Jon Stewart Rips Banks For Credit Card Fees (VIDEO)

"The Daily Show" hammered big banks and credit card companies Tuesday night over exorbitant fees and other predatory lending practices. Jon Stewart described some of the typical credit card schemes:

Or the bank changes your bill due date without warning you, which they can do so you'll incur late fees and a penalty interest up to 30% interest. Or maybe they just give you a rate hike up to 30% for no reason at all. Why? F*ck you, that's why!

Stewart laughed off the idea that clear and comprehensible financial products would keep people from burying themselves in debt, comparing the idea to nutrition facts posted in fast-food restaurants. But he reserved most of his ire for the lenders who spent the nine months since the passage of the Credit Card Accountability, Fairness and Disclosure Act devising new fees and other ways to prey on their customers.

Correspondent Wyatt Cenac met with a former mafia loan shark who complained that Bank of America is giving lenders like him a bad name.

No hidden fees, it is what it is ... Our word was our word in the mob. No fine print, no bullshit.

Cenac also caught up with Jackie Ramos, the Bank of America employee who was fired for helping customers and is still out of a job. and surveyed the growing number of YouTube complaints against Bank of America, including a "Debtor's Revolt" video.

WATCH:

Comments

[hswanson2]

01:41 PM on 02/26/2010

The democrates need to repeal the bankruptcy law now - why is this not a priority.

[Nicholas Lee]

09:40 AM on 02/25/2010

I love the irony that we would feel safer getting money from a loan shark despite that millions of Americans can't afford to get any broken bones in this states health care and economy.Geez, this land has so many opportunities to send you into debt, death, and decay... except for Hawaii with their "Universal Health Care", or as Republicans say, "The place we like to have meetings to bash "Universal Health Care" when we're not riding jet skis in hot tubs at five star hotels, HEY can I get another mojito!?".

.... wait a sec, just got a text... and I've been laid off. Boy, my loan shark is NOT going to be happy about this.

[mcmutter]

04:49 AM on 02/25/2010

REFUSE TO DO BUSINESS WITH ALL THE BIG BANKS .........

Grow yourself a backbone and some dignity ........ Find yourself a CREDIT UNION

[iKillGiraFFes]

02:07 AM on 02/25/2010

Jon Stewart is rich.

[DKLabRat]

03:48 AM on 02/25/2010

Yes? You're point being? I'm no fan of the exorbitant money made by celebs, but at least Stewart got his cash from entertaining people, not fleecing and scamming them with hidden fees and small print clauses. What a ridiculous comparison!

[Anjk]

11:03 AM on 03/12/2010

Exactly!! This is alarming once you put the jokes aside though :S and I thought BOA was one of the better banks :S

and boo to the comment that was posted earlier..so what if he's rich! He's not two faced about it.

[DKLabRat]

03:49 AM on 02/25/2010

BTW, I do know the difference between your and you're - I guess it's just too early in the morning for replying to this nonsense.

[Rogan]

08:28 AM on 02/25/2010

I know how you feel...

[Javida]

11:38 PM on 02/24/2010

All that consumers have to do to gain control of their finances is to cut loose the frantic attachment to credit and credit reports. Credit reports are a manipulation tactic that puts the consumer on bended knee to the creditor. Creditors hold credit reports over the head of the consumer and use those reports to arm twist the consumer to pay out whatever the creditor demands. They get by because the consumer will allow himself/herself to be swindled by creditors, (esp.credit card companies) all for the sake of that esteemed credit report rating. For those who can quit using credit of any kind today, do it. Cut the apron strings w/ credit and those financial prisons called credit reports.

[malcolmnext]

12:00 AM on 02/25/2010

Javida,

You are so right on in your comment. I for one would like to see the end of all credit. I pay as I go. I have one card for extreme emergencies, but I certainly don't need a damn Best Buy card or anything of that ilk. Credit ratings used to be part of how your finances were assessed for the purpose of auto and mortgage purposes. Now the banks and the greedy investors have manipulated the free market to include a credit report being part of a job application! It's simple. If you have good credit,( with lot's of open, active accounts) that means you are a credit slave and they want you to continue working to pay them back. Eff credit.

[Javida]

11:10 AM on 02/25/2010

"Credit slave" is exactly what we've become. Big businesses have come up w/ their credit cards -- oil companies/gasoline cards, department store cards, specialty store cards, like Target, etc, etc. Who hasn't been asked if they'd like to sign up for a credit card when they make a purchase? It's all designed to make the consumer financially beholden to that company or store, as they can manipulate the credit card terms whenever and however they wish to. I see credit cards as modern day indentured servitude, which indeed was a form of slavery just a couple of centuries ago. The minimum payment is a dupe to extend and mushroom the debt for decades.

[isaidit]

11:24 AM on 02/25/2010

Verdad!

[joster]

11:05 PM on 02/24/2010

It's real simple. Use your credit card and be sure to pay off the entire amount every month. If you can't be personally responsible enough to do that......DON'T SIGN UP OR USE CREDIT CARDS ! There is no reason to ever pay interest on credit card purchases. If you can't afford to pay if off every month, don't use it! If you have an emergency need for cash, look for a loan elsewhere. Don't say you would use a credit card as a last option....it should NEVER be an option for such purposes because it''s like getting drunk. It might seem to work for a while, but it's actually making things worse.

The sad truth is that we have too many people out there too stupid to undertand this basic principle of personal financial management...and the number is growing, right along with the out-of-wedlock birth rate, the single parent rate and the high school drop out rate.

[Javida]

11:23 PM on 02/24/2010

Is there anything original in your post?? You've missed nearly the entire point of the great debt generated by credit cards. All you've tapped into is the reckless spending that often leads to great debt, be it by credit cards, gambling or poor investing. You've not tapped whatsoever the other huge part of the credit card "reasons why" pie.

[bushitler]

11:34 PM on 02/24/2010

Your post misses the entire point of the article. Credit Card companies are evil for changing the terms of a loan that they mislead people into believing is affordable. People who cannot obtain regular loans rely on their credit card. Credit Cards are not their last option, they're their ONLY option. They are misled into believing they can afford to pay the loan and interest. Then the credit card company changes the terms of the loan, such as the interest, fees, etc. The CARD act was designed to stop that. To replace those predatory practices, Credit Card companies are now finding new fees, etc. to continue gouging customers.

It's easy for an entitled, rich or middle class person who has no difficulties due to hand outs to post sanctimonious rhetoric on a website. It's quite another to walk in the shoes of those who have no other options. So show a little respect and sympathy for those who don't enjoy your privileged life.

[LITU]

12:01 AM on 02/25/2010

I've really enjoyed reading your comments, past and present. Thanks! :-)

[Javida]

11:22 AM on 02/25/2010

Thank you. When will the predatory mentality of banks and credit card companies be grasped?? Maybe because bankers and company execs wear expensive suits, fly around in private jets and live in luxury homes they're misperceived as upstanding individuals. Big deception. Al Capone and all gangsters dress well and live large.

[TJCole]

10:48 PM on 02/24/2010

2/3rds of our economy is Consumer Spending what the banks are doing thanks to their usurious predatory Credit Card Rates with or without these changes is Constricting our Economy rather than Stimulating ...

Had we Nationalized these major corrupted banks we could have reformed them and be using them to Stimulate the Economy rather than Constrict it, while also restricting loans..

We needed to Nationalize these major corrupted banks reform and regulate them then re-privatize them a few years later..and end this casino degenerate Gambling Capitalism Geithner still favors...along with Summers and Rubin et al...and Obama..!

[LITU]

10:53 PM on 02/24/2010

Another good idea, Sir! :-)

[TJCole]

10:56 PM on 02/24/2010

Thanks LITU...

[x1cness]

02:33 AM on 02/25/2010

Very good idea, but it is not a practical for one reason, and that reason is that congressmen and congresswomen enjoy "gifts" given to them by lobbying firms. That...and the Neanderthals we commonly refer to as the Republican Party won't have it. That would turn "real America" into a Communist, Socialist, Fascist state—or at least that's what fiscally responsible "real Americans" would have us to believe.

[fefo70]

10:35 PM on 02/24/2010

Love this segment.

[James Croteau]

10:31 PM on 02/24/2010

Good point, the New Rules will make it worst, like always, and everyone knows it. Better off finding a loan shark.

[FlameOnH8]

11:04 PM on 02/24/2010

Loan sharks won't take your house.

[isaidit]

11:28 AM on 02/25/2010

They may take your legs, though.

[YoMutt]

10:20 PM on 02/24/2010

Move your money... OUT of BoA!!!! Transfer your debt... OUT of BoA!!! Eventually, they'll get it... or better yet... they won't and they will go under!!!

[James Croteau]

03:30 AM on 02/25/2010

Never like them, so have never use them. Must admit, I did some software work for them, a long time ago.

[isaidit]

11:29 AM on 02/25/2010

Go under option is best, methinks.

[LITU]

09:49 PM on 02/24/2010

There are only two groups of people responsible for the usury abuses by the banks - The House of Representatives and The Senate.

[MrJohnSpeaks]

08:18 PM on 02/24/2010

Everyone should pay the same RATE. There should be a limit on the amount that a person can charge on a credit card. Give'em hell John

[textynn]

07:36 PM on 02/24/2010

Don't miss this
IT HAS STARTED!!! THE CIVIL REVOLUTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veKjrVsQa30&feature=sub

[Raul Garcia]

07:16 PM on 02/24/2010

Watch out for Chase they will charge you a late fee if you miss their cutoff time, even if you are paying on the due date.

Fees, fees, and more fees, as if they are not making enough on the interest and sales percentage.

[EqOrbit]

09:14 PM on 02/24/2010

Not to mention that they have a minimum charge fee. So your $1 balance, now becomes a $2.75, because that's the minimum charge that you must carry.

That's 175% profit to the bank, $1.75 for allowing to charge a $1 coffee.

[amaboss52]

07:06 PM on 02/24/2010

I always equated credit card companies with loan sharking, but for some reason when the cc's did it it was legal. The only difference was if you didnt pay the loan shark you were beat up or ki ll ed.