All Posts Tagged With: "jpmorgan chase"
JP Morgan Chase says “goodbye” to arbitration clause in card agreements
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Nov 23 2009 | 0 Comments
JPMorgan Chase has decided to drop a clause from the credit card contracts that it has members sign when they sign up for cards. The clause is the highly disputed mandatory arbitration clause.
So, why exactly are arbitration agreements bad?
Arbitration can (and often does) give the company the ability to really mess you over in any kind of lawsuit. If you have a legal dispute with a company, you can’t take them to court…you take them to arbitration. Also, if you decide to take the company to arbitration, you will be forced to share the costs of the services with the company.
A group of people cannot form a class action lawsuit against a company that has a mandatory arbitration agreement in the contract.
Typically in arbitration, the company will be allowed to pick who the company is who provides the arbitrator.
The entire situation is meant to give consumers the short end of the stick in a lot of cases where large companies are involved.
However, now that Chase Card Services has decided to remove the mandatory clause from the contracts, it will open up the doors to things like class action lawsuits. Because of this, the company will likely be a bit more careful and scrupulous with its business actions.
The reason the banks had arbitration to begin with is because they claimed that it was more fair to the consumers because they were cheaper and took less time. When you look at the negatives that come from arbitration though, you can see that it often does not favor the consumer. In many cases, the odds are definitely against the person who wants to sue the company.
Chase isn’t the first company to take the clause out. Bank of America has done the same thing in the past few months. There are still plenty of businesses and corporations (and, yes, banks) that mandate arbitration. I believe that some banks will always require arbitration for mortgages.
Related posts:What will the credit card companies do?
Wells Fargo wants to stand out and raise credit card rates
Tags: class action lawsuit, class action lawsuits, jpmorgan chase
The Dow Jones Crossed the 10,000 mark today
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Oct 14 2009 | 0 Comments
For the first time in just over a year, the Dow Jones has traded above 10,000. The last time the Dow traded above 10,000 was October 7, 2008. It hasn’t closed above 10,000 since October 3, 2008. The lowest it has traded at since then was on March 9th when it traded at 6,547.05. The Dow is now up 53% from that point.
The increase came from earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase and Intel, both of which were upbeat. JP Morgan Chase beat expectations by reporting a $3.59 billion profit for it’s most recent quarter. It also reported a record year to date revenue. Intel also beat expectations. It reported a decline in profits, however the decline was much smaller than what was expected from the company. The report raised hopes that the final quarter of the year would be better for the computer market.
Gold also hit another all time high of $1,072 an ounce and oil rose above $75 a barrel. This all comes after the dollar continued its decline and investors put their money into commodities.
Whenever the market increases like this, it can be seen as a very good thing for the economy. However, what if its all going back to normal too quickly? I would like to see everything go back into the black as quickly as possible, but recessions typically last years and have lasting effects for even longer. The huge increase in the stock market just seems too rapid to count on.
People and analysts have been saying that we may have just found ourselves on a false recovery, but if it holds, this is a great thing for our economy and hopefully the job market will begin to pick up as people are getting accustomed to spending money again. It’s easy to see how the economy really works when you have to talk about it every day. It actually needs everyone to pitch in a bit in order to work fluidly.
Related posts:Bank of America has another loss for 3rd Quarter; Ken Lewis won’t be getting Paid this year
Tags: jp morgan, computer market, year to date
Wells Fargo wants to stand out and raise credit card rates
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Oct 09 2009 | 0 Comments
Wells Fargo wants to be different. It wants to stand out. It wants to raise your credit card rates and it’s doing so right now.
Getting the news that credit card rates won’t be able to just go up and down like an expensive roller coaster anymore starting in either December or February, Wells Fargo has made the decision to raise the interest rates on most of the company’s credit cards 3% before the law goes into effect.
You know, it’s not really fair for me to say that Wells Fargo wants to be different because, in reality it’s being the same. JPMorgan Chase has also decided that it is going to likely raise the rates for consumers. The only bank that has made it public that it is NOT going to raise rates is Bank of America actually. So, I suppose actually it is BofA that wants to be different and stand apart from the crowd.
Wells Fargo is saying that the new rates will take effect November 30th, just one day before new legislation will likely go into effect saying that credit card companies can no longer just raise rates because they feel like it.
“We are raising interest rates up to 3 percentage points for a majority of our Wells Fargo customers due to the current business environment, including rising business costs and current consumer credit challenges,” a company spokeswoman says. “We decided many months ago that it would be necessary to increase interest rates. We delayed our decision in hopes that the business environment would materially improve
Wells Fargo is, at least, giving customers 45 days to decline the new terms, close their accounts, and pay the balance off at the old interest rate if they so choose. However, for someone who has thousands on their credit card, this may not only be a bad choice, but also one that is just not feasible. If someone is that much in credit card debt, then they will probably just have to “grin and bear it” when it comes to the new rates.
This is the kind of practice that led to the new legislation. This is exactly why this kind of legislation had to be put in place. Wells Fargo (as well as most of the other large lending banks) have no one to blame but themselves and their greedy ways for Congress cracking down on them. I’m glad that something is finally being done.
Related posts:What will the credit card companies do?
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Tags: company spokeswoman, credit card debt, jpmorgan chase
Could Comcast Be The Next Majority Holder of NBC Universal?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Oct 02 2009 | 0 Comments
The largest (and arguably the most hated) cable network in the United States wants to buy a 50% stake in NBC Universal from General Electric. Talks have been going on for at least two months between the to companies.
Currently, it’s all resting on the shoulders of Vivendi SA and its decision to sell its 20% stake in the company.
NBC Universal is currently held by 80% General Electric and 20% Vivendi SA. NBC Universal doesn’t only run the NBC network, but it also runs a films studio, cable channels USA, CNBC, MSNBC, as well as Bravo.
So, where is Comcast getting the money for the acquisition if it is, indeed, going through? Well, thanks to the credit markets finally thawing out a bit, companies (Comcast included) have been able to raise some money through the sale of company debt. It currently has $4 billion in cash.
But, how much is NBC worth? Stephen Tusa, an analyst for JPMorgan Chase, estimated the value of NBC Universal to be between $30 and $35 billion. That was on September 8th.
The merger between the two companies could mean better things for Comcast subscribers, but that is completely and totally unlikely. For the reason that cable companies have no reason to have to be competitive with pricing, Comcast will continue to charge whatever they want for the content that they are giving to their customers even if they are getting that content at a reduced price (because they own most of the company). If the purchase does happen (and GE DOES have the right of first refusal so perhaps GE will actually take the 20% from Vivendi?) then Comcast will surely use any operating profits to pad its own bottom line and not actually cut the rates they charge any of their customers.
Comcast is known for really messing over their customers. You can find angry comments about the company all across the internet. I have not been fortunate enough to have another cable provider in my city, however, I will say that the company I have to have cable through isn’t exactly wonderful either.
Related posts:What the NBC/Comcast merger will mean to you
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Tags: jpmorgan chase, merger, comcast
The number of credit card defaults increased by over 11% in August
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Sep 24 2009 | 2 Comments
A report from Bloomberg said that defaults of credit cards in the United States rose by 11.49% in August. The number is up from the 10.52% it increased from the month of July. The percentage reflects complete write offs and not delinquencies that are still being sought by the banks and lenders.
Because of the rising unemployment, there is a problem with many people being able to pay down their debts or be able to pay their debts at all. With unemployment currently hovering just under 10%, 1 in 6 Americans are out of work.
The biggest lenders in the United States, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, as well as Citigroup all reported an increase in defaults for the month of August.
It is now predicted that unemployment may reach 10.5% sometime in mid-2010 and at the same time there will be an increase in write offs between 12 and 13%.
As an American, I am well aware of many people of the country having a dependency on credit. For the longest time, everything that was purchased was paid for with plastic (an no, I don’t mean debit cards). Delinquencies were bound to rise at some point in time and they were going to rise by a lot. After all, with all the people defaulting on their mortgages and going into foreclosure, why would they hold on to their credit cards and try to pay them off?
Credit card companies know that this is what is happening, which is the reason for why they all want to hike their interest rates. If they didn’t hike interest rates then how would they make up their money from all of the people who are defaulting on their loans? The government won’t be bailing out these companies anymore.
Related posts:What will the credit card companies do?
Credit is still affordable.
What are the lies that got you into credit card debt?
Tags: citigroup, foreclosure, Money
