feel a confidence that I could make term payments on

anything, so why would I apply or even try to rejoin this club? It took a long time, but they finally convinced me that we are only valuable as slaves, though every fiber of my American being says otherwise. It's a dissonance of identity that is very difficult to adjust to appropriately. Consumers...LOL. Owners...ROTFL.

[Double T]

11. You are ABSOLUTELY right!

We need to really press A Democratically controlled congress and President to protect the 'people' instead of the corrupt loan shark financial corporations.

[melody]

4. Yup, they are. They also now take any excuse to jack up your interest rate.

We need to hang these people from the highest elm.

[bighart]

18. I would be interested to

hear some ideas on how to fix this problem, not bail out lenders or those with too much debt, but truly FIX the problem.

[Done]

20. What you do is...

make the banks more vulnerable to bankruptcy. This will force banks to keep consumer debt under control, otherwise they lose money. Also, limit the rate they can charge.

[bighart]

21. sounds good, but

our economy relies on people being in debt constantly, the whole buy more stuff racket.

[Done]

23. An economy that demands an ever expanding debt

will eventually crash.

[bighart]

36. So my question remains unanswered.

How do we fix the PROBLEM, not just address the symptoms. Our current economy is unsustainable because it requires ever increasing products and services to be purchased, and as a result ever increasing debt, so the fix has to include a change in economic drivers. Failing to do that is just treating the symptoms.

[LucyParsons]

29. synonym: capitalism

inherently unsustainable on a planet with finite resources

[spotbird]

35. Usery laws.

If it were illegal to charge higher interest than the local loan shark, progress would be made.

Require lenders to take responsibility for their loans, not pass them on, or encourage write offs (which to not release the borrower).

[AntiFascist]

30. If more people were allowed to declare bankruptcy then....

banks would be raising their interest rates, particularly for people who are already paying high rates for carrying balances.

[alarimer]

33. They haven't on mine yet.

They only do when I am late with a payment. So far the minimum is the same. I pay twice that anyway so I guess it wouldn't hurt me much.