TARP is obviously working. I applied for a HELOC a few weeks ago, here was JP Morgan Chase’s response:
Thank you for your recent application for a Home Equity account. We regret that we are unable to grant your request for credit at this time. This decision is in no way a reflection of your credit – it is simply indicative of the current housing market and the decreasing equity in most homes.
Really.
First – they’re right, it’s not my credit. My credit is spectacular. Secondly, I wasn’t asking for much at all – pay off a few higher interest bills and have some left over for a new dishwasher and water heater. I have a credit card issued by them that has four times the amount available that I was asking for.
So let’s recap: A few years back they started lending to anyone and everyone with barely a second glance at their credit score. Surprise, this didn’t work out so well for them. I’m simplifying, but then people got creative with these bad debts and sold them as not so bad… that with some bad calls by Greenspan and his boys and we’re at today. You could argue that a good part of our problem started with the banks lowering their standards.
So because they were greedy back then, now I can’t get a loan from them. So they’re losing even more money because they’re not going to get that interest I would have paid them. Brilliant. And I end up giving someone else more in interest and can’t buy a new dishwasher and water heater which is probably costing a few more people their job… which means they won’t be buying anything extra for Christmas this year. And TARP was supposed to ‘free up’ some money so banks would start lending again. Obviously not working. Screw the banks – “They made their bed…” comes to mind. Fire them… fire them all. Give me the money – I’ll create jobs and lend it. I’d lend it for next to nothing, but you’d better have a damn good credit score.