Irate Bank Customers Staging Online Revolt

(CBS)  Ann Minch's YouTube video was the shot heard round the World Wide Web.

"I'm staging a debtors' revolt right here, right now," Minch says on the Internet video.

When Bank of America raised her credit card interest rate from 13 percent to a whopping 30 percent, Ann went viral, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

"I could get a better rate from a loan shark," she said online.

So she gave them her terms - lower the rate or she won't pay.

"Stick that in your bailout pipe and smoke it," Minch said.

The video was viewed a quarter million times. Thousands responded complaining about their own banks.

"Capital One, you can just kiss my a**," said one angry customer on an Internet video.

American banks are easy targets. They got billions in bailout funds and are now raising rates and fees on those very same taxpayers.

"Banks are doing whatever they can to squeeze the last dollar out of consumers," said Ed Mierzwinski of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

This year banks are expected to make more than $38 billion in overdraft fees alone, up from $18 billion in 1999.

The problem is your debit card. Instead of declining the sale when a customer's account is low, many banks allow it to go through and then charge the customer a hefty fee. The average overdraft fee at large banks is now nearly $35 dollars.

Some lawmakers want to require banks to get permission from customers before giving them overdraft protection. If they decline they can no longer spend what they don't have and would avoid the fees.

But perhaps to avoid more regulations, today Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase overhauled their overdraft polices. Both banks will now ask customers if they want overdraft protection. Bank of America won't charge a fee when an account is less than $10 overdrawn; at Chase it's $5 or less. Bank of America will cap the number of overdraft fees at four per day; Chase at three.

Yet banks say avoiding these fees should be simple.

"It is really up to the customer to know what their balance is and how much they have to spend," said Nessa Feddis of the American Bankers Association.

Yet banks can no longer ignore customer complaints now that they're online. After seeing Ann Minch's video, Bank of America called and lowered her rate.

Said Minch: "A small victory for this debtor's revolt movement."

Which may only be getting started.

[sweet_sue43]

10/5 Here we are again with Bank of America charging NSF fees on an account that never went negative. Bank of America continues these illegal practices in order to increase profits at the expense of the working people that support your bank! This is a disgusting practice and by the looks of it there are many angered people that are sick and tired of sitting around while BoA continues to steal from the very people that keep you afloat! I will bless the day when it all comes to an end and the ones on top lose their pot of gold and are shown for what they really are, thieves and crooks! I have been with your bank for 9 years and have my mortgage there as well, but like many others I am taking my business elsewhere. You will find out that the ?Wealthy customers? do not support BoA but us working class do.
BoA takes charges out of an account according to amount (highest to lowest) and not in the order they were made in order to charge as many as 10 NSF charges a day!!. This in many cases causes multiple NSF fees that should not have been there to begin with, in this case my account DID NOT GO NEGATIVE!!! So BoA DID NOT have to put up any money that wasn?t mine!!! I hope BoA finds good use for my $35, maybe it will go to the Ken Lewis pension fund!! 10/6 It has become apparent this is the way Bank of America makes their money. There was one charge that wasn?t valid, now Bank of America has mixed up the order in which these charges were taken out of my account in order to charge me $210 in NSF charges instead of the one $35 charge that should be there but wouldn?t if you hadn?t charged me days ago when I wasn?t over drawn. SHAME on you? You will not see this money, I have been down this road with BoA several times already- I will not be depositing anymore in this account you can keep the $35 you took the other day to cover the 1 NSF charge on the $375 transaction. That was the last transaction I made?.but BoA decided to take it out before the charges I made days ago? 10-7So here we are today?.. BoA has now charged me $210 in NSF charges ($175 in one day) for less than $80 (actually $45) overdraft which was actually one transaction so should only be a $35 NSF Charge. I will continue to note this account everyday, to the papers, to my Senator, Attorney General, and everyone else that will listen and believe me I think people will. BoA has stolen from me and my family for the last 9 years and I am fed up. This would be called Racketeering if I went down the street and borrowed money from a Thug and was charged this kind of interest rate. This is worse this is MY hard earned money and Bank of America sits around schemeing up ways to steal the food right out of my childrens mouths?again SHAME on you!! Look below and you tell me what is wrong with this picture????

[sweet_sue43]

10/5 Here we are again with Bank of America charging NSF fees on an account that never went negative. Bank of America continues these illegal practices in order to increase profits at the expense of the working people that support your bank! This is a disgusting practice and by the looks of it there are many angered people that are sick and tired of sitting around while BoA continues to steal from the very people that keep you afloat! I will bless the day when it all comes to an end and the ones on top lose their pot of gold and are shown for what they really are, thieves and crooks! I have been with your bank for 9 years and have my mortgage there as well, but like many others I am taking my business elsewhere. You will find out that the ?Wealthy customers? do not support BoA but us working class do.
BoA takes charges out of an account according to amount (highest to lowest) and not in the order they were made in order to charge as many as 10 NSF charges a day!!. This in many cases causes multiple NSF fees that should not have been there to begin with, in this case my account DID NOT GO NEGATIVE!!! So BoA DID NOT have to put up any money that wasn?t mine!!! I hope BoA finds good use for my $35, maybe it will go to the Ken Lewis pension fund!! 10/6 It has become apparent this is the way Bank of America makes their money. There was one charge that wasn?t valid, now Bank of America has mixed up the order in which these charges were taken out of my account in order to charge me $210 in NSF charges instead of the one $35 charge that should be there but wouldn?t if you hadn?t charged me days ago when I wasn?t over drawn. SHAME on you? You will not see this money, I have been down this road with BoA several times already- I will not be depositing anymore in this account you can keep the $35 you took the other day to cover the 1 NSF charge on the $375 transaction. That was the last transaction I made?.but BoA decided to take it out before the charges I made days ago? 10-7So here we are today?.. BoA has now charged me $210 in NSF charges ($175 in one day) for less than $80 (actually $45) overdraft which was actually one transaction so should only be a $35 NSF Charge. I will continue to note this account everyday, to the papers, to my Senator, Attorney General, and everyone else that will listen and believe me I think people will. BoA has stolen from me and my family for the last 9 years and I am fed up. This would be called Racketeering if I went down the street and borrowed money from a Thug and was charged this kind of interest rate. This is worse this is MY hard earned money and Bank of America sits around schemeing up ways to steal the food right out of my childrens mouths?again SHAME on you!! Look below and you tell me what is wrong with this picture????

[JimInNC]

When I was a kid my mother bought almost all my clothing at JCPenney. I was a Penney's customer all my life. One day I was late on a payment and they upped my interest to 28%. When I called them they said I had a late payment and as long as I was on time for three months they would lower the rate. I paid the loan off and have not set foot in a JCPenney for the last 20 years. I recommend this action. It is satisfying and has cost Penney's an awfully lot of my business. With BoA, I would just not pay them and tell them I considered the taxpayer bailout they received as my final payment.

[ag1999]

what the banks dont realize is that "Life Happens" and sometimes it is bad. All of the above comments are true and I feel like I have been hurt badly by the credit card crisis. She is totally correct on everything she said and I am waiting on Bof A to call me back right now. We have taken the hit for everything and the worst part of it all is that no one in our government cares. They only care about what the Chinese think right now because they were the ones that bought most of our bonds and helped to create this mess. When is main street going to wake up and say "NO MORE"

[sibabynurse]

YOU GO ANN!!!!!
My husband just had the same problem. 30% what highway robbery. In the old days they called the "loan sharks!" He called to attempt a lower rate...which they declined. So when Bk of America sent ME 1.99% balance transfer checks, I thought I'd pay off my husband's debts with my account offer. Their response was to lower our available credit and decline the inter-bank transfer. We have A+ credit. Have refinanced with their bank once before. How dare they?
Know what we did? Used another bank offer to pay them off completely. I was not upset to pay additional transfer fees to get their hands off my business!
After having hit my husband up for 600.00 monthly in interest only payments and the 600.00 initial transfer fees....that's it....I'm done with Bank of America forever. Maybe they will learn, when enough people simply walk away, that their bank depends on reasonable loans and customer service!

[sibabynurse]

YOU GO ANN!!!!!
My husband just had the same problem. 30% what highway robbery. In the old days they called the "loan sharks!" He called to attempt a lower rate...which they declined. So when Bk of America sent ME 1.99% balance transfer checks, I thought I'd pay off my husband's debts with my account offer. Their response was to lower our available credit and decline the inter-bank transfer. We have A+ credit. Have refinanced with their bank once before. How dare they?
Know what we did? Used another bank offer to pay them off completely. I was not upset to pay additional transfer fees to get their hands off my business!
After having hit my husband up for 600.00 monthly in interest only payments and the 600.00 initial transfer fees....that's it....I'm done with Bank of America forever. Maybe they will learn, when enough people simply walk away, that their bank depends on reasonable loans and customer service!

[nynancy]

I'm with CACath. I have never missed a credit card payment and always pay more than the minimum payment, although I frequently carry a balance on multiple cards due to irregular cash flow. Once the credit crisis hit, all of my card issuers - with one exception - began lowering my credit limits - first in a big lump and then every time I paid down the balance. Within 4 months, my FICO score went from over 780 to under 680 because my balances were over 50% of my limits! I have felt powerless to do anything about this, but this drop in my FICO score has really hurt me. So far, I haven't had any obscene rate hikes, but I'm sure that will be next. Now that my FICO score is in the toilet, I have been considering just stopping paying on the cards to get their attention. But - I'm chicken. I take my obligations seriously and it just seems to irresponsible. I don't know what the answer is, but I know I'll never trust these banks again and once my balances are paid off, I'm switching to cash!

[clowry1611]

sorry but taking overdraft protection away will not end the overdrawing of accounts. I work with debit cards and know the system inside out. you see the majority of people overdraw there account because they do not keep a simple check register. write your transactions down and you will NEVER overdraw your account. You see the reason overdraft protection is a non-issue is because gas stations usually only pre-authorize your account for $1.00. they will then later that night or the next day they will clear their card machines and the actual charge will come thru your account. So what i see a lot of is a person spends $30 for gas, but the pump only preauthorizes that $1. they go to an atm and get a balance inquiry and say wow i have extra money, let's go spend it. then they call the next day griping because they had the money at the time of the purchase. you see people are just too lazy to prevent their own overdrawing

[surfrdylan]

WHEN IS WASHINGTON GOING TO LISTEN. When Bank of America lowered my credit limit, it appeared on my credit report immediately. When I cashed out my 401 and paid off their card......2 1/2 months later and it does not appear on my credit report as paid off. Guess it only works in their favor.

[black_horse1]

Debtors Revolt: Good or Bad

I am for it, but in all fairness some debtors got some themselves in their fix. They failed to read the fine print on the back of the credit application. Credit Card companies try to lure people in with this fixed introduction rates of 5%, but if you read on the back after 6 months they hike the rate up to 27%. Capital One is one of the worst. They sent me a application once a week, every week for an entire year. I just graduated from college and was not employed yet. Many banks fish to their customers and offer credit to the wrong people. Then they turn around on the nightly news and complain to news reporters that they are protecting their shareholders- Then why offer credit to people who are unemployed? Duh! As for the Fine Print on the applications, the average American would need a telescope to read it. They use 3 pt font on the forms. What I can not understand is why these banks hurt the responsible customers. There was a report on CBS News about 2 months ago on a couple who had been customers of American Express for 22 years and never missed a payment. In November 2008, the husband was laid off and their November payment was 3 DAYS LATE. But do American Express say that?s okay? No they hike their interest rate from 11% to 30%. It like GM and Chrysler, recently my Chrysler (Jack Miller) dealership were we had purchase 3 cars from in Kansas City was forced by Chrysler to close. GM and Chrysler both went around the US ripping off dealers. Now if they ever come out of the seller ? Who would sell their cars? Car dealers will not touch them with a ten foot poll. Jack Miller ? one a big chain dealership and sold thousands of cars in Kansas City. I know he won?t.

So I applaud all of the responsible debtors for taking action ? Stop the Fine Print, Hooking Bad Customers and Rate Hikes!