#17 Speech- Karl Werner

The Plastic Killer and its Power over Modern America

                   What if I told you there was a malevolent collective at work in our country; one that manipulates our government; that vampirically feeds off our citizens; one that is a central cause for a multitude of our recent financial struggles? If I told you this, I wouldn’t be speaking in hypothetical terms. I wouldn’t be describing the plot for the next James Bond or Jason Bourne film. It would be an accurate, factual statement. There is a group at work on our home soil that has spawned comparisons to the drug lords of the 70s and 80s, and to the sharecropping system that made our post-slavery society one of debt and servitude. This all-too-real group causes financial ruin and death. It is holding a loaded gun to the head of the middle class and threatening to pull the trigger. Not Al-Qaeda, nor the mob or mafia. The dark force I am speaking of is the unholy alliance of banks and credit card companies. Through aggressive, manipulative techniques, these groups siphon off America’s money through interest, late fees, and lies. They purposely err in order to rob citizens of hard-earned cash. They target the young and at-risk. These groups say they want to loan money out on credit and have the money paid back plus interest, and profit off this. False. The actual goals of these groups are to push people so far into debt that they can barely afford monthly minimum payments and profit this way. But don’t worry, Big Brother will save us, right? Our government has to be doing something about this! Again, false. With considerable financial resources at their disposal, these groups are able to monetarily manipulate our government into doing what they want. We must enact new legislation in order to restrict and punish these ill-intentioned giants, or they will continue to damage and destroy our people, middle-class, and nation, unchecked.

          Banks and credit card companies claim what they do is on the up-and-up. Both state that they assess risk before offering credit and money to people, and that there is no manipulation, aggression, or trickery in their dealings with customers. Findings prove the contrary. In interviews, former employees of credit card giant MBNA, Cate Columbo and Kathy Ellingwood reveal that supervisors told them to listen for trigger words and signs while dealing with customers. Once heard, employees are told to aggressively push their company’s services on those who both need money and have no chance at paying it back. The goal of their company is to trap people in debt and profit off their suffering. "Every customer who calls in is a mark. It's a great big con," said Colombo.

 How do MBNA and similar banks and credit card companies accomplish this scam? First, they use manipulation. In many cases, they will tell low-income families that they can lower the family’s mortgage or interest payments through their programs. The families sign their names, and soon find prices jacked up, not lowered as previously promised. In addition, these companies, especially banks, will purposefully ignore errors on their own part in order to cost the customer more money. Some have been caught and judicially punished for actions like holding the checks of customers and not marking credit payments as paid in order to reap more of the customers’ money in. The companies are able to get away with this because they have special “VIP lists” on which the names of celebrities and public officials are placed. The VIP accounts are made sure to be handled correctly, so errors are not made and the important customers are kept satisfied. People of power aren’t messed with, and in return, they have no bone to pick with the banks and credit card companies. The little guys may be abused and scammed, but those with power are deaf to their cries and kept smiling and satisfied by the large industries. The two industries also work in conjunction to screw over the customer. In 2012, Visa and Master Card were forced to pay a 6.6 billion dollar settlement. The charges revolved around collusion between them and other credit card giants and big banks. The two sides worked together to take more of customers’ money through interchange fees. The worst part of this is that by paying this settlement, all involved parties get off scot-free, and there was no further investigation into the practice or any similar ones. The two corporate menaces work together to manipulate and steal from Americans. On average, for every dollar in principle borrowed, the companies take 2 dollars in interest and in fees. The practices used are immoral, unjust, and sometimes illegal. Yet these practices are not stopped.

Such sinister practices must have certain targets. Executives from unnamed banks and credit card companies told Professor Elizabeth Warren of Harvard University that their companies make the lion’s share of their profit off targeting those who are least likely to repay loans and outstanding credit debt; those deepest in trouble. Clearly, these organizations intend to trip people into debt and keep them in that quicksand in order to make money, and do so with aggression. One target group is low-income families who need money and are easy to entrap in debt. Another is those who have gone bankrupt because the companies know two things about them: they can’t get out of debt by going bankrupt, and they have a taste for credit. The scariest target group of all is college students. The companies don’t go after employed 18 year olds who have income to pay back debt. They go after those in school who lack that ability. The companies set up stations on campus that give out knick-knacks in return for student signatures. These signatures sign students up for mailing lists and credit cards. The kids are tricked into receiving the tools of the trade. Many go into debt, which sends them spiraling into depression. There are frequent occurrences of student suicide due to this. Bills attempting to ban this practice from campuses have been blocked by the big companies and their paid political pawns.  Our government offers no protection to these targeted individuals, in return for campaign money. Change is critically needed.

Our government is not doing enough to combat these destructive and deceptive companies. In fact, they’re hardly doing anything at all. When George Bush created a committee to reform the credit card and banking world, the appointed head of this committee was a former director of the MBNA credit card company. Proposed laws offering restrictions on the banking and credit groups have been shut down by politicians the groups have funded. The only laws that have been passed actually extend the limits of these companies. Bankruptcy has been made more difficult to apply for, making it nearly impossible to escape your debt and through it, the banks and credit card bureaus. We must pass legislation to limit the outrageous power and punish the deplorable crimes of these tyrannical debt tycoons. They target the weak, evade the law, and abuse their customers. It’s time for them to pay their victims back with interest. New legislation must be enacted to limit them, and it must be enacted soon.