July 20, 2008
Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
The collection agencies call at least 20 times a day. For a little
quiet, Diane McLeod stashes her phone in the dishwasher.
But right up until she hit the wall financially, Ms. McLeod was a dream
customer for lenders. She juggled not one but two mortgages, both with
interest rates that rose over time, and a car loan and high-cost credit
card debt. Separated and living with her 20-year-old son, she worked two
jobs so she could afford her small, two-bedroom ranch house in suburban
Philadelphia, the Kia she drove to work, and the handbags and
knickknacks she liked.
-snip-
A sheriff's auction of her home on June 12 received no bidders, Ms.
McLeod said. The bank will soon evict her.
"Oh, I definitely have regrets," Ms. McLeod said. "I regret not dealing
with my emotions instead of just shopping. And I regret involving my son
in all this because that has affected him and his finances and his
self-esteem."
Ms. McLeod says she hopes to be living in an apartment she can afford
soon and to get back to paying her bills on time.
She does not want another credit card, she said. But even though her
credit profile is ruined, she still receives come-ons.
Recently an envelope arrived offering a "pre-qualified" Salute Visa Gold
card issued by Urban Bank Trust. "We think you deserve more credit!" it
said in bold type.
A spokeswoman at Urban Bank said the Salute Visa is part of a program
"designed to provide access to credit for folks who would not otherwise
qualify for credit."
The Salute Visa offered Ms. McLeod a $300 credit line. But a closer look
at the fine print showed that $150 of that would go, as annual fees, to
Urban Bank.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/business/20debt.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print
--
WAR IS A RACKET
WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most
vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one
in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
-=-
http://warisaracket.com/
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