Consumerism Commentary - Latest Comments in The Urge to Merge

Re: The Urge to Merge

Alexis Rios — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:10:03 -0000

That means also that MBNA's credit limit would be reduced , just because the credit limit cap for BoA is $25000 instead of $100,000 from MBNA (except for Quantum which is $250,000) ?

Re: The Urge to Merge

Flexo — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 20:02:57 -0000

They can afford to have some good offers because they actually have customers who are paying 29.99% interest. The marketplace is competitive now, but with every merger, the remaining companies gain ground. If the eventual result is close to a monopoly, there will be major problems for people who carry balances.

Re: The Urge to Merge

jim — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:55:46 -0000

There's competition amongst credit card companies for your business, just look at the rise of cashback rebates. I remember when Discover was the forerunner with 1%, now you can get 5%!

Re: The Urge to Merge

Jose — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 16:46:24 -0000

Just bought 500 shares more of Bank of America (to make it 1000 even). I trust the Ability of the American public to get into debt up to their noses.

I know they will not let me down. I know they will keep paying interest to ME and My Bankc of America ;)

Just putting things in perspective.

Now, if you are smart... don't get into credit card debt.

Re: The Urge to Merge

Darren R. Sussman — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 14:59:19 -0000

That's kind of a shame. I've always liked MBNA, actually. And Bank of America has done nothing to ingratiate themselves on me so far with their buying of Fleet (who had bought Summit, who was my original bank). But it is getting out of hand. I noticed the other day that one of my cards (that I never use) apparently has a 29.9% APR! That's just out of control!

Re: The Urge to Merge

sean — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 14:37:05 -0000

I really don't see how this new conglomerate could be all that much worse than MBNA on it's own! ;) It just looks like I'll again become a Bank of America customer by default - they seemed to be buying every bank where I had an account when I lived in Kansas City ages ago.

That said, I don't really see the situation ever getting to the point where lack of competition could even approach being more of a problem than CC companies being able to do whatever the hell they want because nobody's bothering to police them anymore. But maybe that's just me...