From Progress Michigan’s website:
“Today, JP Morgan Chase has sent a signal to the American workforce that they are more interested in churning greedy profits than saving hardworking families from poverty and joblessness,” said Jane Hamsher, founder of FireDogLake.com. “By closing out our Chase accounts and slicing up our credit cards, we’ll be signaling back to the bank that we are interested in rescuing the middle class and preventing Chase from lining its pockets. Boycott JP Morgan Chase today, and save a working American family.”
While I await direct contact with the plastic snipper (robertfarago1@gmail.com), I called Progress Michigan for a little insight into the organization and their cause. After all, if The Detroit News thinks it’s a big story, it must be a big story, right? Define “big.” To that end, I had a little chat with Emma Richardson, PM’s freelance writer. “We’re focusing on saving American jobs and the middle class,” Ms. Richardson opined. As for how bailout-sucking Chase threatens those jobs, and the reasons behind the bank’s decision not to get a buzz cut, let’s just say Ms. Richardson is slightly uninformed.
Ms. Richardson claimed Chase was refusing to negotiate with Chrysler (talks are ongoing). She didn’t know what other banks were involved (JPMorgan Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley). She didn’t how much money was involved ($6.8bn). She didn’t know what offers had been made and/or rejected. She didn’t know who owns Chrysler (Cerberus) or Cerberus’ financial status.
When pressed on these questions, Ms. Richardson said she “didn’t want to get into a debate.” So I didn’t discuss the fact that Chase holds first-lien secured debt on Chrysler meaning they are first in line when the company files for C11 or C7. Or that Chrysler’s assets were pledged as collateral for the loans, so they stand to recover a fair portion of their bad paper.
Because then Ms. Richardson would have even MORE ammo for the greedy Chase meme, and I’d have to counter with Chase’s obligations to its shareholders and employees and repaying its federal loans and the fact that Chrysler pissed away the money in the first place and all sorts of moral gray areas. So, never mind, then.
Which, at the moment, typifies the response to the campaign to put Chase’s nuts in a vice to save Chrysler workers’ jobs. So far, the campaigns Facebook page has 166 members. Progress Michigan has promised to call me back with the number of people who’ve signed firedoglake’s online petition. Meanwhile, what’s the bet the MSM will be ALL over this thing, giving it the oxygen of publicity.
As, of course, I’ve just done.
I’m sorry that you think the web site you quote is a source for facts…but it will be fun to watch them implode with buyer’s remorse!
A real web septic tank. You can do better.
Well, best of luck with the boycott of Chase. I wonder if the local credit union will be buying Chrysler bonds.
Just liquidate it already and let’s move on.
Chrysler losses may be one reason Chase is being so mean to its credit card customers. I had two Chase cards. In 2006 they send out an offer of 3.99% until paid in full. I’m very careful to read the fine print about fees and terms before accepting any credit card offers.
It looked like a good deal to me so I accepted and borrowed the max I could. Recently Chase decided it didn’t like me anymore (and apparently many others) and arbitrarily started charging a $10 monthly service fee. And they tripled the monthly payments none of which I ever missed or was late.
Fortunately I had enough cash to pay the thing off which was my plan if any credit card lender gets obnoxious. So I did. Low and behold the next month they charged a $10 service fee on the remainder of interest after the pay off. I paid it hoping that would be the end of it. The following month I received a statement for $10 fee on a zero balance. This is all contrary to any agreements or notices I ever received from them.
So I called to ask why I was being charged the $10 fee on a zero balance. After waiting on the phone for about 45 minutes for a live representative, I was told the fee would be waved if I closed my account. I happily agreed.
Chase is a dishonest lender. Do not trust them as they change terms without notice and they blame credit card customers in general for the defaults of other card holders and for other mistakes in lending that Chase itself has made. I still have one Chase card and am expecting them to do the same thing again.
They punish their most credit worthy and dependable customers simply because they take “too long” to pay off the balance. The “too long” is an arbitrary time frame imposed at Chase’s discretion and not the implied length of the credit card terms. I did not ask for the loan. Chase offered it and I accepted. Then they renege on the deal. Watch out.
Overpaid bolt-tightener, Darth Feinberg-Arbitraged, blameshifting aside;
-I have to agree with @97escort. Chase is capricious and disdainful of its retail banking customers.
Can’t imagine what bank is forgiving in this climate, but don’t Ever screw up on Chase, they will make you pay for it.
++’residual interest’ on credit cards (+ all the other recent sneaky fees) is pretty amazing, non? [looks over at CitiBank, too]
… didn’t there used to be laws against Usury?
Not on the subject of Chrysler, but rather JPMorgan Chase… they could easily be considered the worst bank in the world, and the irony is that they’re mostly responsible for the subprime meltdown (though not for Chrysler’s uh… lack of good product.) I’ve had to take them to court twice (I won), but simply put, nobody should be doing business with Chase. At all. Ever.
I would support liquidating JPMorgan Chase and giving the money to the monkeys running Chrysler.
Chase has over 200k employees. So those employees are of no concern to Ms. Richardson?
Chase is one of the member banks of the Federal Reserve, you are honestly expecting them to be nice?
While I’m no huge Chrysler fan, I can vouch for the fact that Chase is a pretty sleazy company. I don’t think this action will have any noticeable impact on Chase though.
This is classic. Like Chase really gives a shit what she does with her money or credit cards. Make sure you pay that balance off with some that loot you withdrew.
So all that preceded this situation does not matter, it’s all Chase’s fault they are going down. Never mind the real causes, the populace is supposed to think that continuing the supposed gravy train for Michigan and the UAW workers (who worked 30 years for their retirement) hinges on rich bankers.
Well honey, the rest of us worked for our retirement too, only we have to squirrel away money every month and do without things to enjoy our golden years. And that is going to get a lot fucking tougher when the taxes go up to pay for the bailout of the auto industry. The nerve of these people to be so short sighted and selfish. They already get more than any other class of worker today and we are supposed to supplement it? How about Chase shareholders, don’t they count?
Sink these companies soon.
So the logic is this:
Borrower borrow money from lender. The lender becomes pure evil when he wants his money back?
No wonder no one wants to save and everyone wants to borrow in this country.
As for dishonest credit card policies, consumers should stand together and boycott any wrong-doers. And please spread the word as far as possible.
Currently, I am using MasterCard from PC Financial (Canadian Superstore). I am quite happy with it. I get 1% (or a bit more?) store credit. The customer service is good. About 2 minutes wait time if you wish to speak to a person.
How about the rest of us boycott Chrysler instead?
Boycott Chase and Chrysler.
willman :
“… didn’t there used to be laws against Usury?”
Not anymore.
I’m glad that we still have people like Ms Richardson.The blue collar former middle class,may have been knocked down a few notches on the socio economic scale,but thier a long ways from giving up.
I’ve said it before,but it bears repeating.Workers are being pushed and beat up,and down trodden,and used like pawns.Some of it real,some perceived.
The multinational corporations are cultivating,and fertilizing the very ground where unions take root.
Ms Richardson may not be well informed,but she can articulate her point.I got’a a fairly good grasp on how blue collars think.A lifetime on the factory floor will do that.
Better take note,we havn’t heard the last of Ms Richardson and her like.So she’s only got a hundred or so supporters.What was the number of hits that TTAC started with RF?
@GS650G…I buy into your arguement sir.You were carefull with your money,and you saved for retirement.Fair enough its your money you deserve to keep it.
We autoworkers were told “don’t worry x number of dollars of your hourly wage is going to support your retirement pension”.
So we spent it on houses, and cars and furniture.
I shudder to think of what I blew on my kids
education.Yeah and I managed to stash a little bit for myself.
Now they come to us and say “sorry we kind’a f–ked up a little bit”
YEAH! you might say we are a little bitter.
Note to self…stop typing now before you end up in RF’s dog house
@no_slushbox: Interesting! -Found it here (ttac trims the link’s trailing dot):
http://www.google.com/search?q=http%3A//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquette_Nat._Bank_of_Minneapolis_v._First_of_Omaha_Service_Corp.
-to that end: Federal Schmederal. The spirit behind anti-usury was to limit rates, b/c above a certain %, it became near-impossible to eventually pay off the debt.
For some reason ~23% is the upper limit I remember.
Today’s tacked on Sneaky Fees usu. make it well above that.
++@no_slushbox: You and I should start a bank/cc; -based purely upon not doing the crappy things that BoA, Chase and MBNA do.
Unknowingly (U.S. Bank lets it go through without a peep) overdraw a U.S. Bank Debit card by even a dime and the hit is $8 per day. They will rack up the penalty for a couple months without notifying you.
The next thing you know, the $580 run-up is headed to colletion.
That’s
U.S. Bank.
U.S. Bank.
U.S. Bank.
U.S. Bank.
U.S. Bank.
U.S. Bank.
U.S. Bank.
Here’s a scam I’ve been running into… I pay off my gas credit cards each and every month. Exxon-Mobile has conveniently not sent my bill every third month. I don’t see the bill, don’t think about it, so obviously don’t pay it. Next month, get nailed with interest and late fees. Taken me two cycles to figure this out. this is the only credit account bill I do not receive. We’ve stopped using the card and will likely close the account.
Here is a more complete list of financial institutions that should be boycotted for taking our tax money:
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/st_BANKMONEY_20081027.html
Marquette Nat. Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp. is, as the Wikipedia article mentions, one of the most important cases of the 20th century.
It effectively took away states’ rights to regulate usury. Yet the supposedly religious, supposedly pro states’ rights right wing never criticizes it, or lobbies for a reversal of the federal banking laws that supposedly preempt the states’ rights to regulate usury.
The immediate reason for the severity of the financial downturn is the reckless underwriting of credit default swaps, which were bought by speculators shorting the housing market, by large financial institutions that could not afford to pay on them if they went bad (as they have).
But Marquette was, in many ways, the begging of this mess, where reckless credit has destroyed the economy and yet the only solutions that CEOs of large companies and mainstream politicians are advocating is more reckless credit.
Both the automotive and banking bailouts are bad, but this, from the WSJ data, is interesting:
TARP funds received by New York:
$80,312,000,000
+$40,000,000 to AIG
+$25,000,000 to Citibank
TARP funds received by Michigan:
$679,000,000
+$20,784,000 to GM, GMAC and Chrysler
For every $1 of bailout money that Michigan has received New York has gotten $115.
Alaska, New Mexico, Montana and Vermont have been completely screwed.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/st_BANKMONEY_20081027.html
Wow, all this whining about this bank’s credit card or that gas station’s credit card.
By attacking “one bank”, boycotters are all missing the point!
Why not address the root cause of your own credit problem and just cut up ALL of your credit cards, no matter where they came from?
I recommend that you do some reading, listening, or watching of this guy called Dave Ramsey. Buy only what you can afford, and pay cash when you do. You’ll be free of credit slavery so you can live a happier and longer life.
I’ll chime in with my Chase story. I got an offer from them in the mail. It was for zero interest on purchases, zero interest on balance trasfers, and, get this, no balance transfer fee. Too good to be true. So I signed up and trnasferred money from my Discover Card (another outfit I would reccomend not doing business with). Everything was fine, no interest or balance xfer fees. Then I decided to purchase some airline tickets with the card, after all it’s interest free on the puchase. The bill comes in and there is an 8.99% annual interest charged to the purchase. So I call them up and explain that my card is not supposed to have interest on purchases for the first x number of months. The lady on the phone asks if I have the original offer that they sent to me in the mail and if so to fax it in so they can see what my terms are. Of course I don’t have it anymore. You mean you don’t know what kind of offer you made to me when I signed up? Yep, that’s what she said.
So now I got 8.99% interest which I can’t pay off right away because they like other companies apply payments to the interest free part of the bill (my balance transfer), which is 3 times the size of my purchase. So until the transfer is paid off they get to charge interest on my purchase. I eventually paid it off and canceled the card. I won’t do business with them again. Now I keep the original offer mailed to me in my files when I get a new card in case they “forget” what the terms are.
ZoomZoom:
I’ve never had a credit card in my life, so I’m all for that.
However, there are a lot of hard working, legitimate people (many serving our country in the military), that are not able to resist the lending scams (credit cars, payday loans, adjustable rate mortgages) that are almost constantly directed at people.
If this country allows honest, hard working people to be financially ruined by legalized con-men then it will become a third world wasteland quickly surpassed by countries that still have disdain for things like usury.
One of the biggest scams out right now is the NOT FREE freecreditreport.com, so it gave me a bit of faith in humanity to see this campaign by the FTC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ0xsF5XWfo
I work for one of the evil banks in the credit card department, specifically in client retention. A couple of things that everybody should know so they don’t get screwed.
-Open and read your statement every month. Do your charges look correct? Is the interest rate correct? Are there any fees?
-If anything is wrong or incorrect call the company right away. There are time limits on being able to dispute charges. If there is a change in terms there is usually an opt-out period. Be informed of what’s going on.
-Save your statements and all other mail pertaining to your credit card acct. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to prove that you’re correct.
-Pay in full every month. If you don’t have a balance there is no finance charges. Simple as that.
-If you do a balance transfer on a card, do not use it for purchases. Payments are applied to the lowest rate first.
-If you change your phone number or address, notify the bank. That way you receive important information about your account.
The banks will screw you if you let them. Be an informed consumer and you should be good. All of the things listed above should help you. If you get a late fee and your interest rate get’s jacked up to 30% call them the day you notice it. If you catch it six months later, they might reduce the rate but you’re probably on the hook for the fee and 6 months of 30% interest.
If you are in debt, Dave Ramsey is a good source of how to stop that cycle.
Sadly, there is little that we can do, but there are a few things. I heartily endorse other posters who suggest avoiding debt – that’s the biggie -, but here’s a little thing which brings me small pleasure.
When you get an unsolicited offer of credit in the mail, pull out the postage-paid reply envelope and fill it with a couple of ounces of anything at all (probably best without your name, etc., seal it, and mail it to them.
They get to pay some postage to receive your trash, and if I just could get several thousand people joining me in this effort…
I always pay in full every month. I refuse to carry a balance. If I have to carry a balance then I can’t afford it. I want to earn interest not pay interest. I only borrow for property or for car purchase.
wsn: “So the logic is this: Borrower borrow money from lender. The lender becomes pure evil when he wants his money back?”
Yes, that pretty much sums it up. As a four year old would, “I don’t like it! Not Fair! Not fair!”
In other news: Folks, it’s a pretty good tipoff that a credit card issuer has avaricious business practices when the profit justifies sending hundreds of millions of letters enticing people to get a card. I get a dozen or so a month. They go straight to the shredder. I pay off Discover every month and make a little money off them.
Want a credit card for convenience (e.g., Amazon; car rental; hotel reservation) and emergencies, but with the balance to be paid off promptly? Go to a credit union.
baabthesaab – fantastic idea!
Didn’t Andy Rooney propose this years ago? He likes to send in coffee grounds and banana peels, if memory serves.
@picard234 – I didn’t know Andy Rooney said that, but I’ve been told I talk like him, too!
I think I’ll add some coffee grounds from now on.
Edit is not working, so I can’t add to the previous post.
Seriously, my issue is not with the mail room employees – I was one once. So we should send them clean stuff. But heavy stuff. And lots of it.
baabthesaab:
Your idea is brilliant. To stay on the topic of this post I suggest sending Chrysler Sebring brochures, cut up to fit.
no-slushbox, that’s perfect. I am counting on you to do your part!
I’m liberal, I get that we want to save jobs and support the economy but this petition to go after a bank to support unwise lending which contributed to the problem we’re already in is silly.
A better idea would be to support companies that make competitive products consumers would want to buy and use.