no third solution » personal finance
Credit Card Scams Part III: The Balance Transfer Scam
I used to think that the debt-relief commercials that said things like, “The credit card companies want you to stay in debt forever,” were ridiculous. I still think that many or perhaps all of the “get out of debt for free” programs that they offer are scams, but they are probably not any worse than the scams routinely perpetrated by the credit card companies to begin with. Debt Collection Practices & Impropriety The Reverse Payment Prioritization Scam The Balance Transfer Scam The Penalty Rate Scam Exploiting Ignorance: Money for Nothing Last time, I talked about the Reverse Payment Prioritization Scam, wherein the creditor applies payments to balances in the exact opposite order to which any rational person would apply them. The end result is that debtors generally are in debt for longer periods of time … Read entire article »
Filed under: Legalese, personal finance
Credit Card Scams Part II: Reverse Payment Prioritization
I used to think that the debt-relief commercials that said things like, “The credit card companies want you to stay in debt forever,” were ridiculous. I still think that many of the “get out of debt for free” programs that they offer are scams, but they are probably not any worse than the scams routinely perpetrated by the credit card companies. Debt Collection Practices & Impropriety The Reverse Payment Prioritization Scam The Balance Transfer Scam The Penalty Rate Scam Exploiting Ignorance: Money for Nothing In a previous post, I discussed some debt collection tactics, specifically pertaining to the use of arbitration by credit card issuers.Since, to my knowledge, unsecured debt can’t be repudiated without filing bankruptcy, which may involve forfeiture of assets, there really is no such thing as unsecured debt: it is all eventually … Read entire article »
Filed under: Economics Lessons, Legalese, personal finance
Credit Card Scams Part I: Debt Collection Practices
Updated: This began as a single post, but started the thought process on a series of scams perpetrated by credit card companies. Debt Collection Practices & Impropriety The Reverse Payment Prioritization Scam The Balance Transfer Scam The Penalty Rate Scam Exploiting Ignorance: Money for Nothing A recent article in Business Week highlights some apparently (IMO) improper practices used by credit-card issuers in collecting debts. Most of them use one of several private arbitration companies. The Business Week article, Banks vs. Consumers (Guess Who Wins?) implies that the National Arbitration Forum is probably up to no good and cites a number of business practices that lend (no pun intended), at the very least, the appearance of impropriety. What if a judge solicited cases from big corporations by offering them a business-friendly venue in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blog Reactions, Legalese, personal finance