Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Excuse Me?

ATC Wednesday featured an "expert" weighing in on credit card issues - which have been in the news of late. The expert fields a question from a listener who called in to note that in spite of never missing or being late on a payment his credit card rates were DOUBLED!

Michele Norris asks the expert, Joan Goldwasser, "He's never been delinquent so why would the credit card company make this adjustment?"

Hmmm....that's a real stumper. Why would credit card companies be gouging customers? Could they be trying to cover their profitable little asses for all the predatory lending they've been doing now that that bubble's starting to burst? Oh no, not according to Goldwasser - her answer:
"It's hard to know for a specific individual, but it could be because he is having trouble in some other area of his life. You know credit card companies will look at your payment record on everything - whether it's your home mortgage, your insurance, your utility bill whatever. If you happen to be delinquent on one of those, that's a red flag. They also are looking at people who live in your neighborhood..."
No comment needed on that one...

7 comments:

WarOnWarOff said...

National Predator Radio!

Anonymous said...

If you happen to be delinquent on one of those, that's a red flag.The real "delinquents" -- juvenile ones at that -- are the NPR reporters who spread this manure on the national airwaves day in and day out.

...and at public expense to boot.

NPR is also "Naturally Perverse Radio" because the way that they spin everything -- in favor of their corporate sponsors like Bank of America (one of the prime beneficiaries of the bank bailout, to the tune of 45 billion dollars) -- and against the ordinary American IS perverse.

The propagandizing that NPR does (and there is no better description for it) is PERVERSE to say nothing of a violation of the law, since they receive money from Congress which has forbidden said use of public money for propaganda.

Anonymous said...

It seems monstrous to me when these corporate vultures pick apart living human beings by charging them more of what they already know these people don't have enough of.

Yes, "perverse" works as well.

boog!poonk!fazzy!banny! said...

Woo, doggies. Sounds like another one of those "NPR explains it all for you" moments.

The boycott continues merrily along...

tommy strange said...

whoops.
just admitted to red lining...

Anonymous said...

The real ELEPHANT in the room regarding this story and every other "personal finance" type story, is the fact that over the past 30-35 years, middle- and working-class (adjusted) incomes have stagnated or shrunk, while wealthy incomes have expanded. Don't count on NPR to put those dots together, even when they report the dots themselves -- (rising consumer credit card debt... must be irresponsible spending sprees; health insurance costs approaching rent or mortgage payment... "get used to it"; a deep recession leaving many professionals working 2 part-time jobs at Wal-Mart and McDonalds... nothing to do with the personal debt/bankruptcy issue; etc., etc.)

Anonymous said...

NPR is Not Particularly Revealing radio, basically telling us what we want to hear.

Kinda like the guy now sitting in the Oval Office in that regard.

Unfortunately, I think there is a lot to the piece
Buying Brand ObamaI admit that I bought brand Obama but am now having serious "buyer's remorse".

Based on his actions on many critical issues -- continuation of the Paulson bank bailouts, refusal to prosecute torture (ie, to carry out his sworn oath of office), drone attacks in Pakistan, etc -- I have had to reassess my original opinion of Obama (the on I had when i cast my vote).

The fellow sitting in the White House is a con man.

he sure had me fooled, undoubtedly because i wanted to be.



Buying Brand Obama

by Chris Hedges

Barack Obama is a brand. And the Obama brand is designed to make us feel good about our government while corporate overlords loot the Treasury, our elected officials continue to have their palms greased by armies of corporate lobbyists, our corporate media diverts us with gossip and trivia and our imperial wars expand in the Middle East. Brand Obama is about being happy consumers. We are entertained. We feel hopeful. We like our president. We believe he is like us. But like all branded products spun out from the manipulative world of corporate advertising, we are being duped into doing and supporting a lot of things that are not in our interest.