Posted on 09/17/2009 6:10:42 PM PDT by Libloather
Red Bluff woman launches credit card revolt
By David Benda
Posted September 17, 2009 at midnight
RED BLUFF - Ann Minch's vow to stop making payments on her Bank of America credit card has captured a nation.
Upset that the bank raised her interest rate to 30 percent, the 46-year-old Red Bluff native vented her outrage on video and uploaded it to YouTube.
She calls the four-minute, 28-second clip "the proverbial first shot in an American Debtors Revolution," and it has struck a chord with the public.
Minch will be in San Francisco today doing a live TV interview for the "Fox & Friends" morning show. She also has been contacted by MSNBC and local TV and radio and did an interview for The Huffington Post.
"I have just been bombarded with media," said Minch, who's a case worker for Tehama County Mental Health.
Minch posted the video Sept. 8. It had generated nearly 177,000 hits as of Wednesday afternoon.
"I did it that night. The next morning, I went to work and didn't really think about it too much," Minch said Wednesday by phone from her Red Bluff home. "My friends started to call me and said, 'You are famous; your video has gone viral. It's all over the Internet.' "
Minch was laid off from her job at Tehama County Mental Health but recently was rehired to fill in for somebody on medical leave, she said.
Minch's fury with Bank of America ignited in August when she got a letter from the bank that said the rate on her credit card had been raised to 30 percent. Minch, a 14-year bank customer, was carrying a $6,000 balance on the card but had never missed a payment.
When Minch started going over back statements, she realized the bank in January had raised her rate from 12.99 to 24.49 percent. But Minch said the bank didn't send her a letter, so she missed the change.
On the video, Minch says, "Now, these are my terms: Unless you return my interest rate and monthly installment amount to what it was before the rate hike ... you're not getting another penny out of me."
Bank of America spokeswoman Colleen Haggerty said the company is aware of Minch's YouTube clip but doesn't comment on specific customer accounts because of privacy concerns.
"Regarding credit card rate increases, customers are notified in advance of new rates and are given the opportunity to reject the new rate and pay off the balance under the existing rate," Haggerty said in an e-mail.
Minch is aware of the policy.
"But who has $6,000 just lying around?" Minch said. "The bottom line is that because of the bailout, this is what is making people angry. The banks are the ones that created this whole economic disaster in the first place. The taxpayers bailed them out, albeit involuntarily."
Minch said middle-class America is fed up.
"That is the reason why my video has gone supernova and has resonated with so many people," Minch said.
“They do you a favor, you don’t have right to buy things with imaginary money.”
Its not any more imaginary than any other money in circulation today.
I’d like to see all the wonderful stuff she bought for $6K plus interest.
They also lend money to illegals. BoA can go to hell.
That's her side of the story. I agree you can get raped by easy credit, and it takes a lawyer to the read the CC contract you can sign without a witness present, but I doubt they jacked up the rate to 25% for no reason.
I had rates jump from 0.0 to 6.6 to 12.9 to 24.99 on a card, mostly because I chose to miss some payments when I was employed 8 years ago.
You signed for it, you own it, you charge on it and you pay it. Banks are not welfare organizations. What you’re doing is making the banks raise rates to us to cover your debt. You are one irresponsible person. Bet she’s a liberal/Rat .... the other thing that makes me mad is those commercials that tell you they’ll negotiate your CC debt to a lower amount. Right - that’ll be on your credit report for seven years.
Dave Ramsey BTTT!
Even after Bank of America was handed billions in tax funds they still have the nerve to shake down customers with street corner interest rates, and nothing is done by the government to stop them. So goes the power of the banking lobby and paying off those on Capitol Hill who do their bidding.
Doh! I mean unemployed! I have since paid off and closed that account since being employed again.
I have had rates climb from 11% to 29% with no history of late payments, etc, and usually with little to no warning.
It’s a scam. I’ve gone a month or so before noticing once or twice too.
I opened a new bank account not too long ago...Free checking, free checks, free everything...I asked the accounts lady what their business model was...How they could afford to do this.
Her reply was, “Eventually most customers will overdraw, or make some error, and the fees for doing so are criminal.”
Her words.
If this lady truly had a flawless payment history, I won’t be the one to throw the first stone at her for declaring war.
it doesn’t matter what she bought...she bought the items at X% and she should repay them at that percent. While they certainly have the right to raise their rates, it simply cannot be retroactive to purchases made under another agreement...it seems to me that a first year law student could win this case.
“I agree with her. Credit cards companies are downright criminal in their acts.”
I disagree. If she were paying it off in a reasonable time at the old interest rate and refused to pay the increase she would have a point. To not pay what she owes, well she is just about three notches below the banks she decries.
....a married couple we know has credit card debt of $45,000 and not much to show for it....vacations in Costa Rica, eating out in upscale restaurants, private school for their son ect ect....so they go to the credit doctor and he tells them “well, one strategy is just don’t pay”....I couldn’t believe it!....a so called credit coulselor saying something like that.
Usury is a sin. There should be predatory lending laws that cap credit card rates.
The system of Central Banking with the Fed creating fiat money is corrupt and sooner or later the average Joe ( or Jane in this case ) will catch on and stop this merry-go-round. The Fed creates it out of thin air and gives it to the banks who then lend it out to the people at usurious interest rates. Time to end this system one way or the other.....
Apparently, this lady misplaced her letter or didn't read it. I don't blame her for being upset with the rate hike, but instead of refusing to pay what she legally owes, she should do what many other customers have done. Call the company to cancel the account and pay off the balance at the original rate. IF she had read her letter, she would have known that was an option for her.
Virtually all of their agreements (signed by the borrowers) give them the right to raise rates at any time. I remember reading some prediction that they would start to raise rates dramatically after the bailout, partly because there is some kind of bill capping their rates that is going to take effect next year and they want to rake it in from the customers who will probably pay it (that is, the ones with a good history).
Government free money, combined with government regulation, strike again.
Sorry, but no. The bank jacked her rate up. It was tied to Prime. Same thing happened to me. My interest rate is now fixed at 4%. What BofA is doing is horsesh*t.They received a bunch of tax payer money, then arbitrarily jacked up people rates.
If you don’t carry a balance, the bank can raise the rate to 130% and it won’t matter.
“Usury is a sin.”
It’s not real clear who is using who here.
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