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’re not much different than those selling drugs, as they try to get the young hooked into debt early on..”
That’s their parents fault!
i was not only taught by my parents to be responsible with money but when I got a paper route whrn I was 8 my father took me down to the bank to open a bank account and have an hour education about banking and money with the banker.
Don’t buy what you can’t afford. Twenty-first century American slavery is voluntary.
Ummm... they sent you a statement. Did you expect a hand written registered letter?
*****************************************************
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you would know that rate increases and all other agreement modifications are typically disguised as junk mail , or as an anonymous insert among “offers” in your billing envelope... hardly sporting... screw them.
At last, somebody gets it.
When you sign one of those agreements you are agreeing that they can do whatever the hell they want to do any time they want to do it.
You don't like those terms? Don't sign.
Some time when you have a couple of hours to spare you should read the agreement that you signed with your I.S.P.
Here's a hint - they can do whatever they want any time they want too. With or without notice to you.
My point is dale, these credit card companies, like the crooked banksters are what has caused much of America's problems...They were the vehicle that helped screw their own economy. It bit them in the butt too dale, as tens of thousands in the banking/mortgage and credit industry are now standing in unemployment lines.
Fact is, they lost all sight of their business ethics and lending standards dale, and they just didn't give a sh*t and we're all seeing the results.
I USED to have a mortgage with BOA. Then, Hussein was elected. Paid that sucker off with whatever I had before the Emaculation.
Sitting pretty isn't PC, but that's all I've got.
If she doesn’t like the new rate, she can go try to get a lower-rate loan elsewhere and pay off her card.
Next time she should READ the FINE PRINT, and preferably not run up credit-card debt.
Everyone with at least half a brain knows that credit-card debt should only be for extreme emergencies. Buying presents for oneself is not such an emergency.
Not until the fine print in a change of terms abolishes your grace period on purchases.
Where’s the picture of the bank holding a gun to your head to sign up for a card. Something about personal responsibility missing here? It doesn’t matter what they charge. It’s their business. You want to max out your card then complain that the interest is too high? The rules are: you charge it, you pay for it. The Mafia? Banks don’t come to your house and threaten you. The banks don’t kneecap you. Mafia has ethics? I have two bank cards. One is BOA. I pay it off every month. The other card gives me credits where I can get gift cards. It too is paid off every month. The first thing I wouldn’t do if and when I’m out of work is use a bank card to live on. That is plain stupid. You might want to go and review what personal responsibility is all about.
Or until they bring back the good old "annual fees".
Cutting up your credit card does not close an account and if you don't close an account they are sure to start the annual fee business again and slap one on you, whether you have a balance or not.
(Advice not necessarily for you)
Were any of the banksters that operate credit card companies bailed out by the tax payers?
In this case, I hope the woman does well, many people follow her example, the banks ALL go under, and we re-institute Constitutional money.
Failing that happy-happy joy-joy outcome, I hope the woman isn't bankrupted, and the banks still ALL go under.
Where will she find the loot after the banks go under? You?
Money market rate went from 2.00% to 1.2%. I went there and threw a fit. They said we had done nothing wrong. Everything was in good standing. Never late on anything and said they did this to all customers across the board and even their own employees.
Doesn’t matter - your credit card use is between you and your bank.
There are two subjects that are posted at F.R, that are assured of drawing a lot of comments. One is what you posted - credit cards.
The other subject is the Civil War.
If somebody ever posts a story concerning both subjects, in the same article it would draw thousands of comments.
I understand, that would be a most difficult story to find though.
So they screwed everyone equally. Hope the employees didn't think they had some kind of allegiance or trust with the bank.
Nope, I'm a loot-free zone. Maybe you can give her a 10% annual loan, then jack it to 30% whenever your wife has a headache, superstud.
A credit crunch during the Civil War? That won't fly. A Civil War fought with credit cards? You may have something.
I’ll tell you something that’s not funny. Read the book “Escape” by Carolyn Jessop.
I’m sure you have though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.