Gas Prices Blamed For Late Credit Payments

[ClintonTyree]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050928/ap_on_bi_ge/late_loans

WASHINGTON - The percentage of credit card payments that were past due shot up to a record high in the second quarter as surging gasoline prices strained budgets and made it difficult for some people to pay their bills.

The American Bankers Association reported Wednesday that the seasonally adjusted percentage of credit card accounts 30 or more days past due rose in the April-to-June quarter to 4.81 percent. That followed a delinquency rate of 4.76 percent in the first quarter and was the highest since the association began collecting this information in 1973.

"The rise in gas prices is really stretching budgets to the breaking point for some people," the association's chief economist, Jim Chessen, said in an interview. "Gas prices are taking huge chunks out of wallets, leaving some individuals with little left to meet their financial obligations."

While Chessen mostly blamed high gasoline prices for the rise in credit card delinquencies, other factors also played a role, he said.

With personal savings rates dismally low, people have less of a cushion to absorb the big jumps in energy prices, Chessen said. The personal savings rate dipped to a record low of negative 0.6 percent in July.
<snip>

Wait until October 17 when the credit card companies raise the minimum payment from the present 2% of the outstanding balance to the newly mandated 4% of the outstanding balance. I don't think many people realize that this is going to take place. You know, the bush voters who don't educate themselves on issues, just follow talking points. They, and many others are in for a rude awakening less than a month from now.

This folks, is going to plunge this country into a depression the likes of which we have never seen in our generation. There is no safety net for working families anymore. Imagine the bread lines, soup kitchens and "bushvilles" springing up everywhere because of bush's "economic miracle". This country is in deep, deep trouble.

[5X]

1. I think bush's cronies have been propping up

parts of the economy to head off the recession.
This is about to all come crashing down.

[castiron]

5. I agree with this. The government will eventually prop up the big-box

economy like it does the airline industry. Wal-Mart will receive corporate welfare outright in the future because they are the only ones in a position to delivery "supplies" to America. Their goal, after all, is a Wal-Mart store every 3 - 5 miles in popoulated areas.

[annabanana]

2. Unfortunately.. This is what it will take..

to get their attention. The question is whether or not they'll recognize the source of their troubles.

In their need to keep the crumb-bum on his pedestal, who will they blame? Their spouses? Their kids?

[castiron]

3. This is the tumble we've all been waiting for, or at least the

beginning of a potential one. The debt rate is such that if things don't stay perfectly normal in the economy, trouble looms.

HA! Glad I married rich!

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. She deserved that.

:applause:

[castiron]

8. Chill. Have a sense of humour. I give my spouse's money to deserving

politicos and charities, all liberal, whenever I can get away with it.

[castiron]

9. And I am not a she

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. actually who cares?

[DJ MEW]

13. Isn't that annoying when people assume things about you

They assumed you were a woman because you said you married in to wealth, like only women do that.

I just started a new job and everyone seems to assume that I am heterosexual and then asks me the question, "Are you married?" Which to me also says, "Cause I am not gay so I can be and am married."

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. .

:eyes:

[raccoon]

12. Wow, that sounds smug. nt

[Double T]

11. Late payments from consumers mean higher interest rates and......

absurdly high late payment fees making it even harder for these credit card customers to regain financial footing. This whole thing will begin to snowball getting larger and larger until a even greater percentage of the population plunges into poverty. The bush administration and congress are to blame for allowing these credit card companies to run amok over the consumers and then leaving these same consumers with no way out thanks to the new bankruptcy laws. Don't believe a damn thing our politicians say about poverty in America, THE BASTARDS IN OUR GOVERNMENT HAVE CREATED POVERTY WITH THEIR CORPORATE PATRONAGE LEGISLATION!!!!!! REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU VOTE!!!!!!

[DJ MEW]

14. Soylent Green

Why does it feel like we are on a crash course towards the types of living conditions that were shown in that movie.

[Mandate My Ass]

15. higher interest rates and late penalties - locking you into a

death spiral where you can't possibly keep up let alone repay the original debt. Chase Mastercard raised my interest rates so high once that it pushed my balance over my credit limit and then charged me the penalty for going over it though I had bought nothing. The reason for the hike in interest rates? Because I had filed for a forebearance on a student loan. Needless to say, I don't have a credit card anymore.

Yes, our government has turned us into slaves for the credit card companies and banks.