georgerussia

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Everything posted by georgerussia

  1. That's why at least in Russia the debt principal and interest have different priority, and generally no interest is satisfied until all the principal is. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  2. But the losses are on a different scale. Just here in Bay Area you can see a lot of homes which are sold 100k+ less than they were sold before. Such losses should be quite rare on unsecured loans. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  3. It's easy to blame politicians for everything. However we must admit that the people of California were actively participated in it as well. Just look on Nov 08 ballot results when voters approved multibillion projects in the middle of obvious recession. And this was not the first time. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  4. I would applaud it greatly if that happens. However I doubt it. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  5. For unsecured loans like credit cards? Or this is the average rate? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  6. I have no idea where you got a definition of a fixed loan as a loan which does not change when prime rate changes. In your definition the loan where the rate could be changed by the bank any time to any value is a fixed rate loan - as long as those changes are not tied to the prime rate. While my definition is not perfect, calling it false is still kinda overkill. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  7. Fixed rate guarantee is like "your rate is 8% till 01.01.2012, and neither party of contract can change it without mutual agreement". He didn't have such a guarantee; all he had was "your current rate is 8% and will stay at 8% until we decide to change it", which is variable rate. Fixed rate is the loan where "the interest rate remains the same through the term of the loan". * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  8. Well, getting like 2c per dollar is what I would still call complete loss. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  9. If the rate could be changed any time the issuer wants, and such a change does not require mutual agreement, then the rate is obviously not fixed. Fixed rate agreement usually does not let the bank to change the rate without your consent just because the bank wants to make more money today. Ok, so you do not expect them to send you routine contract changes. But what are you expectations based on? I only lived in the USA for 4 years, but already know that there's a lot of businesses around who wouldn't mind to get your money by what I call walking on the thin line between unfairness and fraud. Since you lived here longer than me, you obviously know that as well. You also know that 8% would be very low interest rate for unsecured business loan, and that until you start carrying balance on your card, the bank has no incentive to review or change your interest rate. Combining all above the situation you described is not unreasonable - it's EXPECTED. Funny thing is, once I got a card from Citi (it was Home Depot card, which gave us $200 discount on laminate flooring for signing in). Had zero interest for 12 months. Next month I received "change of contract" from Citi, which introduced annual fee. I payed it off, called them and canceled it. The guy on the other side tried to convince me to keep it for like 15 minutes. Of course the annual fee was dropped immediately, but since I only wanted this card to get this discount, I still closed it. Still learned my lesson - almost every change could be waived if you have some leverage (i.e. no balance or ability to easily transfer it), and call the company. I also think such a change could be reversed in a small claims court (as the issuer would have hard time to prove that you received the notice), but it's of course more time-consuming. This is not true. The card was promised at 8% until the issuer changes the rate, and the agreement stated the issuer can do it any time they want. This is NOT fixed rate agreement. 8% was CURRENT rate, not fixed rate. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  10. No, it was not. Technically it was a variable interest rate loan, which _currently_ was set up to 8%. This would be very cheap rate for an unsecured business loan, and it would be reasonable to consider it a teaser rate. I don't understand what you're trying to say. Are you saying that if your card agreement stated clearly that your interest rate will be 30% as soon as you have more than 5K balance on a card (which I believe will be part of most agreements under new law), you would not use this card, and therefore would not start business? What is your point here? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  11. Looks like you're trying to prove a different point. I didn't say nobody could make money from bad debts, including subprime mortgages - not everyone with such debt will file for bankruptcy. But for those who will file, the unsecured debt often gets discharged completely, and with the number of bankruptcies increasing it might be negative profit at the end. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  12. I don't know any married dude who would prefer the former to the latter as well :D * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  13. I've seen same (and often worse) clauses in commercial loans as well. The difference is secured vs unsecured loan. If borrower files for bankruptcy, the bank will recover at least something from his home or auto loan because there is collateral. For credit card loans there is no collateral, and the debt seems to be usually wiped out completely. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  14. Well, personally I have no spin as I have never paid interest on a credit card bill in my life, so I could only discuss it from some abstract point. However the reason for those interest-rate increases is very obvious - the increased number of customers in default, who file for bankruptcy, and credit card debt is unsecured. Another point is that the inability of the business to increase the rate as necessary and when necessary will likely to result in higher rates for new accounts. Not to mention that the credit card company still needs to cover their losses, so they'll just find another way to charge money - or will go out of business. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  15. That's a good idea! I think we should also extend it that if you ever buy alcohol, the store must check that you were not issued, or properly surrendered a driver license (to prevent drunk driving), and that you also do not own or have in possession a vehicle (to prevent drunk driving without license). * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  16. Where? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  17. Unfortunately I have no idea what it should mean. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  18. I really wonder why when Dow is down 4%, all the media are screaming about it. But when Dow is up 4%, almost no one mentions it. Is the society so hungry on negative news? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  19. I think they should get you on payroll for advertising their position. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  20. RIAA, IFPI and others have been very successful in winning in the lowest courts. So far all the judgments to them I've been tracking were reversed, or at least highly reduced, by higher courts. This is exactly what happened with allofmp3.com (which has been doing business under mp3sparks.com for a while already). No worries. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  21. What exactly is amazing there? What kind of loopholes you're talking about? "Mega structure" is very useful for a company with many employees. It allows the people to work more productive because of less travel. Fancy offices are helpful to hire and retain talented workers - somehow people usually prefer to work in a private room with bay view than in unfinished basement. This means the business will be more competitive, earn more money and therefore pay more in taxes. Or spend more in business expenses, which - in turn - will employ more workers to build and maintain yet another "mega structure". But if you consider it unfair, there is always a choice. You could always set up a corporation yourself, and once you get profitable, you could have the same business expenses as they do. If you ARE profitable, of course. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  22. "Over the past 16 years" means "Mrs Clinton and Mrs Bush", right? She's definitely better looking; why not? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  23. Well, the world is pretty binary. For most religions belief in God itself is not what defines the religion (as otherwise it would be no difference between Catholicism and Islam). The religion is about whether you follow some ritual or not. For example if you look on Christianity-based religions, the rules are pretty simple - either you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or not. If you don't know or don't care, this means you do not accept Jesus, and therefore you will not be saved. You, however, still might believe in God, you just don't care - like those priests guilty of some perverse acts. You might also believe in God, but do not really know (which means you believe "just in case"). * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  24. Do you really think such mass murder could happen on a shooting range? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *
  25. I usually say all psychics should be licensed, and the licensing process should include a simple test. Each psychic should win a state lottery three times in a row - guessing numbers should definitely be much simpler than find a missing human body. And a license would cost 1M a year, which obviously shouldn't be a problem for someone who could just sit on a blackjack table and make this money in ten minutes using his psychic power. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *