Comments on: BofA and Discover Aren’t The Good Guys

By: Pete

Pete — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:08:39 +0000

What did you expect from BofA? After all, they issued credit cards and debit cards to illegal aliens.

By: Terrin

Terrin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:02:22 +0000

It is hard to feel sorry for Bank of America credit card losses. As soon as Congress said they were going to pass some laws to make things more fair in the way companies deal with consumers, companies like Bank of America raised their rates substantially regardless of the card holders had been paying on time. This caused many people to not be able to make the payments. So instead of paying back the money, instead they filed Bankruptcy instead and didn’t pay anything back.

If you ever lose your job, try calling Bank of America and asking for some help in reducing the payments. It ain’t going to happen.

By: Frank Fitton

Frank Fitton — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:51:48 +0000

Annual fees have to be looked at as nothing but pure profit motive for the banks. Its just another in the long line of revenue enhancing policies by credit card companies. As soon as one way of making money is taken away, they just come back with another one.

What Bank of America is doing here is sticking it to the people that don’t play the credit game the way they want you to play it. It seems to me that these would have to be the people that pay off their entire balance at the end of each month. Those people are the really truly financially responsible people, and Bank of America doesn’t really want them as customers.

What I compare this too is imagine if you go to the grocery store and only buy items that are on sale every week. You spend your time searching out the deals and are applauded by some as a smart shopper. The grocery store then realizes this and based on that to decide to assess you an annual shopping fee. That wouldn’t sit right with anyone and I don’t see how the credit card companies should be allowed to get away with this.

By: Brian J. Donovan

Brian J. Donovan — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:51:27 +0000

The average interchange fee in the U.S. is seven times the interchange fee set by Visa and MasterCard in countries throughout the rest of the world. Using 2008 figures, if the interchange fee charged by credit card issuers was decreased (via comprehensive credit card reform legislation) from the current 2.10% to 0.60%, the result would be an annual savings of approximately $34.3 billion for U.S. merchants and consumers. Credit card issuers could retain 0.3% as a processing fee, the remaining 0.3% could be a “tax” used to fund a Natural Disaster Trust Fund (NDTF). In 2008, this would have generated $6.86 billion in funding for a NDTF.

Let’s be clear. The interchange fee is a hidden tax, just not a tax subject to political control or for which there is any discernible social benefit. Decreasing, and imposing a transparent tax on, the interchange fee would have the same stimulus effect of a tax break, but without an impact on the federal budget.

The following article discusses how comprehensive, standardized, simplified, and transparent credit card reform legislation may fund a Natural Disaster Trust Fund.

http://www.csnews.com/csnews/images/pdf/creditcardreform.pdf

By: Rate Chaser

Rate Chaser — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:51:48 +0000

Once you talk about bailouts for everyone it becomes socially acceptable, no stigma, everyone wants on the bailout train! The question now, how the heck do you stop it?

By: Credit Card Chaser

Credit Card Chaser — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:43:02 +0000

You might want to take a look at this article on Bloomberg that shows that BOA just incurred 4.7 billion in losses on its credit card operations: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJsix7KnpWYE

By: Obama

Obama — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:50:59 +0000

Just goes to show you, the banks should not have received a dime. Let the losers fail!