American Express requests 3.5 billion bailout

[Lumpsum]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- American Express Co. is seeking $3.5 billion in funds under the government's plan to directly invest in financial firms, according to a Wednesday report in The Wall Street Journal citing unnamed sources.

Read more: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081112/american_express_ahead_of_the_bell.html?.v=1

---

Eek.

[skooooo]

1. Why would they be under??

They make you pay off your bill every month!

[ben_meyers]

6. Think about what you just said!

They make you pay off your card every month, but people aren't able to pay!! So the fools who gave us the 700 billion dollar bailout allowed them to become a "bank holding company" and now they are eligible for bailout funds.

Someone should have read the fine print in that bill before they voted for it, or at least Bush should have vetoed it.

[Raschel]

14. They aren't able to pay because of excessive late fees and interest. Credit card companies and

insurance companies are crooks and don't deserve our money.

[RobinA]

15. I Agree

this is nonsense. What have they been doing with all the fees and usurous interest they've been charging for decades. Late fees if your payment gets there on Monday and the due date is Sunday. The hell with them. Suck it up. Everyone seems to be clamoring for government money all of a sudden. And using potential job loss as a bargainng chip.

[Raschel]

18. They claim it takes a mailed payment ten days to reach them.

And they change the due dates sporadically too.

[Occulus]

59. As far as I know, 'they' are in posession of the payment the moment the envelope is canceled.

From that moment on, that envelope is their property and i goddamn good and well am required by law to treat it as such.

I'm a postal employee, and that claim is a lie on their part. It's their property when our AFCS machines cancel the damn thing.

[happydreams]

40. Fine print indeed. So the credit card companies have managed to

get themselves labeled as bank holding companies. Who woulda thunk it?

Nice catch.

[NashVegas]

52. They Have Delayed Accounts, Too

They've been trying to get me to take one for months.

[TwixVoy]

45. I can NOT believe that on a site like this

with so many educated people no one has corrected this post yet. Jesus people DO YOUR HOMEWORK. I think this is why so many people don't seem to understand just how screwed this economy is.

American Express has a full range of REVOLVING credit products. One you may have seen advertised would be the BLUE CARD.

For the past several years AMEX opened up it's revolving credit products to the following groups in LARGE numbers

1. Students
2. People with limited/no credit history
3. People with sub-prime or near sub-prime credit scores

Not only that, but these groups were given large credit lines. (I have read articles in which part time working students were given AMEX student cards with 10K limits)

This is causing them problems now because these groups are being hit hard in this economy.

This is why AMEX is currently slashing limits/closing accounts on FIFTY PERCENT (Yes folks, 50%) of it's customers. That means 50% of AMEX customers were given credit that in retrospect they now want to take back. They are going customer by customer reviewing who they should NOT have given credit to, or gave too much credit to because they thought the sky was the limit and the credit party would never end.

[Occulus]

60. And that is the fault of AMEX

and they should have to live with the downside of those decisions.

DUUUH.

[Thrill]

2. Are they going to forgive some of the debts of their cardholders?

If not. Fuck them

[Raschel]

19. You would think they would have to forgive the people who are bailing them out.

But no. Just like the mortgage companies and the rest.

[happydreams]

42. So the money people can't pay is taken out in taxes to fill AE's

coffers while the credit card bills remain in place. :crazy:

[WriteDown]

27. Why should they?

Seriously? If you bough 3K worth of stuff, then you should at least pay back that 3K. As far as interest and fees, I would be in favor of waiving those.

[Raschel]

34. Why should they? Because they're getting free money from me and taxpayers who never charged

a thing on their card. Why should the free money stop with them?

[WriteDown]

36. The reason they "need" the money...

is because of people defaulting on their credit cards in the first place and no appetite for investors willing to invest in credit card securities. Essentially, the people defaulting on their credit cards already got free money.

[liberalhistorian]

44. Those defaults aren't always due to

buying frivolous stuff you don't need and couldn't afford otherwise. Yes, that's a part of it, true, no question that there are irresponsible deadbeats who don't think or care before they plunk down the plastic. HOWEVER. There are also plenty of otherwise responsible people who have had to use the cards for living expenses (you know, things like food and gas, trivial stuff like that) as well as medical expenses. Medical expenses are a huge factor, particularly nowadays when needed prescriptions and even basic care, let alone care for illnesses, are so expensive even with insurance. To punish those along with the irresponsible deadbeats is, quite simply, unconscionable.

And their fees and interests are absolutely ridiculous, not to mention their habit of not posting received payments until AFTER the due date in order to rack up more fees. There was a recent study that showed that the cc companies are increasingly addicted to their stupid fees and are coming up with more and more of them for ever more ludicrous reasons. Even ten years ago, the percentage of their income due to fees was less than ten percent. Now, it's at least 35 percent, and even more for some companies. That is nothing short of highway robbery.

[NashVegas]

54. I Have AmEx + Two Charge Cards

The AmEx has never taken more than 3 days between mailing and bank posting, even on weekends.

The other two are total crap-shoots.

[Raschel]

47. Well I "need" the money too. Why should I have to give them mine? I didn't charge a dang thing.

[mbperrin]

49. THey need to make better decisions on extending credit. They picked poorly.

They should die and leave room and resources for those who decided correctly.

I don't think the polticos or the greedy limousine welfare kings understand the level of violent anger that is beginning to build in this country over this sort of thing...go to a Denny's or local coffee shop and just eavesdrop ordinary conversations.

[Raschel]

50. You're right. And greed was the reason they gave out credit like mad.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. No, the taxpayers shouldn't foot the bill for any corporation seeking expansion.

[htuttle]

4. Oh, oh! I want a bailout too!

[babylonsister]

5. Can they get any greedier? nt

[autorank]

11. Threre greed knows no limits

How about the $140 bil. tax benefit that was conferred by Treasury, probably illegally. That's the
one Congress won't even mention.

But catch the wave - PTBs and PBs and the new thing. Personal Tax Breaks and Personal Bailouts. Just call your member of Congress and see how you can get one of these programs for the "people." After all
if corporations are treated as "people," then why shouldn't we people have the same options. We don't need $140 bil or $700 bil. It's a bargain;)

If Amex gets money for acquisitions, we get it for our own version ...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

41. Threre Greed?

:scared:

[dipsydoodle]

7. Bailout request - well there's no surprise

See here from earlier this week ; http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3594616

[av8rdave]

8. They want the $$$ "to directly invest in financial firms"

They don't need a bailout. They want money to invest with! So do I. Where do I apply?

[RobinA]

17. Me Too

And I don't even want EXTRA money, just enough bailout to return me to my financial position as of the first of this year.

[City Lights]

9. If AmEx wants more money, let them raise Cindy Lou's interest rate above zero. nt

[azurnoir]

10. Woo Woo " on board," train to Bailout City leaving in

67 days, all cars reserved for CEO's, large corporations and all those owed by Bush&Co.

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

12. How do I apply for a bailout?

[KansDem]

56. Well, for starters, change your name to "Bank of Juan_de_la_Dem" (nt)

[onehandle]

13. They are a HUGE GOP contributor. I vote nay. nt

[asjr]

16. Eight years on the Bush gravy train and

they want more!

[Joe Chi Minh]

20. I hope Obama adopts Robert Reich's list of measures in relation to

conditions for the financial bail-outs, retrospectively, or better still, retroactively. To allow them to complete rip-off of the public, without the public ever even knowing where the money went, would, in effect, be to reward criminality, on a scarcely imaginable scale. The Big Lie is bad enough but the Big Plunder of succeeding generations would surely be unconscionable.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/21/what_wall_street_should_do_to/

Apparently, it is what is happening in India, thanks to the ministrations of Novartis, Monsanto, or what ever else they call themselves now. Peasant farmers are committing suicide in large numbers, because of being saddled with unpayable debts to Monsanto, on the back of promises of glorious harvests, and, of course, the use of the aptly-named Terminator seeds.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/21/what_wall_street_should_do_to/

Here's the main page on Monsanto:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?searchPhrase=monsanto

[Hawkeye-X]

21. Me to AmEx: Nope.

You bought it, you deal with it.

No loans for you! You can call yourself a pig with a lipstick, it's still a friggin' pig.

And if you want me to change my mind - call for a complete and total amenesty on ALL debts, and eat it.

Hawkeye-X

[blackbart99]

22. Fine then

Everybody who applies gets a card then if they get this bailout. And they don't get to refuse anyone.
Screw them:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

[Owl]

23. Just. Say. No.

[shanti]

24. lining up at the trough

:eyes:

[no limit]

25. Where do I submit my request for a bailout? I don't need nearly that much.

Is there like a form I fill out or something? Or do I need a powerful washington lobbyist (where can I find that, Craigs list?)?

[happydreams]

43. "no limit"? You might have trouble selling your idea with that name.

:rofl:

[closeupready]

26. This is insane.

n/t

[Romulox]

28. I GUARANTEE they'll get the money. They're rubber-stamping $$$ for financials right now. nt

[Marie26]

29. What a coincidence

Paulson just announced that he'll use the bailout money for consumer credit markets today. Gosh, it almost seems planned, doesn't it?

[pattmarty]

30. FUCK THEM!!! With their 300% fees and interest, again, FUCK THEM.

[slackmaster]

31. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

[bmbmd]

32. It's free money.

Of course they will try to get it.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v4.1
==================



This week is our fourth quarter 2008 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
a completely independent website. We depend on donations from our members
to cover our costs. Please take a moment to donate! Thank you!

[muriel_volestrangler]

37. Do you take American Express? Or government bailout?

[BluePatriot21]

35. Communist Right Wing Takeover

I'm not scared of Socialism, but this right wing Paulson, Bush and Bernanke sandwich is scaring the hell out of me. Where is Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly when you need them!?! They should be screaming about this! What the hell is going on here?

I owe 15k in credit card debt, I want my bailout!
Should I wait until the credit card crunch absolves me of all debt or should I take out a bank loan to pay off the CC debt?

[Zorra]

dupe delete

[Zorra]

This company cheats thousands of people out of their money on

a daily basis.

If the bank is out of bread, too bad.

"Let them eat cake"

[Zorra]

38. dupe delete

[elias7]

39. OK, what am I missing?

First, they fucked up in the first place: "American Express relied on packaging pools of credit card debt and selling them to investors in the securitization market."Why do I get to pay for their lost gamble, i.e. poor business practice?

Second, they're still making a profit, they're not bankrupt!
"Third-quarter profit at American Express fell 24 percent to $815 million"

So, they want $3.5 billion to invest, with the plan to pay back the loan once the market recovers with their investments now doubled in size. I'd like a bailout too, please!

[Dr Fate]

46. Dr. Fate requests a mere $50K bailout. Dr Fate not holding breath. n/t

n/t

[Generator]

48. Hey pay it in full each month, you losers!

OH AND yeah then pay $50 a year or MORE for the privilege. And charge a percent more than the other guys and THEN market yourself as upscale. Scum-wads. (Good to know that's in spell check)

[pinniped]

51. Fuck these CC companies. Don't give them shit.

However, I know this won't be the case.

One CC company sent me a letter the other day informing me the rate is increasing +4.00%. I'm sending them a decline notice so they can close this shit.

Fuck them.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

53. sure = just as long as no executive, manager or director makes more

than $150,000 a year and no bonus's.

And I think $150,000 is extremely generous for failure,

[unkachuck]

55. I too....

....love Milton Freeman, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush....

(now, where do I sign up for free money?)

[KamaAina]

57. Apparently membership really does have its privileges

:eyes:

[Endangered Specie]

58. Fuck them in the ass with a tire iron...

excuse my french.