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When insanity becons many come running ... Toni Riss had a credit card with a 79.9% interest rate. The 58-year-old woman from Texas thought she struck gold when she found the First Premier card, which is aimed specifically at consumers with poor credit. "I had an accident on a motorcycle, went through bankruptcy to pay for medical expenses and my credit went to hell in a hand basket, so I was looking for credit cards for people with bad credit" Riss said. They granted her a card with a $300 limit -- typical for new customers -- and a starting rate of 29.9%, which Riss said she considered decent given her credit score. But about six months after opening the card -- at the end of 2009 -- she received an unwelcome surprise in the mail. "I about had a heart attack when I got a disclosure notice saying that my starting rate of 29.9% was going up to 79.9%," said Riss. "It was ludicrous. Talk about a highway robbery." At that same time, First Premier Bank launched a new credit card with the sky-high 79.9% rate. The card proved popular with consumers, said First Premier Bankcard CEO Miles Beacom, but the performance was bad: "A lot of the people ran up the card, defaulted and went directly to charge off." As a result, they dropped the rate to 59.9%. "We also tested it at 23%, 33%, 45%, but 59.9% is the one that shows the best performance and where the organization can market the product," he said. Since then, nearly 700,000 people have signed up for the card -- and more than half of them carry a monthly balance. And yes, that rate is completely legal. The Card Act, which was passed in late 2009 to protect consumers from predatory lenders, only prevents issuers from raising rates retroactively. Credit card issuers are free to charge whatever rate they want at the front end. Beacom, however, denied that Riss would have had her rate jacked up. He said they only issued new cards at that APR. Still, Riss insisted that she was offered the 79.9% rate, and that when she tried to cancel the card, it took nearly six months. And, she said, First Premier charged fees the entire time and then put her in collections when she didn't pay. Beacom,didn't deny that First Premier has high fees. In fact, he said that before the Card Act capped the charges at 25% of the credit line, First Premier relied on them to offset the risk of its customers. "Before the new regulations we had the ability to hold specific individuals accountable for their own actions by charging these fees," he said. "Now we must spread this risk out among all our customers through higher APRs." First Premier charges a total of $135 per year in fees. It starts with a $45 processing fee to open the account. Then there's an annual fee of $30 for the first year -- $45 for every subsequent year. Plus, there's a monthly servicing fee of $6.25 (or $75 a year). Cash advances will cost you $5 or 3%, whichever is greater; late payments ring up at $35. The bank will also charge you $35 if a payment on your account is returned due to insufficient funds or any other reason. But Beacom,said the bank used to charge $175 for just the processing fee and annual fee alone. And yet the customers keep coming. The company said it serves nearly 3 million customers nationwide and receives anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 applications a month. There is a huge -- and growing -- need for cards serving customers with "less than perfect credit," Beacom,said. However, he added, the company is now more cautious due to the Card Act, so it is only opening about 50,000 accounts a month. The company said this has forced it to cut its workforce by more than 20% last year, and it will reduce its headcount by another 400 to 500 people this year. In an attempt to find a new product that will bring in fees and customers without being as risky, First Premier plans to start testing a card with a $700 limit and a 25% interest rate. "The approach is much like high-risk auto insurance," Beacom,said. "If you have a bad driving record, you have to pay more and once your driving record has improved, your premiums will come down When the cardholder's credit score improves, they may start to qualify for more traditional types of credit card offers with better rates and less fees." That's what Riss has done, but no thanks to First Premier. She said she has slowly built up her credit since ditching the card and eventually qualified for a card with a much lower interest rate and fewer fees. "I eventually picked myself up and re-established myself, but I want to be a warning to people who would ever think this is a good deal," said Riss. ( End from news -Blake Ellis, staff reporter) ______________________________________________________ This is the world we get when we educate people in the institution who teach them how to rob people by skimming in right under the law, and they are taught about the gullibility of people, and how to enrich themselves by the use and abuse of peoples want to believe. Education has sank to an all time low in what it produces today in the financial sector and the legal sector who write policy. It may be a good thing, to run when you see a person claim they are an MBA or ( most basic asshole)... and certainly run fast if they say they are a PhD - (Preaching High Deception), and we may one day learn, there is not such thing as a Master of anything, because if they could be a Master they'd first Master Sickness and Death.. and that they cannot do. some become wise in how to learn, that they may bring good to the world, but unfortunately, many pursue a degree for the sake of money by any ruse, status and egotist claims of selfish granduer, these are the types who are groomed to design despair and destruction of even the most basic of things. One may come to realize that when man first took the fruit from the tree of knowledge, the first act conducted was 'deceptions", when the serpent deceived Eve to bite and she in turn deceived Adam to do likewise, from there, trust and fair play, found the means to use knowledge for the many sorted things which cause much havoc in many arenas. Deception rules the roost. which is about like claiming a Degree, for every reason other than the use of knowledge for the improvement of mankind as a whole - maybe it may be a degree of deceptiveness. We may be thankful for the few, who use knowledge to improve life for many, but there are 1000:1 who use it for every other vice to pursue money, and other things which is immeasurable in the damage to others it cause. If one first does not have a good heart, and a true concern and vested devotion to humanity; no amount of education will produce anything beyond a criminal who will develop and promote devise. Unfortunately today, only now are we seeing more an more articles and studies, which denote some obsession with college may well be far less than beneficial, we see degrees issued simply because one can pay and show up. We've seen the result of what this has produced, in the middle of the information age, we wittnessed the worst collapse of the world economy- as these degree claimers seek greed above good, they see self elation above humanity concerns, and they claim status for the devise in their ruse, to gather money. They can't seem to make relationships work, nor does any amount of material holding provide any satisfactions - they become like the abysmal ignorance, which is bottom less in what it will conjure and cajole for the sake of more, and they have lost the ability to appreciate and respect even the simple things of life. people sell tainted food, push fault merchandise, we see pill commercials, that tell you, they will cause more problems than the claim of cure for the single issue one may have initially had, by the time they finish the addictive prescriptive term, they result needed more pills to fix what the first pill caused, only for this or these pills to bring on more symptomatic problems requiring even more pills. Our food is filled with growth hormone, in a week a chicken becomes the size of being full grown which may normally take many months, Cows grown as if they are connected to an IV tube injected with what ever makes the meat swell and appear to be heavier than it would naturally be. Vegetables injected with substances, where taste is gone and nutrients is only a memory, based on what someone may have discovered years ago, but is no long a part of what looks like a vegetable today. We lost respect for the farmer, or the rancher, and turned this over to factory industry run by college degree number crunchers, who never sat foot on a farm, but repeat the spill of professors who want to make themselves more important than the information they claim to espouse. Never abandon the grace of common sense, and you may find yourself becoming wise unto much, and aware of even more... common sense is not taught in the institution of corporate university, it is taught in the homes, who believe in the grace of God, and the principles of Gods graceful understanding, in the simplicity of what is truths. He who puts his faith in man and the teaching of man, may find himself misled by the lures of greed. gather information, but be weary of whom you engage as your teacher- especially, if they follow not the golden rule and care not for the premise to know there is a power higher than man. If you build, build for peace and harmony and well being of self and others, if you manage, manage with care and considerations, and insure you understand what is compassion. if you create, do so as if you are the non creator and must utilized what is created for the health, safety and care of living a well and good life. by all means learn, but learn what is common sense, and what is in honor of Gods grace of being compassionate in how you ingest what you pursue to learn. if you teach, do so with common sense as the foundation and care and consideration for humanity as the theme, and be of great care to make money less important than honoring the truths of Gods principles. You may not become wealthy, but you will find riches in peace of mind, to aim to do no harm. if by chance wealth becomes yours, let it be gained by providing something of quality and character of good and for good, from what you give, do and contribute into and unto society. New International Version (©1984) What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? New Living Translation (©2007) And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? English Standard Version (©2001) For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? New American Standard Bible (©1995) "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? International Standard Version (©200  because what profit will a person have if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life? GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995) What good will it do for people to win the whole world and lose their lives? Or what will a person give in exchange for life? King James Bible For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? American King James Version For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? American Standard Version For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life? Bible in Basic English For what profit has a man, if he gets all the world with the loss of his life? or what will a man give in exchange for his life? Douay-Rheims Bible For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? Darby Bible Translation For what does a man profit, if he should gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? English Revised Version For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life? Webster's Bible Translation For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Weymouth New Testament Why, what benefit will it be to a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give to buy back his life? World English Bible For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? Young's Literal Translation for what is a man profited if he may gain the whole world, but of his life suffer loss? or what shall a man give as an exchange for his life? |
