@Anonymous wrote:
The banking lobby continues to reign supreme. Ridiculous even the watered down new laws don't take effect until next Feb. There should have been rate limits put in place NOW , not next Feb. And they should have done so for new balances as well. This all assuming the customer isn't late, etc of course. But it's ppl like you and me getting screwed. I have FICOS in your range, util almost always under 10% ,and I've had a limit cut and rate hikes. And it's not Feb yet!
I agree with you, completely.
What's really sad, in general, is that, clearly, folks who participate here and elsewhere, regard credit as a privilege, not a right. They try their utmost to be responsible with that privilege, yet that just doesn't seem to matter to any of the biggies holding the strings. What's sad, for me, is to have a "prophesy" I accidentally made to my father (when I was 13) eventually come to pass, exactly as I "saw" it would. (At the time, it was 1961. Yeah, I'm one of those oldies but goodies.
)
One afternoon, he was contemplating his children's futures. Now he and my mother (coming from immigrant parents) never finished high school. So they had to work very hard for everything they wanted. But they built a good life and just as good credit - when credit was actually credit - the importance of which they passed on to us. In my mind, they lived remarkable lives.
Anyway, after talking about other things related to our futures, my father finally said that, his four children receiving high school diplomas and any of them eventually working for a company like Sears and Walgreens (both offered outstanding stability and decent benefits for the times) would be seen by him as a definite generational move "up." That this way they could build the same kind of life he'd been able to have with my mom, or even better. Beside emotional and spiritual cohesion he saw as so necessary for having a good life, he hoped we too would have our homes, that good credit, and the retirement benefits he knew they would both have.
I remember I was looking out the patio window, as he was saying all this. Suddenly, though, I didn't see the patio or backyard, anymore. Instead a picture formed of some imaginary city's downtown area, with people walking to and fro, cars blasting their horns, that typical kind of scenario. The people's faces, though, seemed almost somber. So many frowns, sadness, worry, I thought. I turned to my father, then, and said, "You know what, Dad? I'm not sure what you want for us is going to happen."
"It's funny, in a scary way. I don't think Sears will be like it is now. I see companies breaking apart, and companies joining - I don't know what they call that - but the workers won't be happy about any of that. I think they won't have things you have on your job. Like your pension, maybe. They might even try to bust unions. I think lots of jobs could go away. Other things, too. I see banks closing, Dad, lots of banks closing. People the same age, as me, someday won't be able to buy homes. Plus, I think somebody big, maybe the government, is going to want people to put money away for their lives when they're older, and people will, but then they're going to lose it. It could get bad for them, too. So, I dunno, Dad. I think maybe life is not gonna be so good as it is now. I think it's definitely gonna affect my generation. It feels like companies and banks are gonna end up not caring about us at all. There's gonna be lots of greediness, maybe... Oh Gosh, Dad! I hope I'm wrong, I hope this is just me and my stupid overactive imagination."
I guess it wasn't just my imagination, though.
But the difference between their generation, I think, and those that have followed, is that we all seem to have become a bit too passive. I know others won't agree. I'm sure I will see the eventual rate hike with my Amex and Boa, maybe even the Paypal. But what Chase pulled over so many with earlier WAMU cards is really an outrage. And I do wonder if giving a rate hike less than 3 weeks after a CLI, plus other term changes is completely legitimate, especially since they gave me no reason even though I asked. I don't know if I want to call backdoor credit, again, and this time question all this. I might write those letters, instead, to the various powers that be. (I think they count on all of us not to do just that. Which is why, IMO, things keep getting worse) In the meantime, I really would like it if someone could tell me whether switching from a Visa Signature to a vanilla Visa with them is a good/bad idea. Plus, the idea of them determining, on an account like this, which transaction might not make the cut is appalling.
Thanks, Excell, for your reply.