{"id":8205,"date":"2009-09-14T20:00:40","date_gmt":"2009-09-15T00:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=8205"},"modified":"2009-09-14T20:00:40","modified_gmt":"2009-09-15T00:00:40","slug":"a-misguided-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"A Misguided Stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

I came across this article<\/a> today in the Huffington Post.\u00a0\u00a0 In it, the author describes a woman, Ann Minch, who has posted a video on YouTube in which she is refusing to pay her credit card bill with Bank of America.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She cites the fact that they have raised her interest rates unreasonably and the fact that they are one of the recipients of the federal bank bailouts.<\/p>\n

What I Like About This<\/strong><\/p>\n

She is appealing to the executives of the company after she made an attempt to negotiate her rate down.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is somewhat like the strategy that I recently wrote about <\/a>in regards to an issue that I had with Delta Airlines.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you feel you are being mistreated by a company, and you have exhausted the normal channels, then this kind of appeal can work.<\/p>\n

I also like that she has removed her savings account from the bank, taking her business elsewhere.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like voting, one person’s actions are insignificant, while many people acting as a group can cause rapid changes.<\/p>\n

What I Don’t Like About This<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where to begin!?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For one, carrying credit card debt is the worst possible way to manage your money short of payday loans and loan sharks (is there a difference?).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Getting past that, it struck me that she had removed approximately $5,000 from a savings account in protest of her interest rate on her $5,943.34 balance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So she is within a $1,000 of being able to pay off her balance completely.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paying off her balance and canceling her card would be the smartest move.<\/p>\n

If she cannot bridge the gap between her savings and her credit card debt, there are two other options she could choose.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The easiest would be to pay off most of her debt, and finish off the rest as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

She could also do a balance transfer to another card with a lower interest rate, preferably a 0% introductory rate.\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, she will still accrue a balance transfer fee, typically 3%.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She could also do both, pay off most of her debt, and transfer a small fraction to another card.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, without a job she might have trouble getting another card, but lets see where her “strategy” of default is going to lead.<\/p>\n

Misguided Populism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps the worst thing about her video is the fact that she does not intend to pay off her balance at all and she is encouraging others to take the same irresponsible path.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For a reality check, here is what will happen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First, she will ruin her credit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That will make a balance transfer to another card impossible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It will also have plenty of other consequences.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She will not be able to qualify for a mortgage, a refinance, or a home equity loan.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She may see higher insurance rates.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She is currently an unemployed mental health case manager.\u00a0 When she looks for a new job, they may do a background check and discover her poor credit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since she is works in health care, that is a very real possibility.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t agree with this practice, but it is a reality.<\/p>\n

From there, this only gets worse.\u00a0\u00a0 Depending on what state you are in, the company can take you to court, seize your assets, and garnish your wages.\u00a0\u00a0 Her anger at her credit card company or their\u00a0 government bailout will have zero influence on the judge.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She may also be liable for court costs and legal fees on top of her ever growing principal, interest, and penalties.<\/p>\n

By far the worst thing about this video is that she is encouraging others to follow her off of a financial cliff.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even if you agree with your politics, this is the financial equivalent of a cult leader ordering a mass suicide.<\/p>\n

My Advice<\/strong><\/p>\n

She got herself into debt.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is unfortunate that she lost her job, and it is not fair that the bank is raising her rates, but default is not the answer.\u00a0\u00a0 This is like the car chases on TV where the suspect gets pulled over for speeding, and then ultimately spends years in jail(or worse) for leading the police on a high speed chase.\u00a0\u00a0 She may get her 5 minutes of fame, but she will lose in the end.<\/p>\n

As I have shown, appealing to executives and publicizing your cause can be a great strategy for getting a company to do the right thing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Acting in an irresponsible and financially self destructive way is a terrible strategy.\u00a0 Encouraging others to follow her is morally wrong.\u00a0 The bank will survive her default, but she will be financially ruined.<\/p>\n

She should continue her appeals to the executives and put whatever pressure she can on them. \u00a0\u00a0 Alert elected officials and the news media as well. \u00a0 At the same time, it is vital that she continue to pay her bills and maintain her credit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She should also recant her calls for others to default.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came across this article today in the Huffington Post.\u00a0\u00a0 In it, the author describes a woman, Ann Minch, who has posted a video on YouTube in which she is refusing to pay her credit card bill with Bank of America.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She cites the fact that they have raised her interest rates unreasonably and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Misguided Stand<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Misguided Stand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I came across this article today in the Huffington Post.\u00a0\u00a0 In it, the author describes a woman, Ann Minch, who has posted a video on YouTube in which she is refusing to pay her credit card bill with Bank of America.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She cites the fact that they have raised her interest rates unreasonably and the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-15T00:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Steele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Steele\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/\",\"name\":\"A Misguided Stand\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-15T00:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-09-15T00:00:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/18331587d05ff4eaeee29fd913227597\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Misguided Stand\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog\",\"description\":\"Just another WordPress site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/18331587d05ff4eaeee29fd913227597\",\"name\":\"Jason Steele\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/author\/jsteele\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Misguided Stand","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Misguided Stand","og_description":"I came across this article today in the Huffington Post.\u00a0\u00a0 In it, the author describes a woman, Ann Minch, who has posted a video on YouTube in which she is refusing to pay her credit card bill with Bank of America.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She cites the fact that they have raised her interest rates unreasonably and the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/","og_site_name":"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog","article_published_time":"2009-09-15T00:00:40+00:00","author":"Jason Steele","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jason Steele","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/","url":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/","name":"A Misguided Stand","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-09-15T00:00:40+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-15T00:00:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/18331587d05ff4eaeee29fd913227597"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/a-misguided-stand\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Misguided Stand"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/","name":"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog","description":"Just another WordPress site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/18331587d05ff4eaeee29fd913227597","name":"Jason Steele","url":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/author\/jsteele\/"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}