Sue Issuers of Creditcards for their Reports to Credit Bureaus

Are your creditcards playing havock with your credit report? First get rid of them. Then clean up your credit report. You might even be able to get agressive with your cleanup in small claims court. See this website for details.

I don't usually recommend being litigious, however, if you don't defend your legal rights and you let these companies trash your finances by trashing your credit report, it enables their abuse. It harms your family. The biblical way to approach this kind of disagreement is to approach the party and attempt a resolution - by all means do that first. What you will most likely find is that they won't cooperate. If you can't come to a resolution and they won't submit to biblical principles in their treatment of you, then the scriptures allow you to sue. It is a last resort.

However, you may want to consider the wisdom of these scriptures.

Isa 59:44
No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly.They trust in confusion and speak lies;They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. NASU

1 Cor 6:7
7 The very fact that you have legal disputes among yourselves shows that you have failed completely. Would it not be better for you to be wronged? Would it not be better for you to be robbed?TEV

1 Cor 6:1
If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints?NIV

This is a tough spot to be in. Just avoid creditcards altogether, because you entagle yourself with those who have intent to trap you. Once your trapped, there is no sure way out of your dilemma.

How To Get Out of Debt - Another way

This website has a seminar about eliminating creditcards. Consider some of their options for eliminating creditcards from your life, if you haven't already.

Should We Prosecute Banks for Suicides?

How many suicides are prompted by excessive debt? With issuers of creditcards seeking out those who are likely to default, so they can collect more fees should be held responsible. Here is an article that agrees.

A College Education on Creditcards

Creditcards are sold to college students, even though 24 states have passed legislation between 1999 and 2001 limiting solicitation, they are still targets. The issuers of creditcards want to get them young. If they see creditcards as part of life, they'll see creditcards as a necessity.

Teach your children, starting in first grade, that creditcards are NOT money. Teach them that creditcards are to be avoided. It is going to take an exaggeration of this because there is so much advertising on TV and in the mail, not to mention the attitudes taught in our public schools when economics are taught. Then there is peer pressure to deal with. As parents, we must counter the trend. A teenager with creditcards can bankrupt their parents. It is documented in court cases that parents are held responsible for their minor children's debts - regardless of the illegal contracting of the minor.

Think Creditcards Have Better Fraud Protection?

Consider this case where a hacker accessed millions of accounts at major creditcard companies and how these creditcard companies took a rather nonchalant attitude toward the problem. What makes this such a large number of accounts is the consolidation of the creditcard industry. It also explains their complacency toward the problem.

Citigroup has been consolidating into every area of banking, and sharing customer information across businesses. To top it off they have been lobbying congress on issues that allow them more freedom to share customer information, rather than protect it. Since the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act, banking has destroyed the intent of the 1933 Glass-Steagal Act prohibiting banks to participate in both wholesale and retail banking, which came out of the Great Depression to protect us from a repeat of the depression. It has also neutralized the 1927 McFadden Act that restricted interstate banking. This is not a consumer friendly operation.

It has also ventured into the MLM business, widely fraught with fraud, to sell investments. It is on a mission to consolidate power, and siphon off the wealth of Americans. That is why they issue creditcards. Creditcards have become the tool to accomplish their mission. They don't care one iota about fraud protection, it is only a public relations tool.

Creditcards an Invitation to Fraud

Just take a look at a website called Ripoff Report. The sheer volume of complaints by people is staggering. It is convenient to use creditcards, but it is also convenient for thieves to make fraudulent charges and it is easy for the issuers of creditcards to make unauthorized charges. Don't kid yourself, it is up to the issuer of creditcards to determine whether charges are fraudulent. If they disagree with you, they win, period. You are not in control.

The most deceptive part of all this is the Universal Default clause in agreements for these creditcards. They can determine you have defaulted on our agreement by simply having a falling FICO score. In a default, all deals are off. Your interest rate skyrockets, fees fall from the sky, and your credit gets trashed if you aren't careful. It is a trap, that is extremely profitable for the issuers of creditcards. It is the ultimate ripoff because Congress won't do anything about it, nor will the OCC who oversees the banking industry. You're on your own. You should just close all your creditcard accounts. Creditcards are financial traps.

Paying Off Creditcards Makes a Difference

Do you want to get back at the issuers of creditcards? Pay off your creditcards. A Wall Street Journal writer, Robin Sidel, reports that issuers of creditcards suffer when customers pay down their balances on their creditcards.

Truth In Advertising?

Issuers of creditcards obviously are above the law. Watch some of their commercials on TV. The ads have nothing to do with opening accounts for creditcards. They have everything to do with promising that you are financially smart if you open your account with the company advertising. They use premiums such as putting a 1% amount of each purpose in a savings account, but they fail to tell you about the fees you will most likely pay that will more than offset that savings. There is a lot of psychological manipulation in these ads. I wouldn't be surprised if they have spent millions on psychological research to come up with these approaches. Protect yourself and hit the mute button on your TV when these ads come on. Creditcards will make you business savvy, creditcards will make you sexy, creditcards will make you smarter, creditcards will make you wealthy, creditcards will help you save more money, creditcards, creditcards, the magic financial panacea to your financial problems.Write the TV station and complain about the deceptive ads.

Trends in Creditcards

1. Industry Consolidation. In the 1990s there were 10 issuers of creditcards. Today, we are down to 5. The business hasn't been growing lately, so the issuers of creditcards are trying to steal business from each other. Now they are buying out competitors, and that means less competition. That is bad news for customers.

2. Growth in Small Charges. To grow the outstanding balances on creditcards, there is going to be more of a push to allow small charges. An MSN Money column says, "Research firm TowerGroup predicts the volume of small electronic payments -- 'micropayments' -- will grow to $11.5 billion by 2009 in the U.S. and $40 billion globally." Why do you think so many people have creditcards in their wallets, creditcards in their drawers, creditcards next to their phones, creditcards in purses, and more creditcards coming in the mail? Issuers of creditcards are pushing to replace cash. This is another trap to avoid.

3. Credit Card Fraud. Security of your account information is poor. Visa found only 17% of the 231 large merchants it questioned were following payment card industry guidelines regarding customer data security. You hear about some kind of identity theft every day in the news. This is a compelling reason to avoid creditcards altogether, and to monitor your credit report using an alert service to notify you when your credit is checked.

In addition, the issuers of creditcards are always updating their bag of tricks to trip you up into defaulting - so just close your account - or eventually get duped.

The Wise Use of Credit?

Here is a short film from 1960 to teach about the wise use of credit. (Windows Media File) It seems that things have changed a bit. Banks don't rely on Character, Capacity, and Capital anymore. They issue creditcards to anyone who will have them. They now target those who have just filed bankruptcy - not to help them, but because they know they can't file bankruptcy again for a long while.

The movie suggests that wise consumers read the fine print. We simply don't do that anymore. Creditcards are issued based on signing the disclosure, which serves as the contract. Creditcards have a clause that says you agree to the terms of their contract that will be forwarded after the account is opened, with the creditcards in the mail. If you ask to see it before you open the account, they will refuse to disclosue it. So a wise consumer, according to this movie, would refuse to open the account.

The movie suggests that we borrow to make large purchases instead of saving for them first, but acknowledges that some people do. It is funny how they didn't even mention creditcards. It is also interesting that mortgage terms were as much as 25 years! Today, they can be interest only - or perpetual for a lifetime. It is easy to see that our standards have deteriorated. Lending has become predatory, because the banking industry can't be profitable unless it makes more money off the loans it makes. Creditcards have become the cashcow of banking. That means making riskier loans to justify higher charges, in combination with changing laws to boost collection power. Creditcards are the key today for banks.

What is Money?

I'm having fun with these old films. This one is about Money (Windows Media File). When you watch this you'll hear the narrator tell you that money has to be something of value, and that our money is backed by gold and silver in the treasury. Folks, our money is simply a promissory note based on the faith in our government to redeem it for it's face value. Our fractional reserve system has diluted the gold and silver backing to 10% of the face value. I have even heard that it is possible that those reserves no longer exist, and the currency is simply backed by faith. The gold and silver are supposed to be collateral for the certificate we use to exchange it for goods and services. It has turned into a promissory note instead. Our money is based on debt. That debt is never really paid, and is cancelled, in part, by printing more money.

Why has the government done this? So they can print more money when they need it, and use a hidden tax called inflation that everyone pays equally, rich or poor, in the dollars they spend. By printing money, they skim off the value of the money already in circulation. That is the problem with a fiat currency, which is what this is called.

Learning our Lessons

Not many years after the depression, the solution to addressing the problems of life's financial emergencies was to borrow as illustrated in a movie from 1935 called "Financing the American Family"(Windows Media File). Seems we didn't learn our lesson from the depression. This is our banking system is leveraging its political power, setting the problems we have today in motion. Lending to families to pay off houseold debts, as portrayed in this film, is the solution for them to get out of debt. Are we morons? Borrow money to get out of debt? That is like an alcoholic having a martini to beat his alcohol addiction.

This sounds a lot like the pitch for mortgage loans today. They lend us money to get out of debt, while "responsibly" reminding us to live within our means, we are enabled in our addiction to living beyond our means. This is like giving a drug addict a fix, while telling him to stop using drugs. Then encouraging him to come back for more when he gets into trouble again. "We're here to help.", they say. This paradigm has gotten out of hand, now they issue creditcards to people in bankruptcy. Highschoolers are encouraged to carry creditcards. College students are not grown up unless they have at least one or more creditcards.

Borrowing Power

Take a look at this old TV commercial. (Real Audio File) It starts out with a shady character that ends up being the hero of the commercial. Think maybe this was a Freudian slip? The shady characters of banking have convinced us that using credit cards is necessary, and that borrowing money to buy things is not only necessary, but financially savvy.

Needs vs. Wants

One of the major problems we have in our financial education these days is distinguishing between needs and wants. Our banks have greatly influenced our financial education by posing as the expert source for learning money management. That is like letting the fox watch the Hen house. They are going to encourage us to borrow money, use credit cards, spend everything we make to boost the economy.

Here is a video (Real Audio File) that is an excellent example of how we are mislead. This is the video's claim: Shopping is a necessary part of everyday life, full of choices and decisions that can greatly impact our lives. This film delvs into why we shop the way we do, and what we can do to be smarter shoppers. Despite the fashion sense of the two main characters, this film contains great lessons like determining your wants versus your needs.

The truth is this video leaves you believing that the secret to distinguishing between needs and wants lies in the fact that you might or might regret the purchase when you get home. If that isn't a way to encourage uncessary spending, I don't know what is. A "need" isn't what most people think it is. A need, in the economic sense, is used for survival - Food, Clothing, and Shelter. It isn't designer clothes, a dinner at and expensive restaurant, or a million dollar home. It is merely the basic product that provides the necessary function to satisfy that need. Everything else is what we want.

The video is correct in the sense that we do make buying decisions based on psychological desires to attract the opposite sex, or fulfill our dreams. That is where we get into trouble, and that is the motivating factor that is leveraged by advertisers. That is how they have turned wants into "needs" in our minds. They've confused us, and we make poor economic choices as a result.

Debt Counselors Need Counseling Too!

It is pretty ironic when the place you go to get financial counseling, the very government approved agencies that become your financial guide when your in trouble, get in financial trouble themselves. That sure instills confidence doesn't it? Maybe they just don't get it. They have faith in this flawed fiat currency method of money management - it just doesn't work. What do you expect? The banks are the source of grants, and they are essentially pressuring the agencies to push people away from bankruptcy, even when it is justified. So they have to keep coming back. We may have to watch the whole charade collapse, leaving bankrupt households with a legal barrier to bankruptcy, because there is no court mandated counseling available, and we let them spiral into our homeless population.

Just stay out of debt folks, for all practical purposes there is no safety net since the new Bankruptcy Law has taken effect. Only if you are fortunate enough to navigate your way through the mire, will you get the fresh start you need. That is getting more difficult every day. It isn't worth the risk.

Tricks of the Trade

Credit card contract formation methods should be illegal. You are asked to sign the agreement before you see it, by signing the application. What are they hiding?

Here are some especially problematic terms that can be in your contract: Two-cycle billing. This uses two months of balances to come up with the average daily balance. It can be a big problem for borrowers who only rarely keep balances from one month to the next, because they'll end up paying two months interest for one month's debt. Universal default. This means your card company could raise your rates if you're late on somebody else's bill somewhere else.

If your credit history profile changes at all, they can view that as a signal to raise your rates. Over-limit fees. If you have a $5,000 credit limit and you use your card to buy something that costs $5,010, don't expect the charge to be denied. Instead expect your issuer to charge you a fee of $30 or more. Maybe you think that's worth it for the convenience.

Due times, not just dates. Many, if not most, issuers now consider a bill late if it arrives on the due date after a certain time of day -- typically before the mail is delivered. Then you can get busted for being late, a situation that can jack up your rate to levels over 20 percent and add another $30 or more in fees.

-- Crunch your own statements. Issuers say they could end up spending as much as $57 million to provide customers with customized minimum payment and balance disclosures, but most customers say that's what they want, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

Individualized disclosures like that would let you know how long you'd have to make those minimum payments before you'd bust your balance to zero, and how much you'd pay in interest in the meantime. Don't hold your breath waiting for those statements. Go to an online calculator such as the bankrate Web site to get your own answer.

Go to the Reuters website for the full story.

Asset Protection

Often times, the reason we find ourselves deep in debt is due to a catastrophe of some type. According to research done at Harvard University, 50% of bankruptcies are due to medical bills. This means we must plan ahead for these unexpected events. One way to do this is to do some asset protection. This is especially needed if you get a judgment against you that could wipe you out.

We live in a very litigious society, and high-net-worth individuals are good targets. So the secret to real asset protection? Don't own or control anything. This isn't as simple as it sounds, but a book written by Jay Adkisson, "Asset Protection" is one of the best I've found. Be cautious, because there is a lot of illegitimate strategies that could land you in jail, or at least in the poorhouse. Jay is a highly respected attorney that is combating the fraud at his website www.quatloos.com. This is an area where you have to stay one step ahead of legislators and court rulings, because the law is extremely creditor friendly.

Student Loans Just As Bad

Most people think student loans are a good investment. What they don't know about Sallie Mae, student loan guarantees, could be hazardous to their careers and financial future. Be sure to watch the video at the link I've provided here.

To quote Elizabeth Warren, "It's a market in which the protection goes to the lender. And the students get served up like turkeys at the Thanksgiving dinner."

Credit Card Calculator

One of the things that people need to pay closer attention to is how long it would take for them to pay off their credit card balance. Of course calculating this assumes you stop charging to your account and make the same payment every month until it is paid off, which is something that would only happen in a perfect world. But this calculation does give you a sense of what that debt is costing you. Here is a calculator. When you see how long it is going to take, add up the total dollar amount of the payments, then subract out the amount of the original charges, and you have the interest you paid. If this doesn't get you mad, something is wrong.

Secret History of the Credit Card

It has been awhile since I mentioned this, but it is an excellent introduction to the problems of using credit cards. Frontline really does some hard hitting journalism, since they are not as sensitive to advertisers than news on the typical commercial TV stations. This report is shocking, if you have never heard about "Universal Default."