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Well, your friend's daughter learned her lesson. If she didn't, more fool her.
Unfortunately, her daughter does seem despise the idea of growing up. Perhaps because her mother insists on cleaning up after her to this day.
Posted on 03/05/2005 8:50:28 PM PST by drt1
Thank you for the advice. I monitor my accounts online but I never pay online due to my concerns about encryption security. But I check every day or two just to monitor.
The way I have protected myself is to give my remaining active card company approval to draft an amount out of my checking account each month that is higher than my minimum payment. I still write them a check for what I intend to pay, minus the amount they will take out on the bank draft.
I started doing this when I read the revised terms of agreement last year and saw that even one late payment now gave them the authority to jack my interest up to 29.99%. So I called and asked what happens if the stamp falls off or the check gets misplaced even though I sent it off promptly as I always do - am I still punished? Customer service hemmed and hawed but eventually said "yes, you could be". So, I set up the automatic draft which then puts the responsibility on *them* to pay my bill on time rather than me. If I ever get dinged, I can tell them it is their fault, not mine, provided I have enough money to cover (which is always true). I'm not thrilled about doing this but it does provide me protection from late fees and the voodoo of assorted fees and penalties.
It's worked so far.
Well, your friend's daughter learned her lesson. If she didn't, more fool her.
Credit Card companies will not "lower their rates" What a joke. They are the ones who spent millions to get this bill to Congress. They are the ones who will cause honest working people on the "fringes" of losing both home and respect due to "the economy."
And the "outsourced" will beocome the "life-payers."
When will it stop?
When will the "people" get their backs up finally and have another Boston Tea Party?
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Well, your friend's daughter learned her lesson. If she didn't, more fool her.
Unfortunately, her daughter does seem despise the idea of growing up. Perhaps because her mother insists on cleaning up after her to this day.
Not anymore. We have free market and free trade now.
Slavery is not dead. Today, counting all forms of bondage, perhaps 27 million souls on this world are slaves - about 0.4 percent of the population. Outright slavery - chattel slavery - is now ended for most, but debt slavery continues today for millions of people, especially women and children. A fundamental aspect of the American way of life is chronic indebtedness. Most Americans save very little and are deeply in debt. They have in effect become debt slaves in that they are working to either pay taxes or pay off notes, mortgages, credit cards, charge accounts and other debts. Who becomes a slave? |
Slavery is any of a number of related conditions involving control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or other clear forms of coercion. It almost always occurs for the purpose of securing the labor of the person or people concerned. People may be referred to as "slaves" simply because of the conditions in which they are held, not the law. They have a debt to pay which means they must work for it. Debtors who could not pay their creditors become debt slaves . Slavery is almost always a matter of economics - in effect, those with poor birthright or bad luck in any society have sometimes been forced to throw themselves on the mercy of those with better birthright and luck, or have simply been forced to provide service to those who had power. One is a present day slave if an employer has the power to force one to work for him. What is 'power'? |
"By power is meant that opportunity existing within a social relationship which permits one to carry out one's own will even against resistance and regardless of the basis on which this opportunity rests." Max Weber ,Basic Concepts in Sociology. Michel Foucault works analyze the link between power and knowledge. He outlines a form of covert power that works through people rather than only on them. Foucault claims belief systems gain momentum (and hence power) as more people come to accept the particular views associated with that belief system as common knowledge. Such belief systems define their figures of authority, such as medical doctors or priests in a church. Within such a belief system, or discourse, ideas crystallize as to what is right and what is wrong, what is normal and what is deviant. Within a particular belief system certain views, thoughts or actions become unthinkable. These ideas, being considered undeniable "truths", come to define a particular way of seeing the world, and the particular way of life associated with such "truths" becomes normalized . Cause justice to appear in the world, Buying the freedom of slaves in Sudan
The Naples (Fla.) Daily News 20-year-old 'Reallionaire' exhorts students to give their best effort in life By LAURA LAYDEN At 20, Farrah Gray has achieved more than most will in a lifetime. He describes himself as America's Reallionaire and when he shared his rags-to-riches story with Golden Gate High School students Tuesday, he touched them in a way few speakers can. The teenagers hooted, hollered, clapped, whistled and even stomped their way through his high-energy speech. Afterward they lined up to meet him one-on-one, feeling inspired and looking for help in pursuing their dreams. Students jammed into the high school's auditorium by the hundreds for his three presentations. Some clamored for front-row seats, maybe in hopes that his success would rub off on them if they just got close enough. A body guard stood closely behind Gray as he spoke. Gray grew up in a broken-down apartment in the inner city of Chicago. His mother worked three jobs, but still his family needed public assistance to get by. There were days when there was barely any food in the fridge. "We had no furniture," he said. "We had rats and roaches running around. We had to sleep on the floor with the rats and the roaches." A young Farrah started asking himself why he had to live this way, and he became determined to get himself and his family to the "other side of the mountain." At 6 years old, he sold body lotion for $1.50 door-to-door. He mixed together leftover lotion and baby powder that he found around the house to make "new" bottles. He earned $50. He treated his mother to a buffet dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and the feeling he got inspired him to keep going. By 7, he carried a business card reading "21st Century CEO," though he didn't even know what CEO meant. He'd heard someone introduced as a CEO on TV and it sounded important. He toted around a red lunch box as a briefcase, and handed his card out to anyone who would take it. At 8, he organized a group of his friends to create UNEEC, the Urban Neighborhood Economic Enterprise Club. Ultimately, the club raised $1 million to develop the group's entrepreneurial ideas and start various businesses. The club's success landed him his own radio show called "Backstage Live" in Las Vegas. "A lot of people did hang up on us," Gray said. "All I heard was dial tones." By 12, Gray had established himself as a national speaker. Today, he commands $10,000 per appearance. At 13, he started his own company called Farr-Out Foods, headquartered in New York. The company sold pancakes based on his grandma's recipe for syrup. It did $1.5 million in sales, making him a millionaire at 14. Gray later sold the company for $1 million. After making his first million, his first goal was to retire his mother and grandmother, who worked so hard to make ends meet. He bought homes for them and hired housekeepers and chefs so they don't have to cook or clean. During the past few years, Gray has racked up a long list of other achievements. He's acquired INNERCITY Magazine, he's financed a comedy show on the Las Vegas strip and last year he published his first book called "Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out." His book is endorsed by former President Bill Clinton. Gray defines a Reallionaire as "someone who has discovered that there is more to money than having money. A person who understands that success is not just about being rich in your pocket; you have to be rich on the inside, too." Gray believes everyone is directly responsible for whom they become, no matter their circumstances. He said three questions should be asked when determining what to do with your life: What comes easy to you, what would you do and not get paid for, and how can you be of service? "So many people don't use their gifts," he said. "I think the richest place is the cemetery. A lot of people die without using their gifts." He told students they have to work on themselves from the inside out. It worked for him. He pursued his dreams, though he heard many times that he would fail. As an African-American, he said, the statistics say he should either be dead or in jail. But, he said, through "hard work, a prayer, a goal and a vision" he beat the odds. He said he owes a lot of his success to his mother, who taught him that he could do anything he put his mind to. He said it's important to have a sense or urgency and to hustle. "Comfort is the enemy of achievement," he said. "So many people get comfortable with their money, their credit cards and what they have today." He challenges himself to do better every day. And he encouraged students to do the same. "I believe that average is really the bottom of the top and the top of the bottom," he said. To that, he heard cheers from the students. He encouraged students not to give in to peer pressure and not to do drugs. And he had a special message for women in the crowd. Respect yourself, he said. "Show us your mind and stop showing us your behind," he said to rousing applause. After the first session, one student came out chanting "Respect your moms," while others lined up to get his autograph and personal advice. Alexis Urquizo, a junior, asked him how to pursue creating a new video game technology that she's dreamed up. She jotted down his phone number and e-mail address so she could talk to him some more. "I thought he was awesome," she said. "It inspired me. I have an idea and I think I can do something with it." Kyle Sprague, a fellow classmate, also left inspired. He dreams of becoming an Air Force fighter pilot or going into the U.S. Special Forces, though his friends have told him he can't do it. " I want to see combat either way," he told Gray. "Then I want to go into marine biology." He's been studying Gray's book in his English class, and he said he likes it because it's so straightforward. Jeremy Kelly, also a junior, said he was surprised that Gray was so down-to-earth and that the millionaire agreed to come to the school. Gray didn't charge the school for his speech. " It's the new school and it has the reputation of being in the bad part of town, which really isn't true," Kelly said. "I never thought he would have come here."
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Do we have some sort of debtor's prison?
The harm to business from unpaid debt, and the reduced productivity and even business failure unpaid debt can bring, is obvious. Businesses or individuals who are not repaid the money they loaned or who are not paid for the goods or services they produced and sold on credit are prevented from accumulating needed and even expected capital for expansion, and they are frequently thrown into serious financial constraints making it hard to pay their own creditors and employees. This not only can theoretically choke the gross national product, many recessions and even the Great Depression have been in fact brought on at least partly by unpaid debt.
But debt relief measures, either in the form of actual debt forgiveness or in the form of relaxed procedures to collect debt (including the abolition of debtors prisons), are generally thought to help the poor. The idea that once again forcing poor people into involuntary servitude to pay for meager food and shelter is certainly a tough sell.
Monday Mar 14 2005 . All times are London time.
Growing fears credit boom may implode
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/5b00c6ae-93fc-11d9-9d6e-00000e2511c8.html
By Dan Roberts and David Wighton in New York and Peter Thal Larsen in London Published: March 13 2005 21:42 | Last updated: March 13 2005 21:42
Bankruptcy advisers are hiring extra staff amid fears that an end to the global credit boom could spark a surge in business failures in the US and Europe.
Unusually loose lending conditions have encouraged record borrowing by speculative-grade companies, with leveraged buy-outs and debt refinancing on both sides of the Atlantic generating more than $100bn of deals in the past eight months.
But last week's fall in the price of US Treasury bonds, coinciding with signs that bankers are struggling to complete riskier corporate bond issues, has added to a sense of nervousness in some quarters.
Although corporate default rates remain low, some fear the legacy of recent private equity buy-outs and hedge fund investments in distressed debt will be a swath of over-leveraged companies ill-equipped to survive in less benign conditions.
PwC, the largest corporate recovery adviser, said it was hiring insolvency specialists in sectors such as retailing, utilities and telecommunications in preparation for the expected fall-out.
Scott Bok, president of Greenhill & Co, an investment bank specialising in merger advice and restructuring, also predicts the cycle will end with a lot of companies in trouble. "In many of the deals being done today you can foresee the debt restructurings to come in a year or two," he said.
Last week, the Financial Stability Forum, a group of national and international central banks and regulators, pointed to the levels of liquidity as one of the main risks to the stability of the global financial system.
Following a meeting in Tokyo, the FSF said that, according to some of its members, tight credit spreads and low long-term interest rates suggested some in the market might be underpricing risks. It urged banks and investors to monitor their exposures by stress-testing what would happen in the event of a market shock. Chuck Prince, chief executive of Citigroup, said: "The possibility of a liquidity bubble around the world concerns me. A very cautionary thing is that it feels like the world is changing and traditional indices may not give a complete picture." Some say markets are becoming more nervous. Paul Hsi, a senior analyst at Moody's, said: "There is a little bit more caution in the market right now as some of the weaker credits come up with 'me-too' offerings and investors take a harder look."
Ian Powell, head of European business recovery for PWC, added: "You only need one of these really big financing deals to go sour and confidence will evaporate very quickly."
However, investors say the market is more aware of the risks than in previous credit cycles and that funds are managing their exposure accordingly.
" People are on 'bubblewatch' since almost every market got burnt in the last five years," said Stephen Peacher, head of high-yield investment at Putnam, the fund manager.
" We know that bond prices are certainly not cheap but, given that default rates are so very low, we feel comfortable that spreads are in a fair value range."
Additional reporting by Jennifer Hughes in New York
http://www.creditcardnation.com
Report 3
CREDIT CARDS ON CAMPUS:
Academic Inquiry, Objective Empiricism, or Advocacy Research?
(back to index)
A brief history: Marketing credit cards on campus
The explosive growth of credit card use on college campuses is the result of the deregulation of retail banking, beginning in the late 1970s. Corporate retailers and local banks traditionally offered credit cards to their best clients as a strategy for enhancing customer loyalty. In the early 1980s, when the American banking industry faced enormous losses in its nonconsumer loan divisions, it began the rapid and aggressive expansion of its marketing of high-cost, unsecured "revolving" credit accounts. Over the last two decades, credit cards have been more than twice as profitable as the industry average for other bank products (U.S. Federal Reserve, 2004). With the impending saturation of the lucrative market of middle income households in the late 1980s, banks began to cautiously explore the long coveted but potentially risky college student market (Manning, 1999; 2000).
Initially, unemployed students under 21 years of age were required to obtain a parental co-signer (late 1980s). However, the relatively low default rates (explained below) and high profits of this market niche precipitated an unprecedented national marketing campaign that targeted increasingly younger and inexperienced consumers. By the early 1990s, credit card issuers rescinded the parental co-signature requirement and offered increasingly larger, cumulative levels of unsecured "revolving" lines of credit (Manning, 1999; 2000; 2003). Hence, the soaring demand for credit cards on college campuses (featuring the dilution of traditional bank underwriting standards) was shaped initially by efforts of the newly deregulated banking industry to find new clients with relatively low levels of outstanding debt and potentially high incomes.
Today, lucrative "exclusive" marketing/licensing contracts with higher education institutions (millions of dollars per year for the largest public universities) and the increasing cost of an undergraduate education, together with intensifying "competitive consumption" pressures, have fostered the credit/debt dependent environment that typifies the current undergraduate college experience. Indeed, the conflict of interest between the monetary "royalties" received by colleges in return for unrestricted, on-campus marketing campaigns (including the erosion of personal financial privacy of students/staff) and the general neglect in promoting student financial literacy has generated heated public-policy and academic debate (cf. PIRG, 1998; Manning, 1999; 2000; Jamba-Joyner, et al, 2000; State of Iowa, 2000; GAO, 2001; Hoover, 2001; Bianco and Bosco, 2002; Ohio State University, 2002; Norvilitis and Maria, 2002; Tan, 2003; Hystad and Heavner, 2004).
http://www.creditcardnation.com
Report 3
CREDIT CARDS ON CAMPUS:
Academic Inquiry, Objective Empiricism, or Advocacy Research?
(back to index)
Objective Scholarly Inquiry?
The first issue that begs for clarification is the authors' failure to conduct an adequate literature review of college student-related credit card issues. Except for the Sallie Mae student loan survey report, the meager list of cited sources relies primarily on research funded directly or indirectly by the credit card industry. For example, the Student Monitor's market research clients feature major banks and, not surprisingly, its executives actively promote the industry's contention that college students rarely accumulate high levels of credit card debt. Furthermore, its annual college marketing survey is based on only 10-15 students per educational institution. This raises important questions about the kinds of information that are nationally representative of students' use of bank credit cards; requests by the authors for clarification of student selection procedures and statistical "weighting" of the overall sample were rejected by the managing partner of the company. More significantly, by neglecting the professional obligation to discuss the most important academic research literature (including several recent articles in JSFA), it permits the authors to ignore several key factors that influence student use of credit cards and their rising levels of consumer debt. For the interested reader, a list of recently published research studies on this topic is referenced below.
Today, approximately 75 to 85 percent of undergraduate students at four-year colleges and universities possess their own "universal" bank credit cards. (cf Manning, 2000; 2003; Nellie Mae, 2000; 2002; Jamba-Joyner, et al, 2000; Pinto et al, 2001; Bianco and Bosco, 2002; Manning et al, 2002; Norvilitis, 2002; Ohio State University, 2002; 2003; Tan, 2003; Gnizak et al, 2004; Hystad and Heavner, 2004; Mattson et al, 2004). The highest proportions are at more affluent, private universities and the lowest in predominately minority colleges and public universities that feature students from lower income households. Not incidentally, the growing popularity of debit cards is frequently cited by the credit card industry as evidence of the greater financial responsibility and debt awareness of college students. This assertion ignores the reality that debit card use masks a significant proportion of college students whom have lost their bank credit cards due to defaults on their outstanding account balances (Manning and Smith, 2005). And, this "race to the bottom" marketing campaign of the credit card industry has recently crossed a previously unimaginable age threshold: High School. Beginning in the early 2000s, our survey-based study of a mid-sized, public university in Virginia (N=518) indicates a dramatic increase in credit card use among high school students (Manning et al, 2002; Manning, 2003).
http://www.creditcardnation.com
Credit in college
Easy access, lack of knowledge lead to problems
Kelly Hildebrandt, 5/2/2004
The availability of credit in college is landing more graduates in debt before they even get their first job.
One recent graduate in Sioux Falls has about $28,000 in student loan debt and owes $7,000 on her credit cards. She's paying $200 in minimum payments to credit card companies on an income of about $20,000 a year - and she hasn't even started making her student loan payments.
" When I was in school, it was easy to use the thinking that I could pay it off later," said the student, who did not want to be identified. "When the first card hit the maximum, I thought this is a problem. I never thought it would get that bad."
College students are graduating with alarming amounts of student loans and credit card debt. Instead of investing in their futures after college, many students are struggling just to keep their heads above water.
Studies indicate high school seniors are getting failing grades on personal finance and are then heading off to college with little preparation for the temptations they'll face.
Not only do students not learn the basics, they also don't realize how quickly interest can compound or how important it is to read the fine print of credit card offers. That can lead to trouble.
" Once they're on their own, many have the opportunity to make choices and, therefore, they make more bad ones because they don't know any better," said Robert Reinke, director of the South Dakota Council on Economic Education.
Credit card companies often take the blame for student debt, though company officials insist they're not targeting students and that it's ultimately the cardholder's responsibility to know how credit works and to use it wisely.
The lack of education in America's adults has both the public and private sectors - including credit card companies - pushing for more education in the high schools.
They'd like to see more students like Melissa Bossman, a senior at the University of Sioux Falls who has two credit cards with zero balances.
Though she charges things such as books or gas or clothes, Bossman only uses her credit cards when her paycheck will cover the costs before interest starts accruing.
But the temptation hasn't eluded her.
" It's kind of hard sometimes," Bossman said. "It's so easy just to flip that out and use it."
What's helped Bossman is a part-time job throughout college and a good example set by her parents, she said. The other, debt-ridden college student said her parents warned her about the pitfalls of credit, but she still got into trouble.
It's not that credit cards are bad in all cases, or even that college students shouldn't have them. Experts hope that by learning the basics - and hearing examples of how easy it is to get into debt trouble - students will be equipped with the knowledge to make better decisions later on.
Few states require personal finance classes for graduation, though a growing number are implementing economics into their curriculum. The South Dakota Legislature this year passed a resolution urging the state Board of Education to add personal-finance requirements to graduation standards.
Also, many area colleges provide seminars and services to increase students' awareness.
$17,000 in the red
The average student graduates from a public university with $17,100 in student loans, while a private education tacks on about $4,000 more, according to a 2002 Nellie Mae survey.
Then there are the credit cards. College seniors have an average of $3,262 in debt, according to a 2001 survey.
Overall, the average credit card debt for students decreased from the previous study in 2000. But since more students have at least one card, they seem to be using them more than ever, said Nina Prikazsky, vice president of operations for Nellie Mae.
According to the Department of Education, nearly 40 percent of borrowers graduate with unmanageable levels of debt - 8 percent or more of their annual income.
Experts fear graduates are getting a triple whammy. They're not only getting used to life in the real world, but they're doing it with more debt and in a poor job market. Instead of saving for a house or family, or even starting a retirement plan, many are putting much of their income toward debt payments.
What's worse, many students have unrealistic ideas about how much they'll make after college.
They are bombarded with bad examples that create unrealistic ideals, including on television, where the "Friends" characters have mediocre jobs but still manage to live in a loft apartment in Manhattan, said Robert Manning , author of " Credit Card Nation " and a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
" They don't want to acknowledge that their parents have earned or figured out a way to maintain their incomes or lifestyle," Manning said. "By giving them credit at an earlier age, banks are reshaping kids' attitudes before parents do."
New graduates are often surprised at how much it costs to live anyway, said Jill Funke, a credit counselor with Consumer Credit Counseling Service.
" They find they're in a situation where their wages are less than what they need to make their (student) loan payments, pay for living expenses and other debt payments," Funke said. "They are finding that it costs more to live than they were prepared for."
Fine-print blindness
It's not necessarily that students don't understand the basics of interest, but they don't realize how fast it compounds or how important it is to read the fine print.
" They're looking at it like 'I can afford $25 a month as a minimum payment,' but they really can't afford $500 worth of items, and it ends up being so much more with interest," said Lisa Falon-Schulz, education coordinator at Consumer Credit Counseling Service.
Matt Stricherz, director of counseling at USD, said most students are prepared for credit, but the offers are getting more complex.
Most students are bombarded with offers as soon as they turn 18 as credit card companies seek new customers.
Because students typically have fewer monthly expenses, they have more money to spend on other items, said Reinke of the state economic education council.
There's also a dash to get to students first because people tend to retain a sense of loyalty to the company that gave them their first card, said Dana Dykhouse, president of First Premier Bank.
But many students feel targeted.
Anna Lind, a sophomore at Augustana College, receives a credit card application every week.
" I can see how it would be really tempting for people to fill them out because they make it seem so easy," she said.
" I never fill them out and never send them back. I feel that I'm targeted, and they think that I'm young and don't really understand what's going on."
In the 1990s, most college campuses were crawling with credit card stands luring students with free items such as hats and shirts.
Many universities are less welcoming these days because students get so many offers to begin with.
Augustana College hasn't allowed vendors on campus for the past three years. Neither do the University of Sioux Falls, the University of South Dakota nor South Dakota State University.
" The key, of course, is that credit used to be earned, which meant that you had to learn to use your budget based on the resources you have," author Manning said. "Now credit card companies issue credit before people have demonstrated they understand or will repay it."
Customers don't necessarily even need a job any more.
Lind, who has three cards, is unemployed. Her main source of income comes from her parents, who allot her a certain amount of money to cover expenses.
Rhonda Wosje, a loan officer at Citizens State Bank in Sinai, remembers how easy it was to get credit in college at area retail stores.
" I remember as a junior in college, department stores in Sioux Falls had 10 or 15 percent off for signing up," Wosje said.
" Within five minutes, I had $1,500 line of credit. I was about 20 years old with actually no real, steady income."
Income is just one factor in credit card approval, Dykhouse said, adding that companies also consider that college students are likely to make higher wages in the future.
According to Citigroup research, about 95 percent of students do report some income and have lower rates of write-offs and delinquencies, said Amer Sajed, senior vice president at Citicards.
Sajed wouldn't explain the approval process but said income is just one factor.
Setting a good example
Personal finance lessons are typically left to the parents, and when parents talk about the issue, it seems to stick with children.
Stricherz said he's noticed that when students get a card with their parents or a local bank, they're more accountable and tend to be more responsible.
Bossman, who grew up on a farm and picked up many tips from her parents, has paid her balances before interest starts adding up.
" They always had a lot of bills," Bossman said. "They actually got their farm paid off in 20 years, so that was quite a feat.
" They told me to make sure I will be able to pay credit off."
But not all children get that sort of information from parents, and while CCCS and Junior Achievement bridge some of the gap, their programs are not available to all students.
Reinke and other public and private sector officials are pushing for more education in schools so all students learn the basics.
" Understanding things like balancing a checkbook and use of credit is one of those mandatory life skills," Falon-Schulz said.
" What's changed is that credit is so much more available now that maybe a lot of kids in high schools don't have good examples of how to utilize those wisely."
Putting all that information together should help students make better choices and have more realistic ideals after college.
Real life examples of how people got into debt, and what a struggle it is to correct the problem, is also important, said Darrell Demaray, a vice president of Citizens State Bank, Sinai branch, who is working with other area bankers to bring more education to the area.
Credit card companies often shoulder the blame for student debt. But just like any product purchase, students need to take responsibility to learn how it works and decide how to use it, bank president Dykhouse said.
" They have to decide what is more important to them, and obviously some fail just as some fail making other financial decisions as to what car to purchase or what style of clothes to wear," Dykhouse said.
Citigroup just launched a major 10-year initiative to partner with various organizations to further financial literacy in schools.
" What we believe is that credit card education should start much earlier than college and much earlier than when they turn 18 years of age," Sajed said.
That's something many programs in college and high school are starting to address. Manning developed a college program that includes lessons on needs versus wants.
" The best example is students who come and say, 'It's a little colder, I need a winter coat,' " he said. "What the credit card does is help them go from a $100 coat that they needed to a $300 coat that they wanted."
This story ran on Argus Leader on 5/2/2004. http://www.argusleader.com/business/extra/financial5.2.2004.shtml
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