Are we not Consumers? Credit Card Companies Need Us Too.

It’s time to fight back against the credit card bank threats of higher interest rates and fees for good customers along with their riskier accounts. Those riskier accounts rake in billions for the card companies, and they like it. But we aren’t helpless.

Fight back with PayPal. I have been a customer of PayPal for years, a skeptical customer, who didn’t like giving any control of my credit card and checking account information to one company. But they have proven themselves over the years to be consumer friendly and vigilant in their fight against fraud. But enough of my sales pitch. Let’s get back to fighting the credit card banks attempting to bully their prized good customers.

Besides being bad for business, it’s hard to imagine any company threatening to penalize their customers with higher fees and fines. That’s what they have done in their typically corporate arrogant fashion. But we have alternatives.

First, use PayPal to pay for online purchases. Trust me on this.

Pay all purchases by directly withdrawing money from your checking account. Some may feel uncomfortable doing this, but I have done this before with great success and security. I highly recommend this method of payment for now, and for as long as the credit card banks try to reach into our pockets one more time. Remember the bailouts? Simply send the message we don’t need ‘em.

The following article from the NY Times explains the elitist banks position on their consumer “friendly” service. Power mad might be one way of describing their mindset.

Congress is moving to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers, who have become a prime source of billions of dollars in fee revenue for the industry. And to make up for lost income, the card companies are going after those people with sterling credit. Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups.

Edward Yingling, the chief executive of the American Bankers Association, which has been lobbying Congress for more lenient legislation on behalf of the nation’s biggest banks (said), “Those that manage their credit well will in some degree subsidize those that have credit problems.”

Thank you very much. Question: you want OUR business?

…Major banks including American Express, Citigroup, Bank of America and a long
list of others have already begun to raise interest rates, and some have set their sights on consumers who pay their bills on time. The legislation does not cap interest rates, so banks can continue to lift them, albeit at a slower pace and with greater disclosure. People who routinely pay off their credit card balances have been enjoying the equivalent of a free ride, he said.

...“Despite all the terrible things that have been said, you’re making out like a bandit,” he said. “That’s a third of credit card customers, 50 million people who have gotten a great deal.” …the amount of money generated by penalty fees like late charges and exceeding credit limits had increased by about $1 billion annually in recent years, and should top $20 billion this year. Regulations passed by the Federal Reserve in December to curb unexpected interest charges would cost issuers about $12 billion a year in lost fees and income, according to industry calculations.

Austan Goolsbee, an economic adviser to President Obama, said that while the credit card industry had the right to make a reasonable profit as long as its contracts were in plain language and rule-breakers were held accountable, its current practices were akin to “a series of carjackings.” “The card industry is giving the argument that if you didn’t want to be carjacked, why weren’t you locking your doors or taking a different road?” Mr. Goolsbee
said.