If you have a 15 thousand dollar balance they will waive the fee.
Citibank is lucky that they haven’t been as maligned in the media as BOA has, but that doesn’t mean, that they aren’t just as despicable.
I find this to be an egregious surcharge. Make no mistake; this fee is inherently predatory in its nature. Half of the country doesn’t have two months worth of rent saved up in case of an emergency, and Citibank wants to charge millions of hard working Americans for the “privilege” of banking with them.
There are people that can’t afford the minimums for checking accounts- so they are forced to purchase expensive money orders to pay the rent.
As we all know, it isn’t just BOA that is hitting customers with fees.
The banks have a long and storied past of predatory loans, and now that they can’t hand out subprime loans (like candy on Halloween) with obscene interest rates, they need to make that money up with fees.
Its complete hogwash that the banks aren’t making money on small deposits. They pay less than 1% interest, and they are loaning it out on credit cards, car loans and mortgages for over 20%!
They can take cash that is sitting there for zero interest, and they can turn around and purchase government debt that pays more than zero for a nice profit.
Let me repeat that last part; the banks are taking our cash that is sitting there earning .5 in interest, or zero in a checking account, and they loan it to the government for 3%. This is free money- AKA money for nothing- wouldn't you love to get this deal?
The banks should be lending this money out back to the people at reasonable interest rates; the banks refuse to do this. But, it isn’t our fault that the banks aren’t making profitable loans because they are terrified of loaning money out to the unwashed masses.
If the banks want to get people out of debt, if they want to increase the personal savings rate- there is a simple solution. Let the people who are saddled with debt, refinance their rates at 10% or less.
The banks get money for virtually zero percent; refinancing existing loans even at 5% would generate tons of profits.
With all of that said, good luck getting a loan or refinancing your credit card or car loan unless you have stellar credit.
They should be encouraging borrowers to get out of debt by lowering their interest rates, but if you have poor credit, or you owe too much they won’t let you balance transfer at 3 percent. If the banks feel merciful, you might get “lucky” to get a credit card with a 30% interest rate and a 100 dollar annual fee.
But, if you are rich, you can get a card / loan / refi for 3% or less.
Has it ever occurred to even one republican in congress, or to a banker in the executive suite- to work with the middle class instead of against them?
If the banks didn’t gouge the poorest people with 20% interest and higher- they might be able to pay back their debts.
Now, just to be clear, I’m not saying that if you are a credit risk, you shouldn’t pay a higher interest rate, but the banks could easily make that rate 10 percent instead of 30%.
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