A Credit Card Tea Party?

By Eva Norlyk Smith, Ph.D.

If you followed the YouTube overnight sensation, “United Breaks Guitars,” you know how quickly customer-dissatisfaction-turned-viral-video can turn into a public relations nightmare for a company. In the video, singer-composer Dave Carroll describes his unsuccessful attempts to get United Airlines to reimburse him for breaking his Taylor guitar during a flight from Nova Scotia to Nebraska.

After trying for a year to get United to cover the repair, Carroll turned to the people’s court, posting a YouTube video describing the event in the catchy song “United Breaks Guitars.” The video became a YouTube sensation almost overnight, amassing more than 5.5 million views before the viral wildfire died down.

Well, it has happened again, and this time credit card companies, more specifically Bank of America, is feeling the heat. In what could develop into the Boston Tea Party of credit cards, Ann Minch of Red Bluff, CA posted a video to YouTube when Bank of America raised her interest rate to 30 percent. Minch carried a balance of about 6,000 dollars on her BofA credit card, always paid at least the minimum monthly payment and sometimes more, and never missed a payment. In return, Bank of America ramped up her interest rate repeatedly, from 12.99 percent to 25.49 percent in January of 2009, and then eventually to 30 percent in July.

Well, hell has no fury like a woman scorned. After trying unsuccessfully to get Bank of America to lower the rate, the 46-year-old stepmother of two posted a video on YouTube.

“There comes a time when a person must be willing to sacrifice in order to take a stand for what’s right,” Minch says in her September 8 webcam video.”Now, this is one of those times. If I’m successful, this will be the proverbial first shot fired in an American debtors’ revolution against the usury and plunder perpetrated by the banking elite, the Federal Reserve and the federal government.”

Minch put an ultimatum to Bank of America, refusing to pay off her credit card debt unless her rate was lowered back to the initial 12.99%.

The video became an instant viral sensation, garnering almost more than a quarter million views in its first week. And, as it turned out, Minch is not alone in her feelings of outrage. A story in The Huffington Post about her YouTube video garnered a record 3,987 comments within the first three days after its publication, mostly from cardholders equally infuriated by their treatment from credit card companies.

The widespread outrage against the credit card industry comes after a year of economic downturn in which millions of consumers have seen their interest rates ramped up and credit limits slashed, even while card issuers are benefiting from billions in taxpayer bailout dollars.

The good folks of Boston had their Tea Party, today’s consumers have social media. It may be a long shot for Minch’s YouTube posting to become “the proverbial first shot in an American Debtors Revolution,” but her fury certainly struck a chord. Minch became an instant media sensation; she was contacted by MSNBC, was featured in a TV interview for the “Fox & Friends” morning show and in an interview with The Huffington Post.

It remains to be seen whether Bank of America will step in to try to do some damage control and restore Minch’s interest rate to the original 12.99%. If not, the only thing that is for sure is that in a time where banks and credit card companies face an uphill battle to restore consumer trust, B. of Am. would be out a lot more than the $6,000 credit card debt, which Minch would be walking away from.

Published: January 3, 2010