During the recession of the early 90s, when I was out of a job, rolling pennies to eat and collection agents were hounding me to get a job at Burger King to pay them their 30% interest rates, I realized that it costs more to be poor. If you can't pay a bill, you get charged more money, the thing you are short of in the first place. In the credit card world, the poor are their biggest income producers. The video below will detail exactly why that is. It is depressing to hear clearly that the old, the sick, and students are targeted for higher interest charges and "convenience fees."
This girl, Jackie Ramos, a "customer advocate" (a bank euphemism for collection agent) was fired by Bank of America for helping her customers get into payment programs. She is a heroine. If all employees of the "too-big-to-feel" banks would take her example and act on their beliefs, there would be big changes. This girl is clear, articulate and she is everything that America means to me.
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rated for having compassion. I too have been poor (and still am by most standards) and think that once you're behind just catching up can seem like a herculean task.
R~~
rated
Rich people get richer by standing on the necks of the folks with less. Class war is as old as classes. I would have did the same thing as this girl.
After I get through with the payments I'm working down now -- I think I'll go back to a cash-only basis like I did successfully for many years.
I love this young woman. Thanks for posting -- I hadn't seen it before.
Delores - once you get behind in this country it's virtually impossible to catch up. It seems to be a corporate game of gotcha.
Scanner - Hearing that Marxist refrain again :)
Little willie - absolutely!
Mission - You, I and Scanner agree totally.
Ettinger - Your comment is a comprehensive list of abuses. It's shameful, and embarrassing. Thanks so much for making us look closer!
Skel - I refuse to get a credit card now, but my husband still has them and he pays (drum roll) three HUNDRED fucking dollars a month in interest. And he is completely unable to pay his bills every month - I still do it!!!
Life is Great - I am so happy that her story is getting a lot of attention. Whistleblowers are our only advocates these days.
Emma, I hope karma catches up with all of these bankers - and maybe we should nudging karma a little too.
Michael - I'm going to watch it tonight. I just watched the first 5 minutes, and it looks like it's something we all should catch. Here's the link.
The title says it all; very clever, Ardee.
Rated.
Heartless lending practices by banks that knew people wouldn't be able to repay are at the heart of this whole meltdown and Congress has gone to their aid repeatedly.
The cost of houses in my neighborhood fluctuated madly before the bubble popped. Those that bought at the peak got really screwed. Some ended up double upside down to what they owed. So a family owes $180,000 on a house that's worth say $60,000 on today's market. The bank won't work with the owner and allow him to pay fair market on the house. They foreclose and kick the family to the curb, then sell the house at auction to speculators for $33,000. I've seen it several times in my neighborhood.
How does this help anyone but the already rich speculator? I know it's immoral, but it should be illegal, too.
We need a revolution. Really.
Thoth, thanks.
TMichael-seriously, it's the Matrix all over again. And actually, Bush's Congress tightened the bankruptcy laws, which limits the common man's ability to get out from under that crushing debt.
Michael - (I'll PM you the code for the link - it'll try to make one if I put it here) That is a fucked up situation, and one of the reasons I left Florida. And, I watched that program and it's devastating. We are so screwed.
Aaron, it's a mantra of the right, personal responsibility, and so hypocritical since they have not a shred. Not only do they blame the poor, sick and vulnerable, but they put the rules in place that caused most of those ills!
Lisa, thanks for circulating Jackie's video - it's great to see what courage looks like. And yes, I have been invoking the Weathermen lately - damn, we need a new crop of radicals!
We do have it in our power to stop being victims. We just have to get off of our lazy collective asses and make a stand. The system is designed to keep someone down if he ever trips and falls, regardless of whether of not it was his fault.
What day works for you?
IRS Targets Single Moms Living in Poverty Because: They must be hiding income because no one could survive on so little money in Seattle.
You'll be as outraged as I was when you read this. Now it is a crime to be poor and they're going after your parents too!
Ablonde, that just sucks! The moral is, SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS! And get those fucking Republicans out of office.
We could go the way of Brazil, where the government is now paying "rent" TO people as a basic means of survival. This is the idea that everyone deserves at least a minimal amount for subsistence just because they are a citizen. Or, we could move in the direction of a more right-wing solution--which seems more likely in a place such as America--where people are forced to work, but under worse and worse conditions for practically no pay. But I wouldn't worry too much about this prospect, it seems to me to be an untenable condition.
I think we'll end up with a kind of pointless welfare state, something closer to Brazil than contemporary Russia or China, where a single party has become invaluable to multinationals as a tool of worker control. But even this welfare solution, of course, can be seen as a living hell. What does one do with oneself?
The only other option I can conceive of would be some form of 21st century communism, a self-consciously authoritarian state (and not an idealized one, like the Soviet Union and former Eastern-bloc regimes) which would provide for everyone and demand a certain level of morality in return, or at least allegiance to the idea of mutualism. This seems unlikely, although it has been proposed even by conservative thinkers. Rated.
My son and I closed his account at US Bank because they charged him 35.00 plus 8.00/day for becoming $4.00 overdrawn. this was for an initial withdrawal, no debitcard purchases or bounced checks and after 2 weeks it totaled to more than 100.00. I called and raised hell with them and they tried to give me a lecture about how important it was not to become overdrawn. What a nerve. how can that be legal? My apartment complex charges me 85.00 monthly for being late with my rent because I get paid the 23rd and 9th of every month, so I am always 4 days late with the rent. if I paid them the 23rd, could I pay them 85.00 less? it's crazy. I do not consider myself to be poor, really. I just feel I'm being nickel-and-dimed to death. if one of my pets get sick or I get a virus on my computer or some unexpected expense, it screws everything up.