peter
PBS Frontline Secret History of the Credit Card
In “Secret History of the Credit Card,” FRONTLINE® and The New York Times join forces to investigate an industry few Americans fully understand. In this one-hour report, correspondent Lowell Bergman uncovers the techniques used by the industry to earn record profits and get consumers to take on more debt.
“The almost magical convenience of plastic money is critical to our famously compulsive consumer economy,” Bergman says. “With more than 641 million credit cards in circulation and accounting for an estimated $1.5 trillion of consumer spending, the U.S. economy has clearly gone plastic.”
Millions of American families use their personal, general-purpose credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover to make ends meet; credit cards have been a discreet lifeline for families in financial straits.
But other consumers, like actor and author Ben Stein, use plastic purely for convenience. While it would appear that Stein — who says he charges a small fortune every month on his credit cards — is the ideal customer, in reality, he is what some in the industry call a “deadbeat.” That’s because he pays his balance in full every month.
The industry’s most profitable customers, the ones being sought by creative marketing tactics, are the “revolvers:” the estimated 115 million Americans who carry monthly credit card debt.
Ed Yingling, incoming president of the American Bankers Association, tells FRONTLINE that revolvers are “the sweet spot” of the banking industry. This “sweet spot” continues to grow as the average credit card debt among American households has more than doubled over the past decade. Today, the average family owes roughly $8,000 on their credit cards. This debt has helped generate record profits for the credit card industry — last year, more than $30 billion before taxes.
Some experts say the profitability of credit cards really began twenty-five years ago, when the banking industry successfully eliminated a critical restriction: the limit on the interest rate a lender can charge a borrower. Deregulation, coupled with a revolution in technology that enables the almost real-time tracking of personal financial information and the emergence of nationwide banking, has facilitated the widening availability of credit cards across the economic spectrum. But for some, the cost of credit is often far greater than it appears.
According to Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, the credit card companies are misleading consumers and making up their own rules. “These guys have figured out the best way to compete is to put a smiley face in your commercials, a low introductory rate, and hire a team of MBAs to lay traps in the fine print,” Warren tells FRONTLINE.
Warren and other critics say that a growing share of the industry’s revenues come from what they call deceptive tactics, such as “default” terms spelled out in the fine print of cardholder agreements — the terms and conditions of which can be changed at any time for any reason with 15 days’ notice.
Penalty fees and rates are sometimes triggered by just a single lapse — a payment that arrives a couple of days or even hours late, a charge that exceeds the credit line by a few dollars, or a loan from another creditor which renders the cardholder “overextended” as defined by the nation’s three all-powerful credit bureaus. This flurry of unexpected fees and rate hikes come just when consumers can least afford them.
“[Banks are] raising interest rates, adding new fees, making the due date for your payment a holiday or a Sunday on the hopes that maybe you’ll trip up and get a payment in late,” says Robert McKinley, founder and chairman of Cardweb.com and Ram Research, a payment card research firm. “It’s become a very anti-consumer marketplace.”
Banking Association spokesman Yingling defends industry practices. Because the credit card business is basically unsecured lending, he says, the risks associated with the business must be offset.
But that’s of little consolation to consumers who may be in trouble. According to the Better Business Bureau, credit card and banking companies are the subject of a record numbers of complaints. “It’s not an accident that the banking and credit card business generates more complaints nationally, across the country, than any other industry…Out of one thousand industries that we track, they are number one,” says Pat Wallace, head of the San Francisco Bay Area Better Business Bureau. “There are irritated, unhappy, dissatisfied customers in this industry.”
As Professor Warren sees it, the industry is operating without fear of penalty. “There’s no regulator, and there’s no customer who can bring this industry to heel,” Warren says.
Duration : 0:56:9
1. GOLD & SILVER INVESTING MOVIE! (Part 1) Mike Maloney – ‘Why Gold & Silver?’
GET THE FULL MOVIE HERE: http://goldsilver.com/why-gold-silver-the-movie/ref/1052/dc/sgpromo/
Welcome to the first episode in our 10 part series!
We have been collectively hoodwinked into believing that our paper currencies are ’as good as gold’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Originally, our paper currency was a receipt for gold or silver held on deposit. But since 1971, all world currencies have been fiat -backed by nothing of physical value. Take a $10 bill from your wallet. Do you really think that the paper is worth $10? Welcome to the Matrix…
Buy the whole video, online version only $9.95: https://whygoldandsilverdvd.com/start/youtube?affid=7&s-site=youtube&s-page=gse1
If you like the title music (the NZ Dub part) please check out the site of the most amazing Aaron Saxon – http://www.aaronsaxon.com Music for liberating your mind. Thanks for believing in me bro. Dan.
You can also keep up with our latest filming efforts on the official Facebook page for ‘Why Gold & Silver’, get the latest developments and see behind the scenes photos here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Why-Gold-and-Silver-The-Movie/129698967041133?ref=sgm
Please click the ‘Like’ button and help us spread the hard money message on Facebook!
Duration : 0:9:16
Large Debt Forces Archdiocese To Close High School
The Archdiocese of Omaha announced it is closing St. Peter Claver Cristo Rey High School at the end of the academic year for financial reasons.
Duration : 0:2:16
Market sell off, bogus GDP, Japan downgrade, credit cards
Schiff Report video blog Jan 28th 2011
http://www.schiffradio.com/
Duration : 0:9:56
Peter Schiff explains how the new college loan plan will back fire
Peter breaks down the economic inanity of Obama’s new college tuition program passed in March of 2010. Once again the government cure is worse than the disease. Please donate to Peter’s Senate campaign at www.Schiff4Senate.com
Duration : 0:7:21
Dollar rally, sovereign debt, black Friday, Schiff Radio.com
Schiff Report Video Blog Nov. 26th 2010 Listen to “The Peter Schiff Show” for free live at 6PM Eastern or for 24 hours on demand at www.SchiffRadio.com.
Duration : 0:9:55
Economic Poison: Advice from Credit Card Companies and Kiplinger
Get cutting edge information at http://www.FutureMoneyTrends.com
Please take the time to rate this video.
The scammers are trying to scare you into using a credit card
http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2009/11/debit-card.html
Joan GoldWasser
jgoldwasser@kiplinger.com
Questions for Joan:
What happens if Im late when I use my credit card?
What if I spend more than I can pay off?
If I pay for things with the money I have, do I still get to have the banks financially rape me with interest and fees?
Dollar
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.ee8e6856c300b312ea0f64a4522381ca.481&show_article=1
The dollar is being dumped right in front of our eyes
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aA6_py_71g_o
Fundamentals for our economy are getting even worse
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-10-11-consumer-spending_N.htm
The truth
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/10/precipitous-drop-in-state-tax.html
youtube.com/user/Victoryindependence
Stocks
Silver
youtube.com/user/stellaconcepts
Economic data and let off some steam 
youtube.com/user/walstreetpro2
Economic updates
youtube.com/user/Kittenkattan
Economic updates
youtube.com/user/davincij15
Raw News that the media wont touch
youtube.com/user/inflationus
Economic updates
youtube.com/user/DEMCAD
macro-economic updates (INFLATION)
youtube.com/user/jberni1
Duration : 0:5:44
Jobs, global economy, SBA loans, stimulus, GI bill
Schiff Report Video Blog Sept. 3rd 2010
Duration : 0:9:58
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Took Out A Loan
“Took Out A Loan” live in Portland, for MSN Music
Duration : 0:4:46
Bailed Out Banksters Screwing Hookers, Using Company Credit Cards! 2/9/2009
Do you care about your rights & civil liberties? Feel free to drop by & join us at: http://www.youtube.com/group/theglobalresistance
This is the woman who revealed last week that the executives of Wall Street firms receiving taxpayer bailout funds have been charging $2000 an hour call girls on their company credit cards, which means it is hidden as a business expense, and ultimately comes off their taxes!
That must feel pretty good; screwing a pretty woman AND the taxpayers all at the same time!
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6825504
Duration : 0:7:35
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