Fear of reprisal, a common sentiment amid hundreds of e-mails

Unbeknown to me—perhaps because of my youthful naiveté—speaking out against the treacherous policy of a multi-billion dollar bank on national television is quite bold.  I didn’t think so; I thought it was simply the right thing to do, and frankly, I had no anxiety or qualms about it.  The ability of the common citizen to challenge systematic injustice is one of the many blessings of our democracy. 

After my story aired on ABC’s Good Morning America yesterday, a wave of e-mails poured into my inbox, and many of them highlighted my courage and confidence. One e-mail commended my composure saying, “You were poised and level-headed, like a statesman.”   Of the four million or so viewers that watch Good Morning America in the early morning, thousands of people from all walks of life sent me e-mails, sent me text messages, called me, and viewed this web site. They were single mothers, deployed soldiers, businessmen, retirees, college students, widows, and politicians, all relating their horror stories.  I spent the whole day responding to every e-mail, text message, and phone call.  I think I have enough hours for a Ph.D. in empathy.

Unfortunately, a common sentiment in these e-mails was fear of reprisal –from who I am not sure. I guess they fear the financial institutions that seemingly have unlimited power.  While my story helped to inform people that they aren’t the “only ones”, it did hardly anything to inspire people to commit to action, to hold the banking industry accountable.  Consumers are tired and scared; they are at the end of their tether.  Not only have they lost confidence in our financial institutions and government, but they also have lost confidence in themselves to improve their situation.  That is truly disheartening and portentous to a nation trying to revive itself. 

It is my hope, therefore, that this site will do more than inform you; that it will motivate you to write a letter or phone your congressman; that it will cause you to change your bad spending habits; that it will help you to regain whatever confidence you’ve lost to change your situation.   

Comments

[Kumar]

It seems that fear is rampant when our economic situation is worsening. However, one interesting thing about fear is that successful people are successful because they can control their fear. How does one start a consumer revolution if one is afraid to speak up? Isn't this the ideal in America - to be able to voice your opinion? How does one navigate the fear of the unknown? My answer to that is to learn the unknown and make it the known. Some thing is mysterious only if one decides to stay ignorant.

There is that old saying, knowledge is power. Attaining knowledge requires effort - it does not come out of thin air or through osmosis. In some ways we are in a vicious cycle - we are too busy to learn the inner workings of the world, become afraid and act powerless and then become more afraid. When we are finally backed against the wall, we have no place to go but to fight back - in this case we fight back with knowledge.

A financial score is how well you handle you finances - "success" perhaps can be defined how well you handle your life.

[TomB]

The lesson is clear: pay off the balances, cut the cards into little pieces, and forget about 'credit'... Once you pay cash, the folks who run the 'credit industry' can't touch you!

[Charles]

As DS said it is sad so many people will not stand up to the banks an Credit Card companies and also stop doing business with them. My kid works for a Bank and I am sick when she tells me that the tellers are coached to try an get bank customers to buy services from the bank and if they don't get a certain number of sales they get called on in for a pep talk to encourage them.

To give you and idea of how bad bank are we just bought a new car and car lot claimed they could get us a great interest rate, better then what we could get from our Credit Union. I was surprised that the banks wanted to charge me 2 times more interest then what my Credit Union did. This is why I wish you would encourage people to join Credit Unions as Banks are out only for them selves and not anyone else.

[DS]

I am sad, but not surprised, about the fearful reaction that people have when it comes to standing up to big companies. What is the point of a free democracy if the citizens feel oppressed? When so much value is placed on a person's credit rating that it effects one's ability to obtain a mortgage, a job, an education, and even healthcare; and one's credit rating is diminished by the actions of the credit companies, rather than by the actions of the borrowers; then we, the people, have an obligation to speak out against the injustice. Over the last 25 years, people have slowly forgotten how much power the consumer has, and have been complacent in giving up that power to big companies. Kevin is a voice of reason. He is proposing to affect change through peaceful and logical debate. Does anyone really feel it is ok to accept injustice simply because of fear? I urge everyone to get involved. This is a matter that impacts everyone, especially those who work hard to maintain good credit.