Bernanke to Credit Card Holders: "Drop Dead"

[MannyGoldstein]

If you're not a banker these days, I guess you can go fuck a duck.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUKTRE5444UR20090505">Fed rejects request to help credit card holders

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve rejected a request to force credit card companies to immediately halt retroactive interest-rate increases on existing balances, Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said on Tuesday.

Schumer and Christopher Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, asked the Fed last month to use its emergency powers for rescuing banks to also help credit card consumers being slapped with unexpected rate increases.

"The Federal Reserve's failure to protect consumers from these outrageous rate increases is unconscionable," Schumer said.

"The Fed has acted swiftly to use its emergency powers to steady teetering financial institutions. It is fair to ask why they won't use the same powers to aid American families who are at just as great a risk."

[Kansas Wyatt]

1. Too bad Congress Members cannot think to tell Bernanke...

The next time he needs a FAVOR, that the banks can go fuck themselves.

[Mike 03]

2. That's not what he testified. He said there was reason to fear that moving the deadline

up might do more harm than good by forcing credit card companies into a corner where they would have no choice but to cut off credit cards for a huge segment of their customers and, in some shameless cases, push up rates even more than they all ready have.

The testimony was actually fascinating and it is archived at Cspan.org for anyone interested in what actually transpired this morning.

[xchrom]

5. i watched it -- the thing that is never clearly addressed is how they can

so quickly -- and the present is not an anomaly -- raise the rates retroactively or any other old way they choose.

10 -- 10 of the major banks -- 10 out of the 19 -- are probably going to receive MORE taxpayer bailout money.

or so the stress tests show.

and now they gouge their golden egg from both ends.

these are practices TRIED and TRUE -- and they need to stop, and they need caps and tough, tough regulations.

[aquart]

3. You can get arrested for fucking a duck.

[The Straight Story]

Only if they catch me, and so far they haven't

:rofl:

[Skittles]

4. disgusting

[xchrom]

6. the apologists are already chiming in.

'The People' are fucked.


we used to have talks about americans vote against their best interests -- now 'we' defend elected officials and their unelected lackeys who work in our worst interests.

what the fuck?

[roguevalley]

14. there is going to be violence eventually

[Skittles]

16. the apologists have been here for some time

they'll defend anything :puke:

[xchrom]

18. yeah -- don't we know it --

sad ain't it?

[Skittles]

21. it's very disconcerting to see on a Democratic board, yes

absolutely

[xchrom]

22. i might have thought that --

but it's been a while.

[DJ13]

7. I watched Bernanke say "the CC companies might raise rates... "

"......if we adopted the new rules now".

I guess he hasnt been paying attention since they've already raised rates to loan shark levels.

Must be nice to either be a lying sack of shit or a fool living in a bubble.

[madrchsod]

8. i have to admit---- krugman is right....

[MannyGoldstein]

9. I Hope You're Wearing Asbestos Undies

:hi:

[madrchsod]

13. ya, i was one of those who thought he was full of shit.....opps!

[Captain Hilts]

10. If they received bailout money, I don't know how they can say 'no' to the Feds. nt

[MannyGoldstein]

12. Because There Will Be Zero Consequences

And more of our tax money will be handed to them. And they'll pay themselves jillions.

But it's all good, no?

[Danger Mouse]

11. Schumer's right.

[Amiga500]

15. There once was a law that limited the amount of CC interest to 7 percent.

Which congressmen removed that cap?

[Amiga500]

23. Here's the lowest CC rate I could find...........12 to 18 percent

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20020814f.asp

In the late sixties I'm pretty sure I had a CC at 7 percent. Blame the 1978 Supreme Court.

Laws capping interest rates
By Bankrate.com

Most major credit card issuers are based in states without usury laws and without interest rate caps on credit cards. Banks and credit card issuers based in these states can charge any interest rate they wish -- as long as the rate is listed in the cardholder agreement and the borrower agrees.

And thanks to a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision, these the-sky's-the-limit rate policies dominate the credit card business.

In Marquette vs. First Omaha Service Corp., the Supreme Court ruled that a national bank could charge the highest interest rate allowed in their home state to customers living anywhere in the United States, including states with restrictive interest caps.

When it comes to credit card interest rates, the law in a lender's home state rules. It doesn't matter what kind of rate cap exists in a customer's state.

In 1982, the four largest banks in Maryland relocated their credit card operations to Delaware because of that state's lender-friendly credit card laws. Other states with lender-friendly credit laws include Georgia, Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada, Rhode Island and Utah.

To hang on to the credit card business, many other states loosened state usury limits.

In the early '80s, most states capped credit card interest rates between 12 percent and 18 percent. Today's caps are in the 18-percent to 24-percent range.

[xchrom]

17. kick

[SOS]

19. The banks own and control the government

No surprises here.
In the battle for economic hegemony, the banks won, the American citizen lost.
The US will soon be taken down by their venality, stupidity and extraordinary greed.
They don't give a rat's ass about us.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

20. The Fed, and its role in promulgating servitude, needs much scrutiny.

These fuckers are antithetical to Democracy.