Bank of (un) America boosting rates on cards with balances

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http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106891/BofA-to-Boost-Rates-on-Cards-With-Balances;_ylt=Aof4NDphQ.C_Udn2sopFuFK7YWsA

'Bank of America Corp. is raising interest rates on as many as four million U.S. credit-card customers who carry a balance, becoming the latest bank to crack down on people who don't pay off their bill every month.

Starting with June account statements, any credit-card customer who carries a balance and has an interest rate below 10% will see his or her rate jump into double-digit territory. A company spokeswoman declined to provide an exact number, saying the changes would affect less than 10% of the bank's card customers in the U.S. The bank has 70 million card customers world-wide, but doesn't break out the number of customers who are in the U.S. "It impacts a small portion of our cardholders," said Betty Reiss, the spokeswoman.'

Which Circle of Hell did Dante say Usurers would end up in? Oh yeah, seven.

[xchrom]

1. recommend -- americans get very angry about this. nt

[imdjh]

2. "a very small portion of our cardholders"

Same thing Chase said. To these companies, a million people is a very small portion of their cardholders.

Credit is a funny thing. Why have the cell phone companies started to back off on the contract extensions and offer better plans at better prices to existing customers? Because they know that it's not worth their time to collect cancellation fees from customers who tell them to "Kiss my ass." The same is true about credit card companies, it's just that the public hasn't figured out how it works yet. The public is well trained to fear for their credit rating, mother's voice in the back saying, "don't get into trouble, let me know if you need help".

The truth is that so many people have told cell phone companies to fuck off, that a ding on the credit due to cell phone is as easily explained as saying, "Oh yeah, them, I wouldn't pay the cancellation fee." No one takes cell phone credit seriously. And if the credit card companies keep it up, no one will take a credit card discharge seriously either. Most of America worries about their credit rating, surprisingly few are aware of just how low the average score is.

I wonder if Chase and BOA decide who to do this to based on geography as well as segment. You think maybe they do it to people who don't have access to a branch? Imagine if all of these customers started paying their bill in person in the branch and telling the bank, "BTW, fuck your rip-off piece of shit company." in front of the other customers after getting their receipt. I know, the language, it's not nice and the other customers will think badly of you. How about saying, "BTW, I really don't like getting ripped off like this."?

How about paying your credit card bill, one dollar at a time in person and getting two hundred receipts?

How about 100,000 people sending old lottery tickets to BOA every month (after making the real payment) just to jam the system?

How about 1,000,000 customers calling BOA once a month just to say "Hi."?

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3. How about chopping the cards into millions of pieces

and never putting money in their shitty bank?