Now here's some happy news...

Tom Littleton wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote:
It's low-down, sneaky usury is what it is and if
the sleazeballs go belly up because of it, that's fine by me.

If you think providing a contracted service at a publicly stated price is
usury, you haven't seen real usury. By the way, in the real deal, the lender
doesn't often go belly up, but they do find a small percentage of borrowers
in that state.

A 30% interest rate is real usury in my book. Not as bad the 500%
predatory loans of some of these payday operations but still usury
in my book.

--
Ken Fortenberry

In article ,
says...

No real shocker there, except for the part where a lot of people are
ignoring this potential next shoe to drop(possibly alongside commercial loan
defaults). Citi is in especially bad shape on this one.


Speaking as a former holder of a CitiBank credit card, CitiCorp and the
horse they rode in on can burn in hell (or bankruptcy court, whichever
takes longer.)

Kevin,
still a little bitter.

--
Kevin Vang
reply to kevin dot vang at minotstateu dot edu

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
...
Tom Littleton wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote:
It's low-down, sneaky usury is what it is and if
the sleazeballs go belly up because of it, that's fine by me.

If you think providing a contracted service at a publicly stated price is
usury, you haven't seen real usury. By the way, in the real deal, the
lender doesn't often go belly up, but they do find a small percentage of
borrowers in that state.

A 30% interest rate is real usury in my book. Not as bad the 500%
predatory loans of some of these payday operations but still usury
in my book.

--
Ken Fortenberry

5 or 10 percent a week is what I was thinking......
Tom

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
...
Tom Littleton wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote:
It's low-down, sneaky usury is what it is and if
the sleazeballs go belly up because of it, that's fine by me.

If you think providing a contracted service at a publicly stated price is
usury, you haven't seen real usury. By the way, in the real deal, the
lender doesn't often go belly up, but they do find a small percentage of
borrowers in that state.

A 30% interest rate is real usury in my book. Not as bad the 500%
predatory loans of some of these payday operations but still usury
in my book.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Then there are the cc users. In class at the local JC a month ago, one of
the young men, probably about 22 said that the CC companies forgave $2500 on
his debt. No 1099 for forgiven amount (what the discussion was originally
about). I asked how a 21 year old junior college student could run up that
kind of debt. His answer actually blew me away. He had gone to Vegas and
said he had to look good, so bought a $1500 suit, and some other stuff. Why
should some deadbeat get to write off 40% of what he owed for unnecessary
spending? And he still has a card, and thought there was nothing wrong with
what he did. People like that should have to pay back the full amount at
very high interest rates. Different if due to medical or other life
circumstances he was in debt over his head. But, most of the stories I hear
of people with $60k-$150k in CC debt on a load of different credit cards,
are for living the good live on credit. Sort of the same problem that
people who used their houses as ATM's to buy boats, luxury cars, expensive
electronics and now are losing the house and want the rest of us who lived
within their means to bail them out. Maybe I am hard hearted, but I grew up
the son of Depression Era parents. And was taught to live within my income
with some savings at the same time.

wrote:
On Apr 15, 11:17 am, wrote:

Er, wrong as usual. I admitted that I didn't know a specific fact, not that I
don't know what I'm talking about. And, um, in fact, to be picky about it, I
did know exactly what I was talking about and was 100% correct: I said (with
full knowledge that I didn't know a certain fact) that I didn't know that
certain fact, and therefore, was absolutely correct in saying it because I
didn't know that certain fact, thus making my statement an absolutely correct
and accurate statement of the facts as they pertain to the certain fact...

Jeezus, Richard ... that's as fine a bit of lawyerese doublespeak

hey now...ease up on such talk...unless and until you've paid a proper
fee, one can never really appreciate the true art of lawyerese-ing. g

jeff

"Kevin Vang" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

No real shocker there, except for the part where a lot of people are
ignoring this potential next shoe to drop(possibly alongside commercial
loan
defaults). Citi is in especially bad shape on this one.


Speaking as a former holder of a CitiBank credit card, CitiCorp and the
horse they rode in on can burn in hell (or bankruptcy court, whichever
takes longer.)

Kevin,
still a little bitter.

--
Kevin Vang
reply to kevin dot vang at minotstateu dot edu

I have a Citibank Card. The American Airlines mileage card. Has been a
good card. Paying for 2 kids college educations and one wedding and part of
the a 2nd one, we get some nice trips. Actually do not know what the
interest rate is as I never run a balance. And when I have been on a trip
out of the US and called to see what the balance was to pay on line, they
have said I could postpone the payment while out of the country. Since I
pay from the checking acct online I declined the delay, and just need the
amount to pay. Others, like me that pay the bill monthly seem to have no
problems with them either.

On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:57:28 -0500, Kevin Vang wrote:

In article ,
says...

No real shocker there, except for the part where a lot of people are
ignoring this potential next shoe to drop(possibly alongside commercial loan
defaults). Citi is in especially bad shape on this one.


Speaking as a former holder of a CitiBank credit card, CitiCorp and the
horse they rode in on can burn in hell (or bankruptcy court, whichever
takes longer.)

Kevin,
still a little bitter.

I won't pry, but if you feel comfortable in expounding, please do.

Coincidentally, today we received unexpected replacement cards from them because
_YET_ANOTHER_ "security breach" caused them send them out. This is the third
time in two years it has happened (and no, these were not isolated to us). And
another time, Citi allowed someone who fraudulently used a slight variation of
my legal name, using my SSN, except for a single digit, but using a completely
different birthday and address nowhere close to anything of mine, to open a
fairly large credit line card and max it out that day.

Moreover, I have small mortgage on a property with CitiMortgage, never late, and
with a LTV of about 25-35%, that has been handled ridiculously - never anything
to do with late payments or anything, but the property was damaged in Katrina,
being rehabbed, and they are constantly scheduling inspections, which I allow
and meet the inspector and have the inspection, only to have them call me and
ask why I cancelled the inspection. Even three conference calls, _and reports,
pictures, and invoices_ from the inspector, haven't convinced them the
inspections have taken place. They have also increased the payment by a couple
of hundred dollars to cover an alleged escrow shortfall due to an alleged
insurance increase that the insurance company itself has told them is not and
will not occur. Another time, they screwed up the escrow account by taking a
$76.00 yearly tax increase as a $76.00 monthly tax increase (I've never even
heard of monthly assessment of county/parish real property tax, but ???) Several
other similar things have convinced me that CitiMortgage is run by a box of
particularly dumb rocks, a load short of several bricks, and the dullest tool
ever to apply for a place in any toolshed...

And for the record - CitiMortgage, CitiMortgage, CitiMortgage, CitiMortgage,
CitiMortgage, CitiMortgage, CitiMortgage....sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks,
sucks, sucks, sucks...please feel free to quote me on that...repeatedly...

TC,
R

On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:05:29 -0700, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Kevin Vang" wrote in message
. ..
In article ,
says...

No real shocker there, except for the part where a lot of people are
ignoring this potential next shoe to drop(possibly alongside commercial
loan
defaults). Citi is in especially bad shape on this one.


Speaking as a former holder of a CitiBank credit card, CitiCorp and the
horse they rode in on can burn in hell (or bankruptcy court, whichever
takes longer.)

Kevin,
still a little bitter.

--
Kevin Vang
reply to kevin dot vang at minotstateu dot edu

I have a Citibank Card. The American Airlines mileage card. Has been a
good card. Paying for 2 kids college educations and one wedding and part of
the a 2nd one, we get some nice trips. Actually do not know what the
interest rate is as I never run a balance. And when I have been on a trip
out of the US and called to see what the balance was to pay on line, they
have said I could postpone the payment while out of the country. Since I
pay from the checking acct online I declined the delay, and just need the
amount to pay. Others, like me that pay the bill monthly seem to have no
problems with them either.

I, too, have a Citi card and have had it for over 20 years, never late, never
carried a balance. I, too, have been a good, responsible customer of several
"charge card" companies - I've turned down "invites" to AMEX gold and platinum
and _invites_ to AMEX black (...I mean, really - who in the friggin' **** has
such low self-esteem as to pay a dime for some "prestige" color of charge
card...and IIRC, that silly-assed thing was something like 2 grand a year and
was hand-delivered by an intern or some such nonsense...). I've had bank-issued
charge cards from a fair number of banks. And I've about had it with Citi -
IME, they could screw up making change for a US 10-dollar bill if one requested
that they do it with two smaller, equal-denomination US bills...

IMO, the current incarnation of "Citicorp" needs to sink or swim on its own
competence or lack thereof, and if some Arab royalty gets their ass handed to
them in the deal, tough ****...

TC,
R

On 15-Apr-2009, "Calif Bill" wrote:

eaking as a former holder of a CitiBank credit card, CitiCorp and the
horse they rode in on can burn in hell (or bankruptcy court, whichever
takes longer.)

Kevin,
still a little bitter.

--
Kevin Vang
reply to kevin dot vang at minotstateu dot edu

I have a Citibank Card. The American Airlines mileage card. Has been a
good card. Paying for 2 kids college educations and one wedding and part
of
the a 2nd one, we get some nice trips. Actually do not know what the
interest rate is as I never run a balance. And when I have been on a trip

out of the US and called to see what the balance was to pay on line, they
have said I could postpone the payment while out of the country. Since I
pay from the checking acct online I declined the delay, and just need the
amount to pay. Others, like me that pay the bill monthly seem to have no
problems with them either.

We used to play the float- when there was one- I would make major cc
purchases right after paying my bill in full and on time to the day - as we
always do w all our cards
I would never pay their interest rates
But they have shortened the period and this is now far more difficult to do

As for Citicorp I also have had only bad experiences - same w Bank of
America - **** 'em both

The new NY Mets ball park is called Citfield
I hope they change the name.

Fred