The way it used to be not too long ago…
Credit card companies promising thousands of minutes of phone cards if the home-sick student signs up for a student Visa. Credit card companies approving applications and giving credit lines to non-existent people or animals or whatever some schmuck decides to put on the form. Credit card companies breaking the back of America in their lust for greed. This is the way it was just a few years ago and now the banks and the consumers are paying dearly. Citibank has had to write off billions in debt. They needed a cash infusion from a Saudi investor, and they are still losing money. I say, serves them right.
This appears to be the beginning of the end. One can’t turn on the TV anymore without being deluged with credit card commercials. “What’s in YOUR wallet? Probably a three month old credit card bill that needs to be paid. The greed these banks have shown is relentless. What we are seeing in today’s economy is a snowball effect. The x factor? High oil prices. Now more and more people need to rely on their overburdened credit cards to buy gas, which adds to more interest, which adds to more debt, which railroads the poor consumer into either debt delinquency or bankruptcy. And the oil companies get more tax breaks….. It is like that song by Sonny and Cher, And The Beat Goes On…And The Beat Goes On….
Is credit leading to the downfall of society? Well, loose credit and pitiful due diligence by the companies doling it out is. My father said over thirty years ago to me that credit cards would be the ruination of this country. I laughed then, now I know he was a genius.
Actually, it is not credit that is bad. It is the improper giving of credit without due diligence that is the culprit. Giving someone a line of credit for 5k when they don’t have a job and no money somehow doesn’t strike me as smart. But it was done all the time until recently, when the banks couldn’t get their investors to pony up anymore. Now the greedy bank executives are hiding under their desks. How does the rug smell done there? It all comes out in the wash, don’t worry. I just have to laugh.
Whatever happened to loyalty? Whatever happened to customer/company relationships? All gone. Bye,Bye. Don’t have a good credit score, see ya. Problem is, over fifty percent of the information on a credit report is wrong, and these greedy morons don’t even know the difference.
What’s in your wallet. I prefer good old cash. No money, no purchase. I can wait, if the store can stay in business, that is.