I used to have perfect credit and multiple credit cards from American Express, Bank of America, Citibank, Chase Manhattan and many other little companies for the past 20 years that they absorbed or merged into their too big too fail banks. And then over 3 years ago, literally overnight the banks cut my credit lines. This will flag on your credit report that you are maxed out on a credit card even though you were no where close to the limits the previous day.

For me American Express reduced over $80,000 worth of credit down to what I owed. Then later Chase cut my credit lines all to $1000 each. Then they cancelled it later. All these actions literally pushed my credit score down. Then Bank of America followed suit and cancelled my credit cards. Those were scary times back then. Of course, Citibank followed the other companies and cut my credit limits to the balance owed if any and then cancelled cards with zero balances.Once this happens, there is a good chance the other credit card companies will follow suit with software that scans for such changes.  They all do it and that is why credit card companies can ruin your credit rating.

You are probably in the same boat now if you are reading this post and came here from a search engine quest. You must be wondering why did Chase reduce my credit limit? Or why did Bank of America cancel all my credit cards or credit lines? Or why is American Express suspending my account and requesting my last 2-5 years worth of tax returns to do a financial review? Why ask why, right?

Your profile: perfect credit, same job and steady income for last 3-5 years or more, and possibly even less debt than before. Why would they target you the perfect customer who has been with them for 10-20+ years and never paid them late? There are a bunch of links and comments to other people in this post who have experienced the same thing. Maybe you are at the stage where I am at today. I pay cash for everything and avoid letting these banksters profit off of me anymore. It’s nothing personal and strictly business will be their robot answer for the ugly experience they put you through.    Just remember you decide how your dollars are spent and whether you will continue to support them in making money. Simply boycott them now and in the future.

I have a feeling there are many more cities where they have inventory that won’t move. At this point in time, many housing doom and gloomers think the housing bottom won’t hit until 2013-2014. I am talking about the ones that predicted the initial housing bust that the majority of financial experts said was impossible back in 2007.

Bankrate:

That’s what Bank of America plans to do with as many as 150 vacant and abandoned properties in and around Chicago through a new “collaboration” with the city that’s intended to address the problem of abandoned properties.
“Unfortunately,” BofA said in a statement, “many homeowners faced with unemployment, underemployment and other economic hardships have transitioned to alternative housing situations, and in many cases, have walked away from their homes, leaving behind vacant and deteriorating properties that can cause neighborhood blight.”
As part of the new effort, BofA plans to:
Register properties with the city when the mortgage is delinquent and the property has been identified as vacant and abandoned.
Identify up to 150 properties that will be referred to a new Cook County vacant and abandoned building court call in an effort to speed up the foreclosure process and return the properties to stable, productive use. The foreclosure timeline for vacant and abandoned properties in the area currently averages 18 months, the bank said.
Contribute funds toward the city’s costs of demolishing deteriorating buildings on the donated properties.
Donate foreclosed and vacant condominiums to the nonprofit Community Investment Corp. as part of an initiative to upgrade, preserve and stabilize management of affordable rental housing.
BofA also recently held a mortgage modification outreach event and opened a new full-time customer assistance center in Chicago.
These and other initiatives “provide convenient opportunities for customers who are having difficulty making their mortgage and other credit account payments to receive face-to-face counseling, on-site processing and underwriting of mortgage modification requests and other assistance,” the bank explained.

You are probably in the same boat now if you are reading this post and came here from a search engine quest. You must be wondering why did Chase reduce my credit limit? Or why did Bank of America cancel all my credit cards or credit lines? Or why is American Express suspending my account and requesting my last 2-5 years worth of tax returns to do a financial review? Why ask why, right?

Your profile: perfect credit, same job and steady income for last 3-5 years or more, and possibly even less debt than before. Why would they target you the perfect customer who has been with them for 10-20+ years and never paid them late? There are a bunch of links and comments to other people in this post who have experienced the same thing.

At first you may take it personally like a relationship. Why did my credit card company dump me? I have been faithful and never cheated. I take my credit cards with me everywhere, use it to buy flowers and and occasional dinner, and then one day the bags are packed and the card is gone with no trace except for a balance accruing interest. sigh.

Then you may actually go through another stage and yell out obscenities. This is bull crap! Then you may read the forums and start looking for someone or an attorney who has started a class action lawsuit against all these banks we bailed out with our taxpayer money. I blogged about it here and there are some suits happening right now. I suspect it will take 5-10 years to get through the system since they have plenty of attorneys to fight us little guys.

Maybe you are at the stage where I am at today. I pay cash for everything and avoid letting these banksters profit off of me anymore. It’s nothing personal and strictly business will be their robot answer for the ugly experience they put you through.    Just remember you decide how your dollars are spent and whether you will continue to support them in making money. Simply boycott them now and in the future.

WSJ:

Until recently professional cards largely had been reserved for small-business owners or corporate executives. But since the Card Act was passed in March 2009, companies have been inundating ordinary consumers with applications. In the first quarter of 2010, issuers mailed out 47 million professional offers, a 256% increase from the same period last year, according to research firm Synovate.

The Card Act’s strictures have squeezed banks’ profits and their ability to operate freely. By moving cardholders out of protected consumer credit cards and into professional cards, banks might recoup some of the revenue they have lost.

“By pushing professional cards to consumers who otherwise wouldn’t want them, card issuers can get around some of the provisions of the Card Act,” says Josh Frank, a senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer group.

Several solicitations from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. have ended up in the mailbox of John and Gloria Harrison, a retired military couple who live in Destrehan, La., outside New Orleans. Mrs. Harrison says she gets an offer for an Ink From Chase card, geared toward small businesses, almost every month. She says she finds this puzzling because her husband retired in 1986 and doesn’t own a business.

…

While the Card Act bars issuers from raising rates on existing balances unless a cardholder is at least 60 days late with a payment, there isn’t any such prohibition on the Ink From Chase card, one of several business cards offered by the bank. The card agreement says Chase is free to implement a default rate of 29.99% if a customer is late by just one day on a payment.

Chase’s Ms. Rossi says its small-business credit cards have “added benefits and features designed specifically for small-business owners.”

Holders of Capital One’s Business Platinum Card, meanwhile, can see their low introductory interest rates spike if they are just three days late with payment in a 12-month period, far less than the 60-day notice period required under the Card Act.

Capital One has “voluntarily adopted many of the Card Act provisions for our small-business customers,” says Pam Girardo, a spokeswoman for the bank. “In order to be able to offer lower rates and expand access to credit for our small business customers, we will continue to exercise risk-based repricing.”

Card issuers also are tinkering with the way they credit payments to professional cards. The Card Act stipulates that issuers must apply payments in excess of the minimum to the balances with the highest interest rate. But on Citibank’s Citibusiness card, payments are applied to low-rate balances first—making it more difficult for cardholders to reduce their more expensive balances.

Card issuers are easing their application requirements for professional cards, too. In July, for example, Chase sent out an offer for an Ink From Chase Cash Business Card that required much less information than earlier offers.

Wall Street Journal:

Co-branded and affinity cards have become too expensive as credit-card companies try to reduce expenses amid the surge in late payments and delinquencies by card users. Issuers usually pay partner firms or groups an upfront fee and percentage of profits throughout the term of the contract.

Banks also fund the bulk of rewards programs and maintain customer accounts.

The retreat by J.P. Morgan Chase’s unit is part of an effort to stem card-related losses that are expected to haunt the company for the rest of this year. Chase now has about 110 co-branded credit cards, down from more than 200, and expects to eliminate more cards this year.

The Starbucks Duetto card, offered with coffee company Starbucks Corp., generated lots of buzz when it was introduced in 2003 because customers could use it either as a traditional credit card anywhere or turn it into a prepaid card by loading money onto it and using it at Starbucks.

“It was difficult to get the type of scale behind the program that we wanted,” said Gordon Smith, who runs J.P. Morgan’s credit-card business. “It was innovative and creative, but if these cards are small, there isn’t much earnings power for the partner or the bank.”

Chase is keeping its most successful partner cards, including those offered with Continental Airlines Inc. and Marriott International Inc. The bank also recently entered a new card partnership with Hyatt Hotels Corp.

Last fall, Citigroup dropped a three-year-old Home Depot Inc. co-branded card called Home Depot Rewards that could be used anywhere. The card “didn’t resonate with customers as we had hoped,” said Bill Johnson, who runs the bank’s card-partnership programs. Instead, the bank is continuing to promote its private-label Home Depot card, which can be used only in Home Depot stores.

Citigroup also is wrestling with jeweler Zale Corp. over the terms of its credit-card contract. The bank has threatened to terminate the contract early unless the chain, hit hard by sluggish sales, pays Citigroup a $6 million penalty. The contract is set to expire next year.
For retailers, the loss of card partnerships means they must now find new ways to retain customers. In addition to Chase, Royal Bank of Canada also is breaking off its relationship with Starbucks for its Canadian loyalty card. A Starbucks spokeswoman said the company is planning to introduce a new loyalty program soon.

Reuters: U.S. credit card charge-offs resume climb

Most U.S. credit card companies reported that charge-offs rose in November after two months of declines, showing that consumers remain under stress and sending shares down industry wide.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Citigroup Inc (C.N), the largest issuer of MasterCard-branded credit cards, said charge-offs — loans the company does not expect to be repaid — rose to 10.29 percent in November from 8.79 percent in October.

It was the largest increase among the biggest credit card issuers, but not the only one.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), the biggest issuer of Visa-branded credit cards, said charge-offs rose to 8.81 percent from 8.02 percent, and Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) said its charge-off rate went up to 9.60 percent from 9.04 percent.

Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) said its default rate rose to 8.98 percent from 8.54 percent.

The reports ended a short relief of two months when charge-offs declined, helped by tax refunds and economic stimulus actions.

“American consumers are still hurting, and especially coming into the Christmas season,” said Ken Crawford, senior portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.

How are some banks able to reduce overall delinquency vs other banks when the unemployment rate applies to all of them? Simply some banks tell a story, while others tell the truth.

I know banks have not increased business or revenues in this economy, nor have they reduced net losses.  I just hope that President Obama and Congress doesn’t bail them out again using taxpayer money when they come back asking for another bailout.  These insolvent banks need to be taken over by the FDIC and  restructured accordingly.

Since the video appeared, our lawmakers have passed laws to regulate credit card interest rates and fees from being raised without notice.  This in turn have forced the banks and credit card companies to preemptively raise rates and fees before the law takes effect.  They (visa, mastercard, discover, and american express)  have also found a loophole that allows them to avoid the law by simply changing all fixed rate credit cards now to variable interest rate cards.  You will notice many statements you now receive with little credit card inserts with terms of agreement updates.

DEBTORS REVOLT BEGINS NOW!

And from this video, I think many others may be following suit. Youtube has many other users from middle America also posting similar frustrations and anger against their creditors. They seem to be taking the same action.

Re: DEBTORS REVOLT BEGINS NOW!

Re: DEBTORS REVOLT BEGINS NOW!

Kill Bank of America

BofA: Bend Over America

debtors revolt-my first video

There are many more videos on youtube you can watch.  I think this reflects the attitude of many Americans in today’s economic environment.  During these bailouts, banks received 0% interest rate loans from the taxpayers and they turned around and started raising interest rates to 19.99 to 29.99 and possibly higher rates.   What would happen if everyone simply stopped paying all their credit cards at the same time?