ArnoldPalmer22

First of all, I hope your classes will be in remedial English. Secondly, please let me know the name of the financial institution that gives you a loan so I may short the stock.

Yay! I would be pyched too if I wasn't a "high earner" and made more than $75k/ yr.- which, by the way, is ridiculous. $75k in NYC or Boston is about the equivalent of $30k in Kansas City. It's incredibly unfair that a cost of living consideration isn't accounted for in this whole "refund" (read: redistribution), no? PS I make $105k a year in the metro Boston area and don't come even close to the "living standards" of my friends in Charlotte who make $60k/ yr. Just an observation....

Yeah, so do the shareholders. What a terribly managed company. I'm happy it worked out for you, but on the whole. Citi's been a train wreck.

The visa IPO, if it goes through, what sets them apart. They'll get an immediate 400$ million payout from the deal, out of a total stake of an estimated 3 billion. Since visa, like mastercard, does not issue credit therefore does not carry credit risk, their remaining stake is relatively liquid on the open market to raise more cash when they need it. Plus, nat city only lost money in the last 2 quarters of last year, 300 something million... Less than the 400 million payout they should get next week. Well, NatCity was down 44% today and won't remain a standalone entity for longer than two weeks. I think my point was proven out (althought I am certainly not happy to see my hunch validated by the markets). Tomorrow should be interesting with Goldman releasing earnings. Depending on how it goes, it could be a very rough week on Wall St. The US government will not allow our banking system to collapse, and neither will china nor india or any other sovereign wealth fund that has cash burning a hole in its pocket to make speculative investments in what is still the most powerful, economically endowed, wealthiest nation in the history of the universe. Not yet at least.

Just take your Gold AMEX and cover it in black sharpie. You get the prestigious look with a savings of about $2,375 on the annual fee...

At this point, I think it might be feasible that any potential buyer would purchase NatCity at a discount rather than a premium. The bank has huge exposure to the midwestern and FL real estate markets and has a ton of risky commercial paper. We're going to see a lot of super-regional stress in the near term. The financial sector is undergoing a ton of stress right now, and NatCity is one of the first to fall...

Sell it and make the lender whole with the delta between the loan balance and the sales price. Believe me, it will will cost much more in the long haul to just hand it in...

Hey everyone, thanks for the feedback! The three closed accounts were terminated by me (AF related). Satisfactory and PIF. Glad for the good feedback everyone- never realized how off the mark these comments could be!

I knew they were "on" something- sometimes their explanations completely contradict or run counter to answer directly preceding it!!! Thanks to all for the feedback.

I pulled my TrueCredit credit report this afternoon, and the "areas I could improve" contained a comment that I have not seen before: "There are not enough premium bankcard accounts on your credit report. [Experian] A healthy balance of credit and loan accounts is key to achieving a high credit score. It is important to build a record of responsible credit use over time with different types of accounts. Consider opening a new account to strengthen your credit report and improve your score." What does this mean? Does the scoring system sense too many subprime lenders on my report? Have any of you received this comment before? If so, how did you counter? If it helps, my three scores are all between 705-715 (FICO, not FAKO), and my cc's are as follows- all PIF: HSBC (open) 2000 AMEX (open) 8000 Discover (open) 3000 CrapOne (open) 4000 Citi (open) 3000 Orchard (closed) BofA (closed) Chase (closed) Thanks.

PS- just for clarification- that e-mail was not sent by Wells Fargo. Even though the link says "wellsfargo.com", the actual link will take you to a temporary web site set up by the scam artist. Be careful. Additionally, I think you posted the live link, but fortunately I believe everyone here at CB is intelligent enough to know not to take the bait...

That's what's referred to as "phishing". It's a malicious scam. The e-mail contains a link to an "imposter" site that mimics the appearance of an actual banking site. The site then harvests your user name and password once you enter it, and uses this information to rip you off at your legitimate banking institution. Your bank will NEVER contact you this way if they need to discuss sensitive account details. They will contact you via phone or in writing.

I don't have much to add on top of what others may have stated in response to the OP, but above all else; work hard and good things will happen. The people I see that never quite "make it" usually are so disenchanted with their situation(s) that they usually throw in the towel and give up; those that succeed seem to always have a "never-say-die" mentality. Be tenacious, work your rear end off, and good things will happen in the long run. There's no overnight quick fix here, but if you expend a ton of energy in the right direction you should be pleasantly surprised with where you stand ten years from now.

It's sad...the level of credit education in this country is deplorable. I wonder if it is a function of pop culture (i.e. we need to have what's shiny, and the biggest, and the best, to keep up with the joneses), lack of education, a frothy credit environment, or all of the above. I cringe every time I see someone living so far beyond their means.

Wow, please tell me that my tax dollars and the government aren't going to help bail out consumers or lenders that are this irresponsible: Synopsis- 21 year old guy, making $12 an hour at Home Dept ($480 gross/ week) buys $15k Lincoln (tricked out with tinted windows, of course) via a car loan with 18% interest (his credit was terrible to begin with). Monthly payment: $370. Pretty bad investment for a depreciating asset, but I digress... Shocking ending: Months later the car is repo'd. Kid still hasn't learned his lesson- let's hope the lender has, however. This is why some people will never crawl out of the sewer. Forgive me if that sounds harsh, but it's hard to argue with the facts. Story below: http://www.boston.com/business/personalfin...ossession_lane/