is the side that says BOA is going to move those practices to checking and other accounts as much as they can...they're going to use the excuse of legislation in doing so, and people are going to keep complaining about how unfair it is that things like this keep happening to them. (oh, when did THAT fee get instituted ($39 overdraft, $2 for ATMs not on our network in addition to what the ATM charges cost, pick a new fee to add here...all communicated via an additional flyer in your bill that looks like SPAM so you won't read it..to your peril)

On the CC side, you always had an option. Keep the balances down to realistic levels. Close the accounts. Please don't tell me that the mountain of consumer debt ran up happened because everybody had "emergency car repairs". It came from people losing the discipline that their parents had about spending what you have and not more..using the cards sparingly and paying them down religiously.

Do you know how many times I've cycled cards? Miss one payment by one day and the rate jumped...account closed, lowered rate...paid for at the slowest possible rate OR change it back. IOW, call them, negotiate. It works. Does this mean that I never got hit? Nope. It does mean that I limited the pain as much as possible.

It has zero to do with how much money I keep in any bank, which is apparently alot less than you think it is and alot more about focusing on whats important versus what isn't...and working alot of deals. (which is my job..and I am good at it)

So, shorter answer, is I'm on the side that says you were taken advantage of...for behavior that you should NOT have displayed...so I am not willing to blame 100% of the problem on the credit card companies...which are now consolidated into huge conglomerate banks thanks to your government, who passed a huge new set of legislations to "protect you" from yourself that will cost you money, which you will happily spend because you think that it is less than you would have spent otherwise.

And you are taking this as a defense of what exactly? Credit card companies? Please.

And yes, it is all about keeping as much of my money as I can. I earned it. I want to pay as little tax as possible, as few fees as possible and piss away as little as possible. Spend as little as possible on the things that I want and finance only necessities.

Does this mean I expect to pay zero taxes. No. Government provides things to me that have a value. Does this mean that I want to pay for waste, inefficiency, thievery, studies about homosexual frogs, your senator's pet project...no. My last straw in NJ that drove me out was the pay to play in Atlantic county right after the Camden Co auditors found 26M of irregularity in the school budgets, ON THE FIRST DAY of the audit. The next day I started looking for out of state jobs, and eventually uprooted my family and moved to FL. You see, for a while I rationalized NJ by saying to myself "I'm paying for better schools." and "My gas is cheaper and the pump it for me", and "My family is close"...and finally it got to the point that I could no longer rationalize paying the highest taxes so that my governor could pay his gay lover 250k per year to look good.

Is that saying that FL is better? Not necessarily...but alot less of my money is at play in that game.

its working deals. But thats no matter.

And the point is just that, the vast majority of people SHOULD pay attention to their money, and they don't. Your parents most likely did. Its not a job...its just smart.

And it sounds to me like you think it should NOT be your job to pay attention to your money. And you wonder how it became so easy to take it from you. Good lord. How is THAT the fault of some company?

Again, this is not a defense of the industry. The practices were designed to take advantage of the situation, and they did. But they had very willing participants...and still do. And you seem to think thats ok. Somehow, if I throw 1000 singles into the street in NYC...you seem to think that I should be able to walk out there and pick all 1000 back up....or there should be vast government intervention to get even with the people on the street who picked up my money and walked away...and I should have no culpability in the matter whatsoever.

But never mind, the credit card companies made everybody buy those iphone accounts and 60 inch plasma tvs and designer shoes. What was I thinking.