Democratic (and bizarrely, it seems, Republican, too) Attorney general candidate John Kroger wants to put together a multi-state lawsuit against banks across the country to force them to stop cheating hard-working families out of debt through unscrupulous practices, he said last night. 
Kroger, a charismatic Lewis & Clark professor who has prosecuted Enron and mafia bosses, held up a credit card offer received by his campaign at a Town Hall sponsored by economic fairness group Our Oregon, SEIU and OSPIRG, at Portland State University last night. The card offered an interest rate of 5.25%, or 9.24%, or 12.24%, or 15.24%, “as determined by us, based on a credit evaluation and a number of factors,” Kroger quoted. “And it goes on to quote one other factor, including the size of your credit line. But the point is, the box that’s supposed to tell you what you’re getting doesn’t tell you what you’re getting.”
“And then at the bottom of the offer in four point type, it says ‘I acknowledge that any service or benefit may be modified at any time’,” Kroger continued. “So the bottom line is, none of this counts.”
“What angers me is the idea that consumers are blamed,” he said. “I can’t tell you what the legal impact of this offer is, and I’m a pretty reasonable lawyer. So what is the average consumer going to be able to do?”
“I don’t think we in Oregon have enough money to fight the banks on our own,” he said. “But if we ally ourselves with other states, just like with tobacco, we can have a huge positive impact.”
A credit card company was the biggest contributor to the Bush campaign in 2000. In 2006, credit card companies charged consumers $36bn in fees. In 2007, they charged consumers $192bn in penalty fees, that’s $872 for every adult in the US. You might like to check out the movie Overdrawn, by Portland director Karney Hatch, if you want to learn more.
Jeff Merkley, who is running for US senate, listed the ways credit card companies screw people over. From double cycle billing, which means you pay interest on a balance you’ve already paid off, to giving unfair notice to get your payments in on time. Then there’s misleading terms, unfair payment allocation, so you pay off the lower interest debt before the screwy, high interest debt, not to mention inadequate notice of going over your limit. “This makes credit cards an ‘I gotcha’ type of operation,” he said.
Our Oregon is looking for people to tell stories of getting screwed over by credit card companies. This is Blogtown: You know what to do…
I once thought about signing up for one of these cards… but then I didn’t, because I’m not an idiot.
Card companies are only able to get away with crap like this because people are too stupid or lazy to read the small print. What Kroger is proposing here is an attack on the symptom, not the cause.
Kyle (above) hit it right on. We don’t need more government control over society – we need less.
No one forces fools to sign up for credit cards and no one forces fools to use them.
I really doubt if even 1% of applicants even read the terms of a credit card. If anything, banks need protection from all the fools out there!
So having a group of liberals (yeah, even Republican liberals) try and use the power of government to control a business reeks of a growing fascist government.
I disagree with comments 1 and 2. These offers are deceptive. Even a lawyer cannot figure out what the terms are. There are many many reasonably intelligent, careful people who get ripped off by credit card companies.
Individual people do not have resources to protect themselves, and therefore the government should step in and regulate. I think Kroger is correct that a more assertive, proactive regulatory regime is needed in Oregon.
Thank you John Kroger! While we all need to do our due diligence in these matters, we need our electeds to be more assertive in attention to these predatory-style practices.
And thanks for mentioning Jeff Merkley’s work in consumer protection. His leadership in going after predatory payday lenders and protecting consumers from outlandish interest rates was one of his major accomplishments.
If we can get someone like him watching out for us in D.C. and someone like John watching out for us at home, we’ll be in great shape.
These offers are deceptive
Something is only deceptive to a person that does not have intelligence or takes the time to find out something. They often just look at the big print.
Individual people do not have resources to protect themselves
A common “logic” government uses to assert more and more control over society. If people simply took the time and read the agreement there would be no issue.
On top of that, it’s not the bank’s fault fools rush out to buy items they can’t afford to pay cash for or pay off that card charge in 1 or 2 payments.
To continue in this growing fascist mindset for the sake of protecting stupidity is stupidity in itself.
Kroger actually addressed your comments last night, Kyle. And you know, I was thinking the same thing to begin with.
“I want to dispel two myths,” he said.
“The first is that this is the new liberal issue of the month, being driven by special interest groups. The coalition against this is broad, including the foremost expert on debt in the United States, Elizabeth Warren, at Harvard, a very well respected legal scholar who is by no means a bomb-throwing liberal, is growing increasingly concerned about this. The Federal Reserve, too, which is clearly in anyone’s shortlist of the most conservative financial institutions in this country, has called these ‘unfair and deceptive practices’. I want people to realize this isn’t a political agenda but a consumer protection agenda.”
“Secondly, people think consumers just made bad choices and they shouldn’t be stupid,” he said. “But I get an offer every day.”
Then he showed the card offer and showed that it doesn’t, actually mean anything, and that the card seller doesn’t have to stick to any of its “promises.” Also, if a customer is aggrieved, they have to go to “binding, mandatory arbitration.” They’re not allowed to go to court.
“I believe in the basic principle as a lawyer that if you feel you’ve been harmed, you have the right to go to court,” Kroger said.
The credit lenders are sneaky as f@#k & will try to squeeze you if you’re not paying attention. Recently I sent in a monthly payment on schedule, just like I’ve done every month for years. My next statement arrives and I can see the payment was received BUT WAIT! For some reason that no one could ever discover, farther down the page there’s a “payment returned” line.
And just like that I’ve got a $40 “returned payment” fee, a $35 late payment fee, and the interest rate shot up to almost 20%.
My bank tells me the check I sent them cleared so . . . what the f#@k am I getting reamed here for?
Computer error, my ass. They’re a bunch of greedy swine.
JustaDog:
Seems like you are the one who lacks intelligence. The offers are deceptive enough to deceive anybody, not just the unintelligent. This is the premise of the argument that government should regulate the industry more. And the premise was proven by Mr. Kroger when a showed a credit card offer that, even upon examination of the fine print, gave no real explanation as to its terms.
And, I personally do not feel threatened by regulation of industry. I think regulation of industry is essential in any market because industry will always demonstrate the lowest human characteristics of greed and deceipt for the purpose of turning a profit. Industries are not people, they are money making ventures that exist for the sole purpose of turning a profit. So their regulation is necessary and good, and such actually protects individual freedoms. Like the freedom not to get ripped off.
Sometimes, the libertarian nutcases that come out of the woodwork every time progressive regulations are proposed surprise even me.
It’s as if these posters have never studied history (e.g., the Gilded Age & the robber barons) and almost certainly, few of them have ever taken (much less understood) basic economic classes.
Every time one of these corporations scams a citizen, it drains not only their bank accounts, but it pulls money out of the state and local economies- money that could be used to purchase good and services that collectively benefit our community.
When people purchase those local goods and services, the “value” of the dollars circulating actually increases via a multiplier effect, which in turns creates further wealth for the community.
For some reason, simple minded “individualists” don’t seem to understand this- and would rather everyone grow poorer rather than enforce responsible regulation on corporate behavior.
Bottom line: every time the banks, the mortgage industry and the credit card companies scam someone- they’re scamming you, whether you see it or not.
I’ve had one particular credit card for 15 years and worked the interest rate down to 9.5% on all purchases. I always pay it on time and then without notice they jumped it up to 17%.
On another card, I paid online via their website. The site “mysteriously” lost my payment even though I had a confirmation number. When called and pressed, they reversed the charges but warned me that they could not overlook a missed payment again. They were blaming me for there crappy web site even though I had a confirmation that the payment had gone through.
> Something is only deceptive to
> a person that does not have
> intelligence or takes the time
> to find out something.
In fact, lots of people *do* lack the intelligence to understand these complex legal contracts. Half the people in the country, after all, are of below average intelligence. But they still need credit, some just to survive, especially in an America (both government and corporations) increasingly unfriendly to the poor and lower class
I wish JustaDog best of luck in battling corporate fraud and deception with just his lonesone and the delicate invisible hand of the market.
I mean, fuck man, who cares if there’s lead in toys, salmonella in tomatoes, or deceptions in small-print legalese? The market will figure it out!
I believe the definition of facsism is business-controlled government…
Seems like you are the one who lacks intelligence. The offers are deceptive enough to deceive anybody
They don’t deceive me nor the crowd I hang with. Obviously they must deceive the simple-minded, public school taught, Oregon ignorant lumberjackscoffee baristas, and mini-mall workers.
To artsasinic – consult a dictionary.
“public school taught”
Classy.
Is JustaDog just acting really, really stupid for entertainment value, or is he/she actually that blatantly stupid?
We need a Blogtown poll.
Check out JustaDog’s website and twitter. Arousing examples of bigotry, paranoia, and false victimhood await. STFUFTW
Be nice to each other and stay on topic, please.
Matt, I’d like you to bear Kroger’s children while reading some credit card application fine print. Nice, on topic, and hot.
Better now?
To be clear, JustaDog doesn’t actually speak for the libertarian community. Hear that, Dog? We’ve held a meeting–we’re disowning you. Bugger off.
John Kroger is sexy.