Young man you impress me everyday. Ok, I am BOA, I have been bailed out by Uncle Sam. I am flush with money. Who do I make loans too ? Remember numerous people have lost their jobs, gone down to part time, some of your generation have moved back home because of the global financial mess. Thus credit scores have plummeted. Do I, the bank take a chance on these people and approve a loan ? Do I only approve loans to the 700+ crowd ? If I do make the loans to less than worthy customers how do I explain this to my shareholders who have stuck with me as their share value has come down to less than a $1.00 share?

Credit Card Customers -- Do I give CLI's to people who have huge limits, use less than !% of their limit but pay thier bills on time every time because I know they are safe ? For those that have paid the minimum for years and never been late but their total due continues to rise, do I reward them with a larger limit because I, the bank am flush with cash ?

The banks have to stabilize in order to begin loaning money. With all the bad debt that has been purchased who do you loan to ? What occupation is safe enough that will weather this storm and be a good prospect for me to loan to ?

Remember everyone, the banks now have to answer to Uncle Sam along with shareholders and the last thing Obama or anyone of us wants to hear is that BOA, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citi, are getting hamstrung with bad debt again..........

smcc, I agree with you but what is the bank doing with our tax dollars? They're supposed to be able helping the consumers and that's the reason why the government gave them all these bail-out funds. Not only are taking our tax dollars and not helping us take advantage of the situation, but they are spending the money on other luxuries including jet planes and stadiums.
*Cough* Citibank *Cough*

Good point Meya. Remember though that the Uncle Sam is about to buy up a lot of bad debt from the banks so they can operate again with some ease. Also Meya, your a bank, would you approve me an auto loan if I was in Home Construction ? Would you give me a mortgage if I worked for GM ?

Your a shareholder of a mutual fund that deals with Bank Stocks, would you encourage the powers that be that are handling your mutual fund to buy more ?

Well I disagree! Why should we spend, when it is not the consumers holding back, it is the banks. Lets all look at where the real problem originated. The consumer was all-for spending, only if the timing was right, but what about when the banks withheld. Has anyone thought about that?

We have to expect the unexpected. Nowadays, we have to expect the unexpected and everything in between.

While I do agree that everyone contributes to the economy by spending, I think that we all can agree that we should reduce our risk by lowering our debt and creating a reserve. 10% of my paycheck goes to savings 6% goes to retirement. I think that is modest and I feel bad that I don't save more, but with the type of job I have, I have to make sure that I am prepared for low sales months.

I think I'm going to save my paychecks and pay a decent amount every month. I'm currently not worried about my utilization because I won't be applying for any credit anytime soon.

Hold on people, Save your money and pay your debts ? Your right saving money is good but without spending some the economy will never take off again. Remember the economy is consumer based, if the consumer stops spending, the economy comes to a stop, if the economy comes to a stop, people get furloughed or laid off because the marked it flushed with products no one is buying

People are scared because they don't know what the future holds, i.e. job security, etc.. so they are saving. Paying off your debt is great but in order to turn this economy around the consumer will need to spend.

Doing that as we speak kellbell...welcome back!

President Bush is no longer in the picture, so why bother discussing him?

Anyway, that was an excellent and realistic article. I particularly enjoyed the "What's in, What's out" table at the closing.

Save, and pay off your debts. It's the best thing you can do for our economy.

Paying off bills is the best thing to do right now. The worst thing would be to accrue more long term debt. We are going through deflation, and trying to pay off things while the economy is deflating means that you pay more for debt. On the contrary, it is best to go into debt when things are inflating, because the money you pay back is worth less. I hope that makes sense.

President Bush is no longer in the picture, so why bother discussing him?

Anyway, that was an excellent and realistic article. I particularly enjoyed the "What's in, What's out" table at the closing.

Save, and pay off your debts. It's the best thing you can do for our economy.

I've always been mature.

Young man you are maturing ! Very, very proud of you !

I believe both the bank and the consumer are at fault for being irresponsible. The banks became irresponsible and handed too much spending power into the consumers hands and the consumer is at fault for not realizing that credit isn't "free money". When you use the card, you are borrowing money and money that should be paid back. I don't think consumers intentionally racked up charges, it's just that they thought they would be able to pay for it over time but when we went into recession, their plans backfired.

So young man is it the bank's fault for making too much credit available or is it the consumer's fault for not realizing that although credit was plentiful at the time that if something should happen that maybe, just maybe, they might not be able to pay it back ?

Your synopsis is correct but the consumer is just as guilty..........