1/2% interest on savings....

30% for interest on a credit card...

What the fuck is wrong with this country that we allow this kind of shit to go on...

Or better still, what the fuck is wrong with us that we continue to allow this kind of shit to go on and on and on and on...

It's just ridiculous that the spread is so freakin high.

And the banks get virtually free money from the fed and still gouge the people.

Virtually impossible to not make money in an environment like that.

I guess it's time to start freeway blogging.

BTW, my homeowners insurance bill came today. It increased 23 per cent over last year. I'm now going to have to pay $2700.00 a year for homeowners insurance.

I don't know where I'll get that extra money.

And things like this are just under the fucking radar.

Maybe people are too tired to notice.

so much endless crap going on today it boggles the mind. I am fed up with it but how much can you do. I write my R congressmen, for example, and I might as well go talk to a rock. Unless you have millions to throw around to influence in this country today not too many are going to listen to you. The country has now become "who" can you buy if you want anything done. It's become a F'en joke of a place for most people IMO.

.5%

I tell my bank if it wants more business it should raise interest rates and they just laugh at me.

Msongs

the problem is while you may withhold your $1,000 or even $10,000 supply the Federal Reserve is granting hundreds of billions of dollars in additional supply at 0.25%.

Kinda like Hoover Damn + you with a water bottle. If you stop pouring your water into the river but the damns floodgates are opened you can't really affect the supply level in the river.

and wall street. It amazes me how much is BS pushed on people today and there is not more outrage.

It pays to shop around.

But this seems to be the norm on Money Market accounts...

I was mainly focusing on the potential spread that does exists for far too many Americans.

Everything doesn't have to be literal in order to make a point.

too when I go into my bank here and same thing, the rates are ridiculously low. What's even more amazing is how long the rates have been so very low.

Hence low rates. If they raise rates, it tightens supply and stems deflation.

I have my savings in ING too and have for years. Used to be 4%. Not sure what it is now.

seemed low, but comparatively quite high to now... I do wish I had a crystal ball that worked!:)

High inflation = high rates.
Risk of inflation = high rates.

The Fed has decided for short term there is no risk of inflation thus rates are very low.

If the Fed though there was high inflation or high risk of inflation we would be seeing high interest rates right now.

Low interest rates = low cost of money = more economic expansion = more inflation
High interest rates = high cost of money = less economic expansion = less inflation

Raising rates risk deflation not inflation which is what the Fed is afraid of (right now).
As the economy recovers the risk of inflation rises and to combat that the Fed will be forced to raise rates.

I keep asking Mr Hekate why we haven't just stuck our life savings in our mattress yet. The situation is still disgusting.

Hekate

Especially sickening knowing they can borrow from the fed for under .3% yet are charging 30% for credit cards for many people.

Thank God we don't carry credit card debt.

Hekate

on Savings accounts. Eight years ago when I first opened an account at INGDirect they paid 6 %.

...you're getting screwed big time. Right now you can find a money market or T-Bill at 5%, and bets are those rates will be going higher in the months to come.

6 month treasury: 0.23%
2 year treasury: 1.06%
5 year treasury: 2.58%

Also if you lock into a long term T-Bill and rates go higher you lose not win (face value decline in higher interest rate environment).

Still 0.5% is screwed but 5% is just as unrealistic as 0.5%.

And conservatives are against all regulations on these criminals. Payday loan sharks prey on the most vulnerable, the worst kind of predator. But conservatives cheer on abusive companies who take advantage of the poor, the uneducated and the vulnerable. There will be a special place in hell for conservatives for their support of abusers.

support of abusers."

We, with our reliance on fixed income and interest are screwed.

CDs are pathetic. Have been trying to cherry pick preferred stocks or bonds with much higher returns and with an expectation that the base price will remain stable.

This has been the story for way too many years. Every time a small CD matures, I have to hunt and peck to find a bank or S&L with a bit higher return.

I am fortunate that I do not need a loan to buy a house or car, but despair at the paltry returns for the portion of my savings that I do not choose to put at risk in stocks.

Then Mr. Potter ran the Bailey's out of town.

it makes the bank look bad too.

and got rid of those idiotic credit cards. We need a loan, we'll get a short term consumer loan, thanks.

if you didn't pay that ridiculously low minimum balance every month. I sent the card back in pieces accompanied by a note I'm sure curled the hair in their noses. I could see the scam develop right from the beginning.

People need to pay those puppies off, starting with the cards with the lowest balances. Cut them up when you've paid them off. Use the paid off cards as ammunition to get the high interest rates lowered if you've got any of those, then pay those bastards off.

Being out of debt is a wonderful feeling.

I charge stuff when I want to float something for a month without interest.

But good for you.

(Good for ME, too, but I see what is happening around me....
neighbors PAWNING their wedding rings to pay the mortgage,
foreclosures, job loss, long term unemployment, minimum wage
"replacement" jobs...)

But bully for you!

People in Michigan must be such LOSERS.

and I have lousy health and never know when the bottom is going to drop out again. One thing I learned very early in life is that paychecks are intermittent but that debt is there forever, those hands stretched into your pockets for monthly payment no matter what your life is doing.

The only debt I took on was a mortgage on a shabby fixer in a bad area. I did it as a hedge against rising rents and rents rose past the mortgage within two years.

So excuse me if I sounded smug and excuse you for not getting the point.

Also, they have to have a safe place to go to school.

I've lived in bad areas, too. I won't do it now if I can help it.

Back in 1981 (I think it was 81), we got 14.7% on a 12K CD...a 90 day CD

Inflation forces banks to pay real interest on savings..

Interest rates on credit cards back then were also quite low... Housing was low too, BUT interest rates automatically "pre-qualified" people and separated the men from the boys when it came to buying houses..

It;s easy to see why Reagan wanted it all to change.. Lower interest rates meant that housing PRICES could soar, and a housing bubble was born:(

i've been playing their c-bond market and its all paper money. They send me statement that I've made so and so and got dividends but it disappears the following month.

some are just as ruthless as the banks...

Makes me so glad we wised up and paid off all our CC debt before buying our house.

The riskier the loan, the higher the interest rate. That's why the thirty year mortgage may be 5%, the car loan may be 9%, and the ordinary credit card 12%.

Think about it. Who in the world would PAY 30% interest on a credit card? The only person who would is someone is low on cash and may not have the money to pay back the debt or any interest rate on it.

People whose loans have the lowest risks get the best rates. If one carries no credit card debt, one pays no interest for such. If you have 30% interest on your credit card and you aren't paying it off, the reason is you don't have the money to pay it off, which means you are a risk to default on the whole debt.

The rate of interest you can get for savings is a function of the low cost of money to lenders and the low market demand for loans that can be made. It is not related to the rate for credit cards, except to this extent: anyone who has money to save would be nuts to put it in a savings account at one half percent while they paid 30% on a credit card. They would pay off their credit cards and avoid incurring any such interest charges.

I agree that 30% credit card interest should be outlawed. In my view, a top range of 18-20 is probably a reasonable one. But high interest rates for cards are driven by high risk of loss to the credit card issuer.

As an example. We have good credit, a 5.25% mortgage, a 4.0% car loan and the credit card company jacked our rates up, RIGHT BEFORE THE NEW RESTRICTIONS KICKED IT, from 11% to 30.2%. Never late, never even close to the limit.

In fact we hardly ever carried a balance and yet they jacked it that high.

This is happening to people I know who are solid financially.

The idea of the rates following the logic that you are talking about were in place prior to the melt down.

Things have changed.

The credit card companies figure when they raise interest rates, the worst that can happen is instant defaults by those truly living off their credit cards. That's a result they want to induce, for it helps them cut their losses. They also want to take advantage of the much larger group - who can't really afford to pay off their cards, but can pay the carrying charges of higher interest rates.

As you note, good borrowers with good credit histories are getting hit with high interest rates, too. The rationale is that they can pay off their high interest consumer card debts if they have cash or the ability to borrow at lower rates. The credit card companies have a bunch of risky, unsecured debt, and they have to charge ridiculously in an economy with nearly 10% unemployment. People don't pay because they don't have the money, not because they don't want to pay.

http://www.bankrate.com/

1.5% is the top for a 1 year CD. I thought there was deflation in 2009 though, so I can see the logic.

It'd be awesome to lock in a CD back during 1981 when interest rates were growing in double digits.

1) there are a lot of deals available in a slow economy...cash helps you take advantage
2) in a bad economy, cash, even at no interest, is a security blanket/safety net

Planning on heading to a credit union as soon as I can get rid of all of those automatic payments.