Comments on: Note to Congress: You Are Not the People You Serve

By: P.M.

P.M. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:51:45 +0000

I often wish I were more like Spencer Bacchus.

By: CathyG

CathyG — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:57:54 +0000

I have a suggestion. Before we knock customers for their lack of personal responsibility, let’s let the banks belly up to the responsibility bar, first.

You know, the banks. The guys whose IRRESPONSIBILITY has caused millions of American families to lose a paycheck. Whose IRRESPONSIBILITY has caused millions of American families to lose their homes. Whose IRRESPONSIBILITY has raised levels of stress in households to points where calls to suicide centers, domestic abuse, runaways and suicides are all up. Whose IRRESPONSIBILITY has made a secure, dignified retirement utterly impossible. Whose IRRESPONSIBILITY has put our great nation’s security at risk because, what country can be secure when its economy is rotten at the core?

As soon as the banksters step forward, take responsibility for what their greed and moronic mis-management have wrought and work to make good on the tens of trillions of dollars of losses they’ve caused hardworking, honest people, THEN we can take time to gripe about the irresponsibility of average customers.

By: Jonathan Goler

Jonathan Goler — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:17 +0000

Citibank actually charges $10 each time you hit your overdraft account(which you PAY for the privilege of having), unless you manually transfer money from overdraft into your checking. So for their computer to do the transfer, it costs $10.

So, even if you set up your account with the necessary protection, they still ‘get you’.

By: EdTheHead

EdTheHead — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:07:58 +0000

“Congress should act responsibly, but not me…”

“The banking industry should act responsibly, but not me…”

This whole line of discourse seems to be in support of people not meeting their own obligations.

Bouncing checks was at one time was considered socially unacceptable behavior. (Writing a check when you do not have sufficient funds to cover it is still illegal, by the way) Have we truly devolved to the point that we now expect every entity to prop us up when we experience personal failure?

Here, we seem to have an issue with the banking industry serving the needs of check-bouncers, but the check-bouncers don’t like the cost.

By: Jenjen

Jenjen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:14:06 +0000

Exactly. Government can’t protect everyone. Unfortunately, too many people think it’s not their job to take care of themselves.

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:34:23 +0000

It’s all well and good to ask Congress to treat other
people like children – incompetent even to ask for overdraft protection on their checking account.

The problem is that Federal law applies to everyone,
so you and I will be treated as children, too.

By: jake chase

jake chase — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:18:28 +0000

All right. Everyone agrees. Banks conspire to rip off customers and Senators and Congressmen serve only their corporate keepers. How many of you people keep voting for Democrats, anyhow?

Tell your friends to tell all the Democrats you aren’t going to give any of them one more vote until they start being real Democrats. {You could tell the Republicans, but they don’t seem to need the votes to get themselves elected now that they own the voting machines]

By: jake chase

jake chase — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:08:37 +0000

Call them up. Tell them that unless they reverse the charge you will be mailing the card in pieces to the company president with an explanation of why you are doing it. They need cardholders like you more than you need them.

By: Patty

Patty — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:50:36 +0000

We have a Credit Union at my college (where I’m a student) – and it’s great! They even sent out a coupon for a $20 gas card in return for simply asking about their loan products! That’s all it took – and I had a full tank of gas for my rental car that weekend!

By: Patty

Patty — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:44:47 +0000

Just last week, I missed paying off my credit card in full by less than 24 hours, and Capital One charged me a $29.00 fee – that’s after 5 years of no late payments, and paying in full every month. My good payment track record didn’t matter to them. Neither did the fact that their website (which I rely on daily for my account info, including payment dates and amounts) was not updated until the day the payment was due.

By: Patty

Patty — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:40:10 +0000

James said,”You can’t discharge your duty as a representative of the people just by wishing that the people were more like you.” – - Well said, James.

Smugness and complacency in Congress is of epidemic proportions, unfortunately. You nailed it, James.

By: Bayard

Bayard — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:23:44 +0000

Nice try, James. Haven’t you figured out the Congress is elected to serve only its interests and those of the moneyed elite who paid for their election victories. That is a fact. How can we possibly believe otherwise??????

By: some guy in a cube

some guy in a cube — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:32:56 +0000

The American economy is setup with traps and pratfalls to snare all but the most impossibly diligent. This is true whether we are talking about banking or health care or international phone calls.

The American economy used to be the world’s envy. It has deteriorated into the Rip-Off Economy.

By: pebird

pebird — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:19:27 +0000

The Senator confused overdraft protection with his campaign contribution account. But money is fungible.

By: oldgal

oldgal — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:47:38 +0000

At the end of the day, it just doesn’t pay to be poor.