Just how desperate are the banks? Today I got a cold call from

[hedgehog]

the loan officer at Chase bank introducing himself, wishing me a Merry Christmas and letting me know he was there to help should I want to refinance my home or take out a home equity loan.

[Double T]

1. Sure. He wants to help you take on more debt and secure it with your home.

What a great guy, the loan officer is a regular Santa Claus. Banks have replaced loan shark criminals.

[AlCzervik]

2. i had to call bofa today, i paid off my MBNA card now owned by BOFA

"You can transfer balances to this card and get a lower interest rate" "No thanks, this is the only cc i use, i'm all set" "Ok well did you know that you can transfer cash from your MBNA account to your checking account and use it however you want??!!" "Yes, again, i'm all set thanks" and this went on for another minute or so when i finally just said "Happy holidays!" and hung up.

[napi21]

3. You're much more patient than I am! I begin by saying no thanks, and usually end up

saying I don't want your money or and debt, goodby!

[AlCzervik]

4. i never feel the need to go nuts on them, they have a job and i'm sure it's not

their dream job, just a way to pay the bills, and then i always tell them politely, "No thank you"

[sandnsea]

5. I figure I'm saving them time

to get on to their next call and make some money. I never do anything over the phone, why waste someone's time.

[MorningGlow]

7. I got a call last night

SooOOOooo polite. Saying MBNA/BOFA loves me so much (and the unfortunately hefty balance I'm carrying on my 15-year-old MBNA card most likely) that they want to give me a PLATINUM MasterCard! Interest rate one point lower, but credit limit $10,000 below my current card--and of course I couldn't transfer the balance because it's the same company. What, get a second card? You don't say!

I say..."NO THANK YOU." Carrying the one balance plus a debt consolidation loan with a monthly payment that's higher than a car payment just to get rid of the debt is quite enough. "Hey, lookit all their debt! Let's give 'em a chance to dig their hole deeper!" :eyes:

At least she didn't waste time trying to convince me.

[AlCzervik]

9. it's crazy, before BOFA inhaled MBNA up i never got calls from them, now

i get a call at least every 2 weeks trying to sell me something, i blame myself for today though because i called---big mistake.

[MorningGlow]

11. They don't usually call me

They just occasionally send me e-mail telling me they increased my credit limit. (Thanks SO much. :eyes:)

The big change I noticed recently is DH and I used to get TONS of junk-mail credit-card offers "You're preapproved!" but that has dried up. Thank goodness--oh so many trees killed for their sales pitches. I don't know if it's because they've given up on us or if it's because the cost of sending junk mail is too much for them. Whatever--I'm just glad it's stopped.

[hedgehog]

10. If the interest rates weren't so high, I'd have the cards paid off.

I think the banks have scraped the bottom of the barrel. We've borrowed as much as we can, we're trying to pay off what we owe and we don't dare borrow any more. If people don't spend, the entire system comes crashing down.

[MorningGlow]

12. Agreed

Trying desperately to pay off our debts, but we're having a heck of a time making ends meet (I'm freelancing but it isn't the same as having that full-time job I quit nearly a year ago), so every time one of our cars shits the bed, the repairs have to go on the card. Cha-ching.

[kineneb]

6. still getting stupid telemarket calls- 'wanna refinance?

Damned things are recordings, too. They must be desperate or have not done their research...

We just finished going through Ch. 7 bankruptcy... what credit score?:rofl:

[hedgehog]

8. On top of everything else, how in the world do I know if someone who calls me is who he says he is?

Unless I initiate the contact, the person on the other end could be a scam artist for all I know!

[Blue Diadem]

13. We've been getting them from a division of our mortgage company.

It goes by a different name but it's still the same company. They ask over and over do we want to refinance. We tell them no. We just did about 2 yrs ago. The calls began about a year ago. My son has a different mortgage company and he just got his first refinance call from his mortgage company yesterday. His mortgage is a year old.

The problem is, they call and call and call. It happens once a month for us and then will go on for a few days, until we answer the telephone. Then it will stop and happen again the following month.

My Dh even told them yes once..then they said they couldn't give us any better rate. Didn't stop the calls.

[fed-up]

14. at BofA yesterday I heard teller tell a customer she was pre-qualified for a credit card-which she

declined

Now they have tellers pushing debt on people!