Speaking Of Credit Cards _ Now It's Sears Turn

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launderess

launderess

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Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage
Well was wating for the other shoe to drop, and today in the post it finally came. The only one of our credit cards not to have sent any sort of notice recently, finally did so.

Sears sent us one of those "Currently, the credit card industry is facing unprecedented market conditons.... As a result of this challenging business and economic climate...."

In other words, watch out, you are about to be taken to the woodshed!

Haven't the time to sit down and read the entire thing, but some highlights are:

Increase in APR (Annual Percentage Rates)
Increase in Default APR
Transaction Fees for Cash Access
Transaction Fees for Balance Transfers
Changes in Late Payment Fees (up to $39 on balances of $500)
Fee for Return Payment, Returned Convenience Check, Stop Payment on Convenience Check is now $39

Oh there is so much more!

Upshot for the APR seems to be it is now based upon the US Prime Rate and can vary each month.

Happily we NEVER carry a balance on our Sears card, at 25% or more annual interest one would be better off seeing a man whose name ends a vowel and will cause serious pain and suffering to yourself and or your family should you not repay for a better rate.

Oh as always Sears does give one right to "opt out", however as per the standard for the industry, once doing so the account will be closed. One can continue to pay off any remaining balance under the previous terms, however no furhter charges will be accepted. Date for opting out is 2 September 2009
 
Can't stand Sears from the time I had a part-time evening-job with them selling appliances (after my day-job as an accountant).

Worked long hours and made no money as commission-only when times were lean. But that is neither here nor there.

They are well known for their "Debt Recovery Unit" or some such name of it attempting to get paid back for consumer debt Uncle Sam said was to be made "gone" due to bankruptcy.

I am not impreesed with them on any level.
 
I never mentioned this....

Because I KNOW what Sears is like. But I worked for them, until recently. Worked there for quite some time, as a department manager. Until we got a new store manager who came up with a completely lame reason to fire me. Well, the REAL reason he fired me became clearly apparent when I learned that he'd posted my job at 40K. Considering what I made and the bs that he constantly puts one through, only an idiot would do my job for that money. But as they say, one *is* born every moment.
 
I got a similar notice from BofA about my credit card a few months ago. They dropped my credit limit by about 30% (still way more than I'd ever want to charge, anyway) and also sent along notice of increased fees for all sorts of things. But since I almost never carry a balance, I more or less ignore their notices. The only time I carry a balance is by mistake - such as "I thought I mailed that already", or "Mailed it a day or two to late".

I've also noticed that BofA has a nasty habit of moving up the due date by a few days unexpectedly, or delaying sending out the bill in the first place. So I've gotten into the habit of paying off the bill the day I receive it. I'm not going to give those #(*&$# any money if I can avoid it. Already they charge retailers about 3% for each credit card purchase, and that is rolled into the cost of goods I buy. Screw 'em.

If Obama wants to clean up the credit card industry, more power to him. But I suspect he's going to run into some very powerful, very well heeled opposition.
 
Suds "well heeled opposition", is right. This "too big to fail" thing is very scary.
 
Yes, at this point in our story, Mr. Potter gains control of Bedford Falls, buys out all of the town's businesses, stops lending money to its residents and forces them to work for slave wages.

Think I'm kidding? Wait a year or two.
 
It'll Never Happen, But...

...What I wish would occur is for Americans to take control of the situation back, by boycotting the use of credit cards for 90 days. People would have to lend each other money in emergencies, give each other rides if a car breaks down, that kind of thing, but if people just put the cards away for three months, there would be pandemonium in boardrooms all over the world. Do you have any idea what one day's interest is on the amount of credit card debt Americans hold?

Note that I am not advocating hurting retailers or businesses by not buying from them, I'm advocating a targeted response to the credit card companies by not using their product. Buy for cash, not credit.

I personally think that one month would do it, but three would be so much more memorable for the Mr. Potters who abound in our financial institutions that it would be a long time before we saw trouble again.

Also, I understand that there would be some people in such urgent need that there would be no chance of a 100% boycott. But let's say we got credit card use down to 35% of normal and kept it there for a full quarter. Change would happen, trust me.

And I'm not advocating anyone not paying their bill; pay on the old balance, just refuse to add anything to it.

It would have to be a nation-wide, grass-roots effort, but depriving these guys of ever-escalating balances - and all the lovely interest that goes with them - for a while would be the best way to get their attention.

It will, as I said, never happen. And that's too bad; Americans have it in their power to change the situation if they acted collectively.
 
I have to agree

with danemodsandy. "We the people" have more power than what we give ourselves credit for. I have stopped using all cards, credit and debit, for 6 months now. It has been proven time and time again, when you have to actually lay out the cash for something, you tend to spend less, even in the grocery store. When a person actually has to present the cash to purchase something they tend to really think twice about the purchase. I have found this to be true with myself. I don't just grab items at the grocery store anymore. I find I look more closely at prices and now buy more "store brands" that ever before. Granted, not all store brands are equal, but for the most part they are.

We all need to band together and take our country back, sending a very clear message that "we're not gonna take this crap anymore". This is what the consitution is all about.
 
sears sucks

I also hate Sears. I used to refer to them as shits and Rof*&K
I also have to say, I like them in a way.... Far away. I think the whole company is made up of crooks and shiesters sp?
They are underhanded and shady. But other than that, I like them. LOL
 
Jeff,

"Money as Debt" is a great web site. It's the first time I ever felt I understood how our monetary system "works". I especially like the part where he reveals that not only is new money only created when debt is created, but that the amount of new money is equal only to the principal, and does not include the interest. Therefore, everyone who takes out a loan (mortgage, credit card, car loan, etc.) is part of a pool of people who are scrambling to find the money to pay off both principal and interest.

Diabolical... it's amazing that it hasn't imploded long ago.
 
I've Said This Before

Paying cash only is fine if one has the means, but as the wages for most Americans has not kept up with inflation over the past decades, their buying power has actually decreased. Indeed this is often referred to as a generation that lives worst off than their parents when things are adjusted for inflation.

Sadly many persons need credit for everything from their children's or themselves medical/dental expenses, groceries, putting petrol into the car (so they can go to work) and so forth. Many, many persons end up in bankruptcy because they used their credit cards to pay health and other bills that couldn't be met otherwise, then before they knew it things got out of control.

That out of control episode can and often comes form persons or a family trying to hold things together and either a major health crisis strikes and or they loose their jobs. Either way once funds stop coming in it does not take long to begin a quick trip down poor-house lane.

Americans also by and large save very little of what they earn, thus again when something major happens they have little or no recourse but to use credit. Many well known "money experts" actually are to blame for this; remember watching PBS when a finance expert told a viewer who applied to him for knowledge (via email), regarding setting up a fund of several months wages in cash as an emergency fund. The man said it wasn't worth the bother as one could easily take out cash advances from a credit card, and the cash would be better off elsewhere (the stock market and other investments), making money. This of course was several years ago when everything was boom, boom, boom, and before the bubble had burst. Would love to see that man in person today and see if his view still holds true.

Those of us who are blessed to live within our means and not go without, can afford to tell credit card companies where to get off. However let us not loose sight of those who really have no choice.
 
Well, I've always taken a fairly fiscally conservative approach to credit. Perhaps my dad losing the family home due to poor loan choices (among other things) had something to do with that. I still feel I tend to spend too much, but I'm always careful to leave a healthy balance in the checking account as well as keeping my savings intact. I can do extreme frugal if needed, and once in the extreme frugal mode it's relatively easy to pass things up, but it does tend to bring back some bad memories so I try to aim for moderate spending. Once out of frugal mode though it's more difficult to just say "no"... anyway, right now my only debt is the home mortgage, which I can rationalize in terms of saying it would mostly go for rent otherwise (although home ownership also carries extra costs like property taxes, insurance, and maintenance/repairs etc...).

I never did fall into the line of thinking that it's better to borrow money and reinvest it... I suppose it could work out in boom times but economic crashes tend to happen very suddenly without much warning, and then one is left with the debt to deal with.

There is also the syndrome - which I saw mentioned in a news story last yeat - that scientists charted and described. They presented people with various types of gaming experiences. They found that people tend to assume that a spate of good luck will last indefinitely, although they have no concrete evidence that it will. The researchers termed it something like, "People tend to see patterns in their experiences that don't really exist". It accounts probably for a lot of superstition and also for those who get hooked on gambling, as well as those who follow a boom bust market, investing all the way to the bottom.
 

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