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Econwatch
June 16, 2009 8:20 AM

Credit Issuers Play Let's Make A Deal

By
Sean Alfano
Topics
Credit Cards
(iStockphoto)
With bailouts all the rage, it was only a matter of time before people who racked up large debts on their credit cards would see some of the debt forgiveness action.

As The New York Times reports, some companies are working with their delinquent customers to eliminate balances. The companies have revised guidelines, the Times reports, and in some cases are calling up customers before they call the companies.

"Now it's the card company calling you and saying, 'Let's talk turkey,'" David Robertson, publisher of the credit industry journal The Nilson Report, told the Times.

Not surprisingly, few companies would actually confirm this practice is going on, though the Times reports some have been cutting customers a break since last fall. The article begins with a story about an HSBC customer who agreed to pay half his nearly $5,500 balance to get the bank to wipe away the entire debt.

Click here to read the entire New York Times article.

Add a Comment See all 16 Comments
by Bushbandit01 July 27, 2009 11:25 PM EDT
idiot thinking that closing the account would null and VOID the current charges or the fact that I can actually pay in full and just close the account She then told me the current amount and somewhere in this cluster she told me that I needed to get a credit report and check that They need to check the recording of the conversation If they even really do that and see what is going on but once again they don?t really care about you or me ?CHASE & CITI BANK ?and we won?t even go into the $300.00 card I held that would not upgrade me even though I held a several thousand dollar major card at that time

They will be surprised when they get one more payment and no more interest from ME...
They will need a bail out soon if they keep running there company in this manner
While my Alaska Air credit card just keeps going up without having to ask...
So all the info on how to get raises from them seems to be a crap shoot
I think that the next time you feel like gambling with either one of these companies you should toss a hand full of cash in the toilet Flush and just keep what is still floating
Or get A Alaska Air Credit card they seem to care about the costumer and understand how to keep good costumers
There customer service is A #1 with me...I have always been treated very respectably.
Reply to this comment
by Bushbandit01 July 27, 2009 11:23 PM EDT
CITI BANK AND CHASE STEER CLEAR OF THEM
I think this is more of a statement and complaint about service that should not be!
It?s just is not right.
Let?s start with the first company Citi Bank they decided to lower my limit right after I made a $2000.00 payment so I would be able to use it on vacation
What a surprise when I went to use it and they had actually lowered it to a point that I was over my limit...
When they were called they told me that I had some stuff on my credit report that justified the decrease.
I had always made my payments on time and more than the minimum amount
I found out someone else had filed bankruptcy and they not me had screwed up the my wife?s SSI number and
I had that fixed before we left
I was told that timely payments was not the way they justified raises or the way they did business
I closed the account paid it in full that is the way I do Business

The second one was another letter that I got today stating that Chase
The company that just bought Washington Mutual my VISA Card Found that I was in a high risk category
Yet another one I always paid on time and more than the monthly payment
I am employed full time and have not missed any payments yet one of their reasons was that
I had not upheld other monthly card agreements for payments and my credit history was less that 24 months?
I have had this card for years like 9 and 3 company buy outs this is just is just B.S. Yet another one
I have just paid in full and closed so apparently my risk was not all that justified
The woman I spoke with was RUDE and hung up before I could say anything after she ask me if there was anything else she could do for me? I may also add that while talking to her the whole time I was calm and did not raise my voice was not rude after I heard there reasoning I just stated that I would like to know what the balance was to pay it off and to close it then I was told she could not do that she could close the account now and that I would still get statements for the charges on the card like I was a some
Reply to this comment
by riddelup June 19, 2009 6:54 AM EDT
The banks get a bailout and gloat and brag when they pay it back. Give me several billion dollars with no interest and no time limit for repayment. Let me then lend part of the money out at 16% and use the rest to shore up my bad investments and mismanagement.
Reply to this comment
by juliemarty June 19, 2009 4:45 AM EDT
If anyone has had any luck with any of these companies, could you please post it for the ones that cannot find one to work with you. We've almost lost once and just got a second chance that want last long so I need to get something done now, so if anyone knows the right number to call, i am sure a lot of people that hasn't found them would appreciate it but check out http://obamamortgage2009.blogspot.com or obamamortgage2009.blogspot.com
Reply to this comment
by johnjacobs4 June 17, 2009 3:43 PM EDT
I consolidated my cards 20 years ago. My payments went up. I missed one. The interest started at 7.9. I could meet those payments, once the interest started jumping up, they put my payments way out of my financial reach. If, they wouldn't have tried to screw me like a step child. They probably would have been paid off years ago. The jumping on my rate never seemed to stop. I owed $7000. Now twenty years later. It's $26,675 that I owe. I never charged another thing. Vampires on my ass all the time. I hope Pres. Obama tries to take care of the injustices, that was going on in the past also.
Reply to this comment
by johnjacobs4 June 17, 2009 3:41 PM EDT
I consolidated my cards 20 years ago. My payments went up. I missed one. The interest started at 7.9. I could meet those payments, once the interest started jumping up, they put my payments way out of my financial reach. If, they wouldn't have tried to screw me like a step child. They probably would have been paid off years ago. The jumping on my rate never seemed to stop. I owed $7000. Now twenty years later. It's $26,675 that I owe. I never charged another thing. Vampires on my ass all the time. I hope Pres. Obama tries to take care of the injustices, that was going on in the past also.
Reply to this comment
by credibility2 June 16, 2009 12:18 PM EDT
Anyone who enters into debt that isn't secured, such as a credit card, maxes them out and uses multiple credit cards are deadbeat morons who are also responsible for the economic crisis. Who do these bottom-feeders think they are? It's not the credit card company's fault that people clearly were undisciplined, lived well beyond their means, weren't prepared for any financial upheavals, and then deliberately and out of spite turned unethical and immoral. Because of scum like these deadbeats, my interest is going to be doubled so my credit card company can try and recoup the losses to them solely created by credit card deadbeats. And, I got news for any of you out there who think they've won the system. Your credit is now destroyed, as it should be. I hope you'll never ever again be able to get anything new that involves credit. And, to those who think they can close their accounts once they pay off their debt, or get parts of it forgiven, your credit is destroyed too. You've now closed down available credit limits. These deadbeat bottom-feeders are probably quick to blame Wall St. for the economic ills of our nation, yet they fail to accept personal liability and responsibility for also contributing to the crisis. Lastly, to YCantWeAllGetAlong - I hope you fall flat on your greedy immoral conscience and lose every last thing you've ever owned. You're unworthy and undeserving of any sympathy. Probably when your house goes into foreclosure, you'll gloat about how you ripped all of the cabinets off of the walls, destroyed carpeting, threw paint on the walls, and stole all of the appliances, among other forms of malicious vandalism because you want to spite your mortgage holder and hold them responsible and accountable for your own demise.
Reply to this comment
by ibsteve2u June 16, 2009 12:42 PM EDT
In another life, credibility2 was Ebenezer Scrooge.
by tmittelstaed June 16, 2009 4:48 PM EDT
For starters you don't know the situations of these people. What about the person who put a $4000 medical bill on a credit card, and over the last 2 years has paid well more than $4K back to the card company but still has thousands more to owe that are nothing more than compounded interest charges?

I agree the deadbeats who use the loopholes to get out of debt that they took on with open eyes, deserve our scorn. But not all of these debts are like this. Many are legit and would be repaid if the card companies offered reasonable interest rates.

Unfortunately the way the credit card companies seem to like doing things is they loan out a few hundred then jack the interest up to obscene levels, then when the person has paid back double the principle the card company is willing to write off 1/2 of the debt. The card company is still coming out way ahead.

Don't be too sure about credit card companies paying any attention to ruined credit in the future. I would bet money that the poster who completed his bankruptcy is, today, getting preapproved credit card offers in the mail. The only difference between their preapproved credit card offers and the ones that you and I get in the mail is that ours have higher credit limits on them. Credit card companies love to get people right after bankruptcy because the person is then free of debt to other debetors, that would cause them to not pay back the credit card company, and is legally prevented from filing bankruptcy for another 6 years.

People who think the current economic crisis is going to result in a lasting change to how credit card companies behave have rocks in their heads. The only thing that is going to change is banks are going to be a lot more careful about loaning money out on home sales, because banks now realize that home property values can drop - something that nobody thought would ever happen. But, the credit card companies have been used to people getting credit cards then declaring bankruptcy for many many years, and have figured out how to deal with that in their business plans. The current economic situation just means that more bankruptcies will happen, but the card companies will easily adapt.
by YCantWeAllGetAlong June 16, 2009 9:36 AM EDT
They wouldn't talk to me when I lost my job at the beginning of the recession. They were rude and unmoved. So, we filed bankruptcy and stuck it to all of them. They got nothing and weren't able to contact us anymore. Now, we live debt free in the same home that we didn't lose (thanks to the real estate market crashing, our house was worth less than we owed) and we kept our vehicle. Filing before tax refund time, we were able to be discharged before we received our refund and instead of having to use it to pay down debt, we treated ourselves to some nice home improvements that upped the value of our home. I will never have a credit card again. I have my savings in a safe place and it's not like the interest I'm missing would be sad to lose. What .035%? You can keep your banks. I hope the credit card companies fail for their greed.
Reply to this comment
by timetrips1 June 16, 2009 11:50 AM EDT
YCantWeAllGetAlong, while I have no love for the Credit Card companies, they are a business, and as such are in business to make a profit. Nobody forced you to take their credit cards and spend up more than you could pay. Your loosing your job is not their fault and doesn't negate your financial obligation nor does it obligate them to change the conditions of their loan to you.

Filing for bankruptcy is the legal means to discharge debts you can not pay and you seem to have followed the legal steps. Hopefully you have learned a lesson and will start "saving" money from your pay check and not borrow more than you can reasonably repay.
by the74blaster June 16, 2009 2:00 PM EDT
That sounds like a typical credit card company. I cannot believe that the government sat back and left these companies jack the interest rates to astonomical levels.

In a reply I noticed the comment that credit card companies are a business and they are in it to make a profit. That is well understood. However, if they jack the interests rates when someone losses their job they also made a business decision to gouge the customer.

Its the business approach as someone buying a truckload of plywood and trying to sell it in an area under a hurrican warning. The only difference is the small guy renting the truck gets charged with gouging and the credit card companies got away with it.

In short, anyone carrying a large debt with credit cards should do the same as you did. The credit card companies deserve it and our government has done little to stop predatory loan practices.
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