Federal Rserves votes on 12/18/08 on new credit card rules

Fed to Vote on Sweeping Credit Card Rule Changes:
Rules changes will ban retroactive rate hikes...
The Federal Reserve is expected to vote this week to codify changes in credit card rules that would give consumers a much-requested break.

The rules package, set for a vote on Thursday, would stop credit card companies from retroactively raising interest rates on balances any time they want, and require a longer payment window before consumers can be charged late fees..

More info see: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/12/credit_cards_fed.html

Say No To Gift Cards

Why would anyone buy a gift card? It just doesn't make sense.
If you don't want to, to have time for, to care to buy a gift, then buy a nice greeting card and put the money it and send it.

Reasons to buy gift cards as gifts

1. The company may go broke by the time you try to use it.
2. The fees, time constraints may eat up the value of it.
3. They are a nuisance for the receiver to try to use and remember to use.
4. Show you by at least buying a nice greeting card.
5. Stop feeding the Credit Beasts!

Politicians' expertise is inadquate to their pretensions of omnicompetence

After writing my Senators and Congresswomen (CA) and getting emails essentially telling that they know better than I do about why bailouts are necessary I have been searching for the right words that express what I feel. I finally found them. I rarely read Newsweek, except that I found a copy in Deli was visiting and took it. Here are the words from George F. Will, Dec. 1, 2008, Newsweek, Page 64:
" Improper delegation is inherent in unlimited government, under which hyperkinetic legislators, for whom Attention-Deficit Disorder is an occupational hazard, are jacks of all trades and masters of none. Their expertise is inadquate to their pretensions of omnicompetence."

Stop the bailouts and help the the actual person working hard to pay bils and raise a family.

Obama's win shows that we can take control of our government

Now that Senator Obama is President Elect we reflect on how and why he won no matter you supported.
There is a very good article called The Digital President by Adam Cahill that talks about the Social Internet Media experiment that created the Obama movement and made us feel that we are important in the political process.

In think our Senators/Representatives and all elected officials who care about staying in office and care about really doing the "PEOPLE'S BUSINESS" should listen up. Because now that we have all tasted these powerful media to create a movement it will be hard to go back into box and leave our elected officials to continue to ignore us such as the Wall Street Bail Out:

Here are his points: Create the MyWhiteHouse.com;Reach Across the 'Digital' Aisle;
Multiple Points of Entry;Legislative Co-creation;Listening, Feedback, and Guidance ;
Enable Grassroots Community Service.

See http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=132304 for the compelete article by Adam Cahill's post on Advertising Age

How is your Credit Score is hurting you?

Have you received a letter from your credit card company raising your rate, or cancelling your coard, or reducing your available credit?

Alot of us have. And it is hurting.

Remember that when you have a balance on your credit card and your available credit goes down your debt to available credit ratios go up and this will hurt your scoring which means you may not qualify for a loan.

Also, I have received a lot emails/calls/visits from people who have been foreclosed and now cannot rent since their credit score is severely damaged.
I think something has to be done so that your Credit Score is not the only factor to exclude you from the renter pool.

10 Years Later, Do Banks have an image problem.

Hi everyone: I found this article from 1995 asking whether Banks Have An Image Problem.
Well it was true then and it is true now.

The reality is that banks are there to make money and when things go bad they have the U.S. Government to bail them out. Isn't this true. You read and and you decide:

Here is the article excerpt:

Do Banks Have an Image Problem? You Decide
Journal article; ABA Banking Journal, Vol. 87, 1995
Journal Article Excerpt
Do banks have an image problem? You decide
It's not as though banks have suddenly become financial pariahs. The industry is still a force to be reckoned with. Take the fact that 80% of bank customers consider commercial banks to be their primary financial institutions. That's welcome news, especially considering the many alternatives consumers have for financial services these days. Bankers can also feel good that 65% of these same consumers are very satisfied with their primary institution.
But before you conclude that all is well with the banking world, consider: Of this same group of bank users, 41% thought the loan process was difficult; 49% did not think banking fees were appropriate; only 33% strongly agreed that banks provide good value for the money; and only 31% strongly agreed that bankers care about their communities. Nothing to feel real good about there.
That's a sample of the intriguing and sometimes contrasting findings that came out of a major study of consumer attitudes and knowledge of banking commissioned by the American Bankers Association. If the results could be summarized in a one-sentence letter from a typical consumer to his bank, it might read like this:
"Dear Bank:
I know you're important, and I use you, but I don't particularly like you or believe you when you tell me about all the good work you do."
A nagging sense of trouble
The study was conducted last fall by the Gallup Organization, Princeton, N.J., at the behest of the ABA Communications Council. Comprising 19 bank CEOs and bank public affairs officers, the council had been wrestling with the issue of banking's image for some time.
"There's no shortage of banking research," notes Thomas G. Strohm, 1994-95 council chairman and executive vice-president, Meridian Bancorp, Reading, Pa., "but some of...
more info read:
http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=JGXWBWJ6xRlDmJLVhhJTy4WW9MxFTjCqYv5VQM5xrsBtX6mfCwlv!381329073?docId=5000353054

"We the People...Have Had Our Trust Broken"

I listen to the news on TV and radio. I read the news on the Internet, Newspapers and Magazines. I listen to our Great but Distasteful Congress members and senators and other politicians spit words out and I just don’t believe their words. I don’t believe in what I read anymore.

The issue is trust. Just a few weeks ago our government and business leaders were telling us that we were the strongest economy, that the “signs” looked good. And then things just starting crashing, one thing right after another.

With the talk of help, of bailouts, the average American has been left to fend for herself.

Where’s the help to us, The People of These Great United States Have Had our Trust and Spirit Broken.

Do banks care about the unbearable stress in you lifre and impact on your family

It's easy to get the numbers: X foreclosures, X sales down, X bank failures, X unemployeement, etc. But what about the human toll on us all. What about the physical, psychological stress of the economy, of losing your house, your car, your job.

This economic crises has hit us all like a bullet. The government kept telling us that everything was ok, that the "fundamentals" were ok. But they lied.
And know, I have clients, family members, friends and myself unable to sleep. I worry how will I pay my mortgage if I lose my job. How will I help my brothers and sisters? What about the extra money I normally give my mother for additional food and medicines?

I feel sick. I feel scared. I feel like crying. And yet I have to go on and figure out what do next!

How your credit report can then kill you after your foreclosure has destroyed you.

Ok. So the bank has foreclosed on your house. So you think the worst is over and you start clean. After the stress, the hearthaches, embarassment, time, the anger, the feeling lonely, the fear you think that the worst is over. Wrong.

Did you notice that while you where late on paying your mortgage, your credit cards raised their rates, o cancelled your credit cards. Did you notice that you were being rejected for Jobs, for renting a house, an apartment?

The damage continues due to how lenders, banks, employers, landlords use your CREDIT REPORT. Your credit history, your credit score will continue to destroy you even after your foreclosure or your bankruptcy.

And yet nothing is being done! What we need is a freeze on what credit reports report and how this information is being used.

Ooops. It's not our fault the economy is in recession.

I am still angry, and upset and feel that we have been lied to by our government and wall street.
And I am angry that congress is still not coming up clean and has not offered a solution that helps us the average person. Do you think that Wall Street executives or Nancy Pelosi, or Boxer or Feinstein or Bush, or Paulson feel the pain that we feel paying $4.00 per gallon of gas, paying our dental and doctor bills...Do they really care that we have to choose between having a cell phone, home line, cable or DSL, or eating?
And all paulson can say "Sorry for the mistakes."


Paulson regrets mistakes on economy
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
Thursday, October 16, 2008
(10-16) 09:01 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday expressed regret for the many errors made that led to the biggest financial crisis in seven decades, but he insisted the administration is pursuing the correct course now to end the debacle.

"We're not proud of all the mistakes that were made by many different people, different parties, failures of our regulatory system, failures of market discipline that got us here," Paulson said in an interview on Fox Business Network.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/16/financial/f080421D41.DTL&tsp=1

How Congress pushed Fannie Mae to extreme loans

Here is great article on Fannie and how it got into the mess its in. Perhaps, it wasn't even its fault. It seems that it was pushed to extreme loans by Congress:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/business/05fannie.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print


October 5, 2008, The New York Time
Pressured to Take More Risk, Fannie Reached Tipping Point
By CHARLES DUHIGG
“Almost no one expected what was coming. It’s not fair to blame us for not predicting the unthinkable.“— Daniel H. Mudd, former chief executive, Fannie Mae
When the mortgage giant Fannie Mae recruited Daniel H. Mudd, he told a friend he wanted to work for an altruistic business. Already a decorated marine and a successful executive, he wanted to be a role model to his four children — just as his father, the television journalist Roger Mudd, had been to him.
Fannie, a government-sponsored company, had long helped Americans get cheaper home loans by serving as a powerful middleman, buying mortgages from lenders and banks and then holding or reselling them to Wall Street investors. This allowed banks to make even more loans — expanding the pool of homeowners and permitting Fannie to ring up handsome profits along the way.
But by the time Mr. Mudd became Fannie’s chief executive in 2004, his company was under siege. Competitors were snatching lucrative parts of its business. Congress was demanding that Mr. Mudd help steer more loans to low-income borrowers. Lenders were threatening to sell directly to Wall Street unless Fannie bought a bigger chunk of their riskiest loans.

Who got rich and elected in this Bail Out and Crises

OK. So the President signed the bill, the Senate and House passed Wall Street Bail out to rescue Fannie Mae and Fredie Mac?
Apparently, "they know better than we do." But it is our money and yet we get no help. I am still seeing people on daily basis losing their jobs, credit card letters cancelling credit cards and equity lines gone: even from people who have not been late or in default.

This really shows that there is difference between the Democrates and Republicans. They along with the Banks don't care.
See Foxnews program which politican benefited from the support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432522,00.html
This is an excellent overview by reporter David Asman and politics and way Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, and Schumer wanted this passed.

Burn the Credit Cards

Do you really think that if the Bail Out is not passed or credit is squeezed or not available that Banks will starve? NO!! The banks will survive and those that don't deserve to die...But we know that banks will come up with new products, Wall street will invent new junk products to sell to greedy investors(us all), and we will be brainwashed to use these new products.

Let's stop using Credit Cards. What's wrong with living within out means...
Why do I need 4 HDTVs, 2 cards, etc.

Wake up...This may be a positive and shocking awakening we need to realize the trap we have fallen into.

The Arrogance of our Senators

Yesterday before the vote I email my senators( CA Feinstein, Boxer) pleading with them to not vote for the Wall Street Bail Out. Did they listen? NO.
How arrogant that our Senators think they know what the "common" hard working person feels!
The bail out may help and it may not. That not point. We don't know.
Wall Street crashed and recovered.

My point is that we should look at alternatives. Why rush into this costly project. What happened to free enterprise? If we are going to start nationalizing companies, then lets start with: 1. Free Healthcare to everyone 2. Free Education to everyone.
Wouldn't this be investing in the national population and just on the rich?

How can a senator know more than us? So far they have proven unable to lead.

Stop the blame game and helps us out of this mess

I am tired of hearing that it is the Republican's fault, the Democrate's fault...We hear Obama attacking the Bush administration, and McCain sort of asleep to the reality of the problem. And then we have Nancy Pelosi blaming the President.
The truth is: we have a do nothing congress. And these problems did not start with Bush. They have been in the making for a while.
So if we are going to help the banks, etc. Why not help out the home owner on the verge of losing his/her home.

List of Banks Failures

Banks that have failed in 2008. This year (as of September 14, 2008) eleven banks have failed according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Silver State Bank , Henderson , Nev. , Closed: Sept. 5, 2008
Integrity Bank, Alpharetta , Ga. , Closed: Aug. 29, 2008
The Columbian Bank and Trust, Topeka , Kan. , Closed: Aug. 22, 2008
First Priority Bank, Bradenton , Fla. , Closed: Aug. 1, 2008
First Heritage Bank, Newport Beach , California , Closed: July 25, 2008
First National Bank of Nevada , Reno , Nev. , Closed: July 25, 2008
IndyMacBank, Pasadena , Calif , Closed: July 11, 2008
First Integrity Bank, Staples, Minn , Close May 30, 2008
ANB Financial, Bentonville, Ark. Closed: May 9, 2008
Hume Bank , Hume , Mo. Closed: March 7, 2008
Douglass National Bank , Kansas City , Mo. , Closed: Jan. 25, 2008
Click here for more information
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac also fail. On September 7, 2008 the federal government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday in a bid to keep the two mortgage giants from failing, catastrophes that would have made home loans harder to get and taken the nation's housing collapse to a new level of crisis. How Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac work:

Stop Using Credit Cards!!!

Anybody who has a credit card, financed a car, house, education, medical bill knows that it is a game in the banks favor. The banks charges us for everything through fees & interest rates. We are their profits, and we also pay for their mistakes, their bad loans. And congress and our political leaders in their hands. So who fights us? So is on our side. Sadly, no one.

But we do have say: our behavior. The only power the banks have over us is the fear that "you will ruin your credit score" if you don't pay. Fine. I say so what!

My recommendation for you and something I am trying to follow more each day:
1. let the bank foreclose on my house.
2. Let it ruin my credit.
3. Stop using credit cards --if you cannot pay for it in cash, then don't buy. Save up for it.

I can bet you that if more of us start doing this, the banks will care! They will not die. The laws and Congress favors them--they will come up with new products for us.

If you buy what you can afford and pay for, or only use credit for real emergencies, you will have a simpler life and probably a better quality of life.
Cut down on cable, internet, buying Starbucks, etc.
Bring lunch to work!
Take a walk with your friends and family instead of shopping.

Do Banks Care when you're losing your home?

Actually this question should be, Does Anyone Care when you're losing your home?


There is so much talk in the media about how the government(Federal, State, Local), non-profits, lenders can you help solving your mortgage problems. In reality I think it is all talk.

As a real estate agent I have spent months, hundreds of hours on the telephone, fill out hundreds of forms trying to negotiate with the lenders on behalf of my clients. And rarely has anyone been helped.

And now I find myself in the same boat. Since Jan 2008 I have been strugling to make my mortgage payments. In January I called Washington Mutual and Bank of America to see what my alternatives would be me. I called the credit counseling non-profits. While they all listen to me they pretty much said that they cannot even begin to help until I STOP MAKING PAYMENTS ON MY MORTGAGE.

I asked about recasting my loan, about lower the monthly payment, lowering the interest, forgiving part of the debt to due to property values going way down. And the answer is always NO,NO,NO.

Well, now it is May I stopped paying my mortgage to Bank of American and Washington Mutual. Now that I am late, they say that "they can work on my case." But first I have to fill out a lot of paper work.

Ok. They say there are no guarantees, and that any decision will take months. Meanwhile my credit will be ruined, which will in turn create othe problems.

Well, I think I started my path to hell of stress and anxiety.

For all the talk in the media, non profits, etc. that tell you that if you are having problems making the mortgage payments on your house that they can help