OCCUPY WALL STREET

[persiphone]

Originally Posted by AtLast

Something that has been on my mind about Bank Transfer Day is that there are so many people in the US that have had their credit completely ruined by the recession that they can't even get a bank account of any kind in either a bank or a credit union. And if they have been able to hang on to a checking account in a bank, they don't dare lose it. They will endure all the fees just to keep an account so they can pay bills from it, etc. and use a debit card to purchase goods.

Talk about entrapment! And the alternative to these people is pre-paid credit cards with large use fees or if they have an emergency, pay-day loans with over 400% in interest!!

Tell me, how the hell are these people going to get their credit back? What the hell are they going to do? this group is growing in leaps and bounds in the US. People that have been laid off and at the end of their UE benefits and any extensions are one month away fromfalling down this black hole.

i was able to open a credit union account with a 5 dollar deposit into a savings acount and a 20 dollar deposit into the checking account. both accounts are free in the sense that i don't get dinged monthly for having the accounts and my checking account has no minimum balance. i can use my debit card from them, which they gave me on the spot instead of having to wait for it to be mailed, again, with no fees for usage. also, i don't get dinged for having automatic utility payments come right out of my checking account. i didn't have to be a teacher or in any type of special field to open it and they even gave me a free beverage cooler for opening the account. yay!!! there was no credit check or anything like that either.

also, as far as credit cards go, the green dot cards are pretty nifty. but i have a debit card so i have no need for them anyway. plus, i don't use credit anymore and haven't for quite some time, back around the time *I* felt that the credit card companies were getting way out of hand and that was long before there was a mass movement that put a spotlight on their horrible business practices.

additionally, the FICA system is designed to work against you. ever wonder why it takes absolute years to build your credit and just a month to destroy it? that's not an accident. the FICA system is designed to rate you on how much interest businesses (banks, lenders, corps, etc) can charge you. it's in their best interest to make your score as bad as possible to extract higher interest from you for as long as they can. homie don't play that. so i choose not to participate in that bullshit. is it hard? yes. but if i can't buy it outright, i just don't buy it. i don't see the sense in buying something that costs a dollar and spending 2 dollars just so i can have it sooner and thus lining the pockets of a bunch of faceless paper pushers with my hard won dough. i got into this argument with a prof of mine who debated that the interest you pay is offset by tax refunds and when i broke down the interest you pay on an average credit card and/or a car payment, the amount of money you ended up spending on interest could almost fund your retirement when added up over the lifetime of the loan. i mean, it's not hard to add up the bucks so you can see for yourself. and the worse your FICA score is, the more interest you pay. FICA is total bullshit and needs to be shit canned. worse system evar.