Call me a penny pusher. Does anyone remember the economic initiatives put forth by the government earlier this year? Somewhere around about oh I don’t know—over $1 trillion dollars. Well some (a lot actually) of that money was gifted to our wonderful national banks (Bank of America, Citi, etc). This week, there have been some seriously revolting reports surrounding new fees from these institutions. Do read:
Last week, for example, Bank of America Corp. told some customers that interest rates on their credit cards will nearly double to about 14%. The Charlotte, N.C., bank, which got $45 billion in capital from the U.S. government, also is imposing fees of least $10 on a wide range of credit-card transactions.
Citigroup Inc., another recipient of government cash, is trying to entice customers to borrow at high rates. “You could get $5,000 today,” Citigroup’s consumer-finance unit wrote in fliers mailed to customers. The ads don’t disclose that the loans often carry annual interest rates of 30%.Citigroup has received $50 billion in capital from taxpayers, and the U.S. government will soon own as much as 36% of the company’s common stock.
Here’s the kicker—BoA is boosting the interest rate on cards only with balances and those with current rates under 8%, regardless of credit history. Be proactive on this and tell Bank of America, Citi, and any other financial group that tries to weasel their way into more money, to politely fuck off.
Thanks to Taylor for the heads up.
[via CreditMattersBlog]
