The banks have begun to purchase worthless CDO's at inflated prices with the Federal government backing 85%!!! of the purchase price. Most of the 15% the banks are using was TARP money to begin with.
What banks are doing that????? Banks are scared to death of CDOs right now since their Tier 1 ratios are under more enormous scrutiny than usual. Most banks purged themselves of these so fast they're causing the doppler effect. There might be a bank holding or two out there that might have a percent or two of these, but those are not real banks, and are not real prevalent.
To some extent financials have helped spur this latest rally. But why? One, the public has figured out that the sky is not falling. The data shows this is not the worst recession in history, as was prophesied. While GDP continues to be dismal, CCI and CS (for whatever these are worth) show modestly higher readings than expected. Two, financials are beating estimates. While that's a two-eded sword (were the estimates artificially low?), it has still given investors something to hang their hat on. The ancillary data look good as well. Many banks are increasing their lending, albeit on stricter terms. It is a prototypical correction. There will be extremes, followed by a settling.
I don't know that I agree that the market has yet to bottom. There may be more bad news that could cause the market to go low, but I don't know if the market can bear drastically lower prices of certaain equities, bonds, and commodities just as the market couldn't bear too high a price for these. I'm by no means bearish yet, but I keep hearing about this other shoe that hasn't dropped yet no one is offering any empirical evidence of a shoelace out there.
I don't know about you, but if something is under $100, it's not much of an emergency.
I have three credit cards, none of which I carry balances on (I have carried small balances in the past). I keep them primarily for the credit history and the benefit of knowing that in an emergency, I would have some means of taking on unexpected expenses.
In the interest of building credit history, a secured card with a cosigner might be the better option. It prevents unsecured liabilities for the cosigner.
Well said, especially about the secured card. That's still the best option for someone looking for a low-balance card. And I totally agree about the $100 part. If something costs less than a hundred bucks, it has no business being financed on a credit card.
As far as big brother; the job of the government is to protect me from others, not from myself.
Big Brother thinks differently.
I would like to know why a card company needs to charge me $29 for a late fee!.
Their rationale is simple. Most people aren't late occasionally or once in a while. They're serial deadbeats. Therefore, they have a fee out there to act as a deterrant, much the same way municipalities charge so much for a speeding ticket or for late payments on property taxes.
Also, why should they charge me for a payment made over the phone especially, if a live operator is not utilized?
I don't know. I don't use this so I couldn't tell you. Find a better card. Lord knows the card cos want better customers right now. They're losing their shirt. But from the sound of it, I could probably guess who your card servicer is.
Mind you, I'm no apologist for the cc cos. I'm just an apologist for the free market and for the Constitution, and I'm critical of depending on Big Brother to do what we can do and should be doing ourselves.