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Subprime may be hitting credit cards, too (Hide under your beds!)
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/23/pf/credit_card_credit_crunch/index.htm?postversion=2007082312 ^ | 8-23-07 | Jeanne Sahadi

Posted on 08/23/2007 1:39:01 PM PDT by Hydroshock

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Fallout from the mortgage mess and lower home prices may have started to creep into the credit card arena, judging from July payments and some initial moves by issuers to tighten the screws on cardholders.

After falling for three consecutive months, delinquent payments on credit cards -- defined as more than 30 days late - increased slightly in July, to 4.64 percent from 4.62 percent in June, according to CardWeb.com. A year ago, the delinquency rate was 4.18 percent.

The amount of credit card debt consumers are paying off, meanwhile, has fallen. The portion of outstanding balances paid in July slipped to 18.3 percent from 18.4 percent a month earlier.

The repayment rate hit its peak (21 percent) in October 2006 after credit card companies began complying with regulators' mandate to boost minimum payments to cover interest, fees and some principal. For years, the default minimum was just 2 percent of your outstanding balance.

CardWeb.com CEO Robert McKinley suspects delinquencies may increase in the fourth quarter because of the credit crunch. Mortgages and home equity loans are harder to come by, home prices have fallen and more than 2 million subprime adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are beginning to reset to much higher rates

(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: allislost; applesonly5cents; beatingadeadhorse; beggars; breadlines; brokenrecord; chickenlittle; credit; cropfailures; crywolf; depression; despair; despondent; dustbowls; fallingapart; gloomy; glum; grapesofwrath; hellinahandbasket; helpme; highdivefromawindow; hoovervilles; hopeless; lovebadnews; mortgage; nohope; nojobs; pottersville; sameoldsonganddance; skyisfalling; soupkitchens; subprime; tomjoad; vulturegram; willpostjunkforfood; woeisme
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To: FlyVet
Make money off the credit vultures. Get a “cash back” card, and make sure you pay it off every month. They’re betting that you won’t.

I had one of those Citibank Platinum Dividend Cards. I accepted it because it offered 5% back on grocery, drugstore, and gas purchases, on a maximum of $6,000 per year. They canceled the program partway through the second year I had the card. At first I thought they'd canceled it just for me, because I hadn't racked up any interest or late fees. So, I googled and found that, indeed, they really did cancel the program. Then I went out and bought a couple of grand in grocery gift cards in order to reach the $6,000 limit for the year before the mid-October deadline.

I figure Citibank lost several hundred dollars on me, since they'd rebated $600 on $12,000 in charges, but earned only the two or three percent (maybe less) they get out of the merchants.

61 posted on 08/23/2007 9:25:34 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: cynwoody
Same here. I had a Performance Bike Shops Visa card from Bank of America, 1% cash back, and I made several hundred $$$ off them, but then they dropped the cash back program and I said good riddance. B of A is the company issuing credit cards to illegals.

Fortunately another bank is offering the same deal but with Master Card, so I continue to make money.

Capital One tried to issue me a $25 late fee on a $5 balance (I paid the account a week early but forgot about a grocery store visit I made after I paid), so I bitched at them and they waivered the fee (dropped them anyway). If you righteously bitch at them, they will often waiver the fees. They can't say much to you if you have a record of paying the balance every month. On the other hand, if you carry a massive balance, you make yourself a slave, and they're less likely to listen to your complaints.

62 posted on 08/23/2007 9:38:50 PM PDT by FlyVet
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To: dalereed
If by paying online it wouldn’t be paid until due date I would mail it to make sure it was paid.

B of A's system has two classes of payee: electronic and non-electronic. Electronic is settled on the day you set, computer to computer, with no involvement of the US Postal Service. The credit card companies are all electronic payees, as far as I know.

For non-electronic payees, the bank cuts a check and mails it, with four day delivery. That works fine for the electrician or the plumber or the condo association.

63 posted on 08/23/2007 9:42:51 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: RatRipper
One currently carries a 12.9% rate and the other a 9.9% rate.

Those rates are very competitive, even when compared to the credit unions.

64 posted on 08/23/2007 9:47:11 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 (Sic Semper Tyrannis * U.Va. Engineering '09 * Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Democrat * Fred in 2008)
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To: cynwoody
B of A's bill-paying application lets you schedule the day payment is made. That way, you can avoid actually paying until the date due.

VERY DANGEROUS.

The big credit card issuers like to impose time of day restrictions on payments. They even like to futz around with time zones, correct addresses, and whether stuff is paper-clipped or stapled.

NEVER try to cut it very close to the due date and time, or you run the risk of getting very severely burned.

65 posted on 08/23/2007 9:49:21 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 (Sic Semper Tyrannis * U.Va. Engineering '09 * Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Democrat * Fred in 2008)
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To: cynwoody
LOL that's almost as good as the time Citibank offered me $200 to switch my checking over from Bank of America.

Not a very hard decision to make...not very hard at all.

66 posted on 08/23/2007 9:51:14 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 (Sic Semper Tyrannis * U.Va. Engineering '09 * Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Democrat * Fred in 2008)
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To: rabscuttle385
NEVER try to cut it very close to the due date and time, or you run the risk of getting very severely burned.

I've only encountered one problem with B of A. That involved an electronic payment to a utility company that was not credited. I entered a complaint via their online interface, and the B of A rep got it straightened out within a day (the utility company had screwed up).

67 posted on 08/23/2007 10:01:21 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: WashingtonSource
There’s virtually no change — measured in hundredths of a percent, and this is a story?

It's all part of the election run-up, you know, getting us all convinced the economy is a disaster (and only a Democrat can fix it of course).

68 posted on 08/23/2007 10:09:01 PM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: RatRipper
The fact that a CU approved your father’s loan when a bank wouldn’t is virtually meaningless.

That fact might be meaningless to the financial institution, but to the customer (or member) it can make a huge difference.

69 posted on 08/23/2007 10:14:28 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 (Sic Semper Tyrannis * U.Va. Engineering '09 * Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Democrat * Fred in 2008)
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To: dalereed
...I take my la_top and...

"Alex, is there a "p"?"

70 posted on 08/23/2007 10:20:16 PM PDT by Syncro
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To: common denominator

If you are illegal you are a protected class. Everything is free, if you try to make them pay their own way you are a racist.


71 posted on 08/23/2007 10:21:39 PM PDT by Syncro
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To: dalereed
” you can avoid actually paying until the date due”

Why wuld anyone do that?

If your payment is being sucked out of an interest bearing account it makes sense. Cents too.

72 posted on 08/23/2007 10:28:25 PM PDT by Syncro (Cents add up to $'s)
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To: RC2
Credit card company interest rates need to be controlled. Hell....everything else is.

Credit cards need to go away. If you haven't the cash, don't buy it.

73 posted on 08/23/2007 10:31:06 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Build the fence. Enforce the law.)
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To: Red Badger

Look for new “fees” for paying off your credit cards on time, especially if you use your card monthly.


74 posted on 08/24/2007 12:02:47 AM PDT by xc1427 (It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees...Midnight Oil (Power and the Passion))
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To: cynwoody

I pay all bills with indivadual electronic check, written by me.

I won’t use automatic pay systems or use payment through my bank with them sending an electronic check.


75 posted on 08/24/2007 12:35:02 AM PDT by dalereed
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To: Syncro

“If your payment is being sucked out of an interest bearing account it makes sense.”

I keep most of my money in a non bank money market account, I only keep 3-4k in my bank account which isn’t enough to bother with an interest bearing one, they don’t pay enough to bother with,


76 posted on 08/24/2007 12:40:26 AM PDT by dalereed
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To: Syncro

“Alex, is there a “p”?”

My typing went to crap eversince I severed a tendon in my hand.


77 posted on 08/24/2007 12:42:51 AM PDT by dalereed
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To: who_would_fardels_bear
"pay their bills the day they receive them"

I do that now....even though sometimes I put the check in the envelope and don't actually mail it for a couple of days so paychecks can get in first....

I used to always wait and wait and wait....it was always a source of anxiety and I find if I do the writing of the checks right away, I don't worry so much...

78 posted on 08/24/2007 12:57:11 AM PDT by cherry
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To: rb22982
so happens that I got my Fico score last night....still pretty good.....789....and we use lots of credit cards, but mostly just carry one at a time....the others we USED to get balance transfers at 0% for up to a year...

..you see, people like us are the REAL reasons the subprime market is a mess..

..we've taken advantage of free money for about 3 yrs now...

..we never pay finances charges and we just happen to pay the entire card off just before the interest is set to start up ....

79 posted on 08/24/2007 1:02:53 AM PDT by cherry
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To: dalereed
...they don’t pay enough to bother with...

Roger that Dale, makes sense

My typing went to crap eversince I severed a tendon in my hand.

Sorry about that, just having a little fun.

Heck, I am then King of Thy0pos and have no reason for it except I like the distinction.

Always good to see your posts, buddy!

80 posted on 08/24/2007 10:35:48 AM PDT by Syncro
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