YouTube Debtor's Revolt: Too Far or Totally Justified?

September 30, 2009

In the wake of the recession, it's become increasingly common for credit card companies to jack up interest rates — in some cases, without due cause. Typically, outraged customers seek an explanation via customer service representative – but one disgruntled card holder took her case to YouTube

In the now viral video, aptly titled Debtor's Revolt Begins Now, B of A customer, Ann Minch launches a heated attack on the bank, claiming that her interest rate was raised from 12.99 percent to a whopping 30 percent, despite diligent and timely payments. Her attempts to negotiate with the branch, where she has been a customer for 14 years, were dismissed — until her now infamous rant gained some serious media attention, and was finally seen by one of the Bank's executives, who re-adjusted her interest to its original rate.

Since it debuted on Sept. 8, Minch's cyber assault has been streamed more than 350,000 times and attracted over 5,000 comments — some praising her as a crusader, others condemning the outspoken debtor. What do you think?

8 Comments

3 years 31 weeks

Hello from Russia! Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?

sgish5517 3 years 33 weeks

I am having this issue too! I had a card that already had a ridiculous rate (19.99 percent, plus a $50 annual fee) and I just received a letter in the mail today stating they were raising my rate to 25%, I have never even had a late payment on that card, and I've never gone over. I'm on a quest to rid myself of all my debt minus a mortgage and a student loan that we're taking on this year, so this card plus one more are getting paid off and closed next week. I'd rather take a hit on the credit score than continue to be taken advantage of. WTG STAROFSARROW!:) Doesn't it feel great to know you don't owe that money anymore?!

sgish5517 3 years 33 weeks

starofsorrow 3 years 33 weeks

I'm one of the "bad" debt borrowers, but I've been working on that and paying down my balances (one is totally paid off as of this month, yay!!!), so I'd like to think that if I was a good borrower, and I kept up with good credit behavior, I'd like my creditors to not jerk me around with high APR and such.

POPSUGAR Beauty 3 years 33 weeks

I'm with Hippiecowgirl — my card has been adding on all kinds of fees and rate hikes, even though I've been a good customer for 13 years. Well, "good" is relative, because the banks weren't making money off of me when I paid everything on time. I started to use my debit card almost exclusively. Harrumph.

hippiecowgirl 3 years 33 weeks

More power to her. She got what she wanted so posting the video was worth it in my opinion. We pay our credit card balance every month and have still had tons of customer service issues with hidden fees lately. On one phone call, they basically told me that they weren't making money from me any other way so there was no way they were waiving a fee I thought was bogus.

hippiecowgirl 3 years 33 weeks

More power to her. She got what she wanted so posting the video was worth it in my opinion.We pay our credit card balance every month and have still had tons of customer service issues with hidden fees lately. On one phone call, they basically told me that they weren't making money from me any other way so there was no way they were waiving a fee I thought was bogus.