Why I don't feel bad for the banks I file bankruptcy against...

[PaKettle]

I have a Citi account that was $86.56 under the credit limit and had an interest rate of around 12-14%, I forget exactly, but it was relatively low.

So I missed ONE payment and they immediately added a late fee of $39 and raised the interest rate to 32.24%. This, then, immediately caused the finance charges to be higher which THEN caused an Overlimit fee of $39 on top of everything else.

I don't know about you guys, but the idea of raising the interest rate to MORE THAN DOUBLE what it was for ONE late payment seems a LITTLE drastic. Does anyone else think this might be "Gouging"?!

So, all in all, they tacked on hundreds of dollars to my account in one fell swoop, as soon as the payment was ONE DAY late!

I tell you, these bastards deserve every penny they lose as the result of someone filing bankruptcy! If they were more fair about the way they add late fees and rate hikes, etc., then I might feel bad for them. But now I see them as taking advantage of people who miss one payment, and so "Screw them!"

[millerc507]

I couldn't agree more. Citibank did the same thing to us. We had had this account for 10+ years, never missed a payment. Things got tough financially--our income went way down. We called Citibank to try and work something out. Our interest more than doubled and fees on top of fees every month. Now they won't get a dime. After watching the movie "Maxed Out" I really didn't feel sorry for them.

[JRScott]

I agree.

They are so predatory in their efforts. I mean if someones having trouble and makes a late payment, do you really thinking doubling their interest rate is going to help? That over the limit fees is going to help them?

They have with these tactics probably cost themselves millions if not billions of lost dollars from bankruptcy. If instead they had tried to work with the people charging only a modest late fee they possibly could have made millions or even billions of more dollars.

I mean Citibank wasn't the worst I had. For me Providian (later Washington Mutual) and Aspire was the real culprits. In essence their policies directly led to me having to file bankruptcy. Aspire would not work with me in any way, wouldn't even give me a hardship deal when I first had to change jobs in 2005 due to medical reasons. They didn't care. And in the end all it did was cost them all the money I might could have paid back if they had been more reasonable. Ultimately it led all of my creditors to losing out on thousands of dollars.

I mean yes you need to punish folks for late payments, that's what a late charge is for. There is no need to compound the problem with super high interest rates, and even more excessive over the limit fees.

[BassBoy]

My first siggy line says it all.....................

[ilovemycaitybug]

Citi messed my hubby up, too! We TRIED credit counseling... but Citi kept upping the minimum due, and it was always after we'd paid... and then they would keep saying it was past due!!! They'd want $2-3 more each month and we just couldn't keep our heads above water with them calling each payment late! Credit counseling may work for some, but it was no help for us (other than a consolidated payment).

[Minnymouth]

Yep their jump to 30% interest rate has really cost them some big bucks in bankruptcy court and will continue to cost them until they see the light......

Course there's a difference between our big bucks and their "big bucks!!! They call it a tax write-off...... we call it bankruptcy!!

I'm sure they more than make up what they loose on us from the ones that CAN PAY IT..... AND DO......

I saw an ad on tv ( a prime time station) the other nite where you could borrow money on a signature loan. The interest rate??? 99% - YES - 99% Hows that for a LOAN SHARK advertising on TV.....
I couldn't believe my eyes and every time the ad come on (every few minutes) I double checked the interest amount...... yep 99%.....

AMAZING, what they can advertise on TV - now even the loan sharks can!!!

[Granny]

I saw an ad on tv ( a prime time station) the other nite where you could borrow money on a signature loan. The interest rate??? 99% - YES - 99% Hows that for a LOAN SHARK advertising on TV.....
I couldn't believe my eyes and every time the ad come on (every few minutes) I double checked the interest amount...... yep 99%.....

AMAZING, what they can advertise on TV - now even the loan sharks can!!!

Yep, I've seen that one too. Couldn't believe my eyes. What ever happened to the usury laws?

[nosrus77]

Hey - as a former banker (I got out, I'm calling it rehab . . . ) I can't even understand how some of these get around the "loan shark" laws. The FDIC regulated banks are limited on the APR that they can charge, yet the check into cash places seem to be able to get around these things. It's a sliding scale thing, like 42% APR max up to $1,500 and 36% max from $1,500 to $3,000 and then a little bit lower above that.

I always tried to look out for my clients, but I'm telling you, the pressure on banks now to be so sales focused is intense. I don't think I realized how bad it was until I got out.

I made a loan about a year or so ago to a lady in her 50's. It was a CD loan to take care of some business and debts. Should have told her to cash in her cd's and take care of things, but instead rolled her into a loan at 11.5% - not bad rate, but it was also $52,000.00 that she already had!!! - So, essentially, we charged her that much to use her own cash.

Well, I'm out now, and will sleep again, I'm sure. Good luck to all on this board. . .

[BKTango]

My worst credit card was MBNA, they jumped from a fixed 9% interest to 25% without me even being late, or late on any other bills. After a much needed butt chewing from me, they guy on the phone finally just said they really didn't have a reason it was raised, other than my account not moving as quickly as they would like it to. I said "Wait I am paying a little more than the minimums which is really all I can afford, and by law all I am required to pay," That was their legitimate reason, simply because my balance was not dropping as fast as they would like they increased my interest, as if that was going to help it move any dang faster. Their thinking is about half backwards on some things.

[NvrEndingStory]

worried about us and if there was anything they could do to help us, especially if there had been medical emergencies or work related issues, to please let them know.

I guess our lawyer let them know what they could do for us because their 20 phone calls a day had stopped by June 4th.

[magyar123]

Yes, Citibank sucks. On the evening of Sept. 10, 2001 I mailed my bill off figuring that it would get to its destination by the 15th. But because of what happened in the morning of the 11th, the bill never got there by the 15th, but sometime the following week. I was slammed with a late fee. When I called them to reverse the late fee with the explanation why it was late, all they said "you should have paid it online" - and never reversed the late fee.Burnt those bums to the tune of $4500.00 in my 2004 bankruptcy.

[robinsnest]

I used to work for Citibank collecting for sears. It was aweful. Many people get caught in this cycle that they couldn't get out of. I used to tell all my elderly customers to write cease and desist letters to Citi so we would stop calling them. I would tell them to pay their light bills before paying us. It was a horrible job. I left it after 9 months.

[mommytima]

I don't feel bad about it anymore

instead of them helping people who are having a hard times they make it worse . as read here about everyone situation I can see most of us had medical issues and loss of jobs Both of those happened to us . And the credit cards companies they don't care instead of jacking the the rates for us they should be lowered so we can manage to get caught but when they raise them how the heck can you catch up there's no way or how we can . So at first I felt bad but you know I don't any more My life has been hell and I had no control over any of it . I wanted to make good but no one would give us a chance .

[PaKettle]

Well, you can tell this is a group of consumers, not credit counselors or (currently employed) bankers!
I expected at least a couple people to tell me "Well, it's your OWN fault", "If you don't pay on time, what do you expect?", or "YOU SIGNED the contract, they have every right to enforce it"...

All of which is true, I guess. But, glad to see all the people who responded here seem to agree with me, that Citibank are ruthless greedy bastards! (my interpretation)

I have one friend who seems to think I am doing a terrible thing against society by filing bankruptcy, driving his and others' interest rates up, even bordering on committing fraud by taking transfers to pay my bills, knowing I might end up in bankruptcy court...

It's good to have people here who understand the insanity of getting caught up in this credit nightmare, and who agree that the banks are at least partly responsible for it.

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

If you go to CNN.com (business section) you will see how much profit Citibank made, I believe they are in the top ten or so business' of making a profit for year along with JP Morgan & Chase. BILLIONS ! ! ! Thats why we shouldn't feel bad .. I surely don't ! ! !

Best Wishes, CMIYC