Got Credit?

[Luv2play]

With all the talk of frozen credit markets in the news these days, I did a check with my three credit cards and line of credit with my bank. Nothing has changed. I pay off my credit cards each month as I use them and the revolving line of credit is used for larger expenses that come up from time to time.

 

I read in the papers that companies and other organizations have their credit lines frozen. I read in the New York Times today that Florida has had its credit frozen for the last three weeks. A lot of people are saying that the credit crunch that started on Wall Street has arrived at Main Street.

 

But what about the people around here? Have you had any signs that your credit is frozen or reduced? I wonder how wide-spread this problem is. Is there just a lot of scare mongering going on or is this thing really affecting Main Street? I wonder.

[rentingdad]

no sign at all of a credit squeeze personally or business wise for me.

[fedssocr1]

they were focusing on this on the ABC news tonight. They interviewed some small business owners who have been unable to tap their lines of credit. Apparently they require access to that to pay their workers. That sounds like a pretty bad policy to me.

 

They also said that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts needed to borrow $400 million to pay for something or other but were only able to borrow $230million.

 

I guess all of that easy credit over the last couple of decades has created a system in which no one can function without it. It's all part of the way we live beyond our means. Meanwhile the United States is tens of TRILLIONS of dollars in debt with no real prospect of every being able to pay it back. All of those countries like China have been loaning us trillions so we could buy all of the cheap stuff they make in order to create their own economic growth. It's all just one giant shell game. And to mix the metaphor the giant house of cards is starting to finally fall down. The system is just completely unsustainable. The party had to end eventually. And now comes the pain.

[dcguy20]

I check with my credit card companies as well. As I have a small balance on each card and have been a long time customer, one gave me 5000 miles just for inquiring and lowered my interest rate from 15% to 11%. The other card lowered my rate from 9% to 7%. How about that?!

[Guest PWIT]

>they were focusing on this on the ABC news tonight. They

>interviewed some small business owners who have been unable to

>tap their lines of credit. Apparently they require access to

>that to pay their workers. That sounds like a pretty bad

>policy to me.

 

But not uncommon at all. Especially when a business bids on a job and doesn't get paid until the job completes.

[Kevin Slater]

I had a mortgage on a new place I'm buying all lined up, including a commitment letter from the lending institution. You'd think that would be binding, but it turns out the company they were going to resell my mortgage to (I assume bundled with others) is no longer buying, so they aren't honoring their commitment. Now I'm set back how many ever weeks as I start the process again with another bank.

 

Kevin Slater

[+ Lucky]

Kevin- Perhaps rentingdad can help you out with a long-term loan.

[bobchitown]

No problems here yet, but the bank did just question a largish check I had sent from the Home Equity line of credit. Actually stopped payment until they could talk to me! Lot's of questions about the purpose of the payment - was it a gift, gambling debt, etc. I should have said "to pay my escort bills"!

[JT Brooklyn]

Lucky..L O L ! ;-)

[Guest zipperzone]

>Is there just a lot of scare

>mongering going on or is this thing really affecting Main

>Street? I wonder.

 

Well you know how the media acts. It ain't news unless it's bad news, so they always report the worst and make it sound worse that it really is, thereby fueling the fire.

 

Question: If your credit card company has reduced your credit limit, shouldn't they be required to notify you? No one wants to find out about it as you are trying to charge something.

[Luv2play]

Interesting question. I went to my Mastercard Cardholders Agreement and read the conditions on credit limit. It states "We may change your credit limit at any time without notifying you in advance." I expect my American Express and Visa card agreements say the same thing although I haven't checked.

 

Interestingly, when I looked at the last twelve months of my Mastercard statements, they have increased my limit twice, with a simple statement on my monthly bill about me being a "preferred" cardholder LOL (I guess since I pay my bills!). These were not small increases, in each case it went up by thousands of dollars, effectively more than doubling my limit. I hadn't even noticed since the notification was buried in the middle of the monthly statement which is four pages. I don't read every last sentence, only the bad news on what I owe!LOL