Got Perfect Credit? You Could Be Charged For It!

Got Perfect Credit? You Could Be Charged For It!

wcbstv.com

Bank Of America, Citigroup First To Try Out Idea, Which Will Undoubtedly Alienate Many Who Follow The Rules
Loraine Mullen-Kress carries a Bank of America credit card and religiously pays off her balance. Yet now, her good credit habits could cost her. Earlier this month Bank of America started notifying customers like Mullen-Kress that they will be charged a new annual fee of $29 to $99. Cardholders who get a new annual fee notice in the mail will be in a no-win situation.

(visit the link for the full news article)

If you pay off your balance every month, how in the world are they supposed to make any money off of you? They want to make a profit on all of their customers, not just the ones with revolving balances.

I'm sure many of you fine ATS folks with good credit will be affected by this. BoA and Citigroup are testing the waters. If it works out, I'm sure other banks will follow suit.



wcbstv.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I say why even bother? Why have a credit card? Use your debit card.
I for one would not bother paying interest rates for something I may not even use. If you can pay it in full why even use it? Just makes good credit slaves.

I do not use them , I was STILL able to buy a house without credit through FHA.
I pay all my bills and that did count for something.




[edit on 27-10-2009 by amatrine]

A story:

Not long ago, Sprint did a study on its customer base. This study determined that (my figures aren't exact, but you get the gist) something like 15% of the customers were utilizing 90% of its resources. It was determined that these 15% would be sent letters notifying them that the accounts would be terminated and that they must seek another company for business. Turns out, a few years later, Sprint is more profitable for having shed the "drain" on its resources.

The banks may be using this same strategy, in reverse. Perhaps it is more profitable to lose the "bad" customers (those w/good credit, whom they are not making money off of) than it is for the them to provide incentive for these customers to stay with the bank... Either the customers will not leave and the bank gets to collect fees, or the customers will leave at no loss to the bank...



[edit on 27-10-2009 by LadySkadi]

Makes sense. Look at these pay day loan places. They are owned by big banks.
They charge high fees to people with bad credit, who can not get a loan otherwise. They are making a killing of the unfortunate. More profit there than lets say a 1 percent loan.

You need a credit card to book a flight, rent a car or pay for a hotel. The major hotels all require a credit card not just to hold a room but to check in also. If you want to pay with debit they overcharge your debit card $200-$500 which they then refund after you leave and they have made sure you didn't vandalize a room.

You can no longer rent a vehicle without a credit card as the companies want to make sure you can be billed if you destroy or don't return the vehicle.

Originally posted by kardenal
If you pay off your balance every month, how in the world are they supposed to make any money off of you?

They do receive 3% of every purchase transaction. I do not know if that number is currently correct but they do get a cut no matter what.

Really, I think they're just trying to stick it to us for having a problem with bailouts and executive compensation, just because they can and they think there's nothing we can do about it. If the people aren't going to love the bankers how they're supposed to why shouldn't the bankers just inflict some injury as retribution?

One word get off the bank of America grip, they have to go down, anybody with bank of America needs to drop their accounts and move on to another bank.

Originally posted by LadySkadi
Either the customers will not leave and the bank gets to collect fees, or the customers will leave at no loss to the bank...

No loss except for the business of those who may also have accounts or might otherwise consider doing business with the given bank.

They lost some customers over the credit cards for illegals thing they had going on a few years back. They lost others this year over the 'raise everyone's rates because we screwed up the economy' deal. I closed my accounts with them after that one. I am sure this will result in the same.

I guess they are trying to corner the market on illegal-bad credit-high risk customer demographic. Good for them for thinking outside the box.

It's been like this in one way or another for years.

I've spotless credit and even with a 20% down payment was having the worst time trying to find a home loan. Either the lender wouldnt even consider me or the lender would try to push some god-awful terms on me because he knew I'd be paying on time, double time to pay it off.

If I were some half-baked crackhead with 20 illegitimate kids and a work history of being fired from every fast food joint within 60 miles lenders would have been beating down my door to put 300K in my hand.

All I wanted was $150.

Why go with the guy who will pay you back when you can just throw away a bunch on some crackhead, have him not pay, take the property and collect your bailout? Honest lending might make you a dime but crooked schemes backed by crooked gov will make you a dollar.

I'm a university student that got a credit card a few years ago just to build a credit history for when I need to get a mortgage or something. I pay off as soon as I get the bill. I have no monthly fee, in fact I have a cashback reward on my card so they pay ME to use my card! I get about $6 a year from using it, I am actually costing them money, haha. I've received calls on several occasions for them trying to convince me onto a "better" plan with an annual plan, but I say no.

As soon as they try to charge me an annual fee I'll cut it up and cancel it, and move to another card that isn't going to charge me. If nobody wants to give me a card with no annual fee, then I don't need one. Same goes for banking really, I'm not going to pay an annual fee for the honour of letting them loan my money out. Right now I have no monthly fee because I'm a student, but I will probably be looking for somewhere free to switch to if possible.