Is he Gay? Who cares!
Drop dead gorgeous San Diego lawyer Ben Pavone is pissed off!
Bank of America has raised his interest rate to 27.99 percent, and has lowerd his credit limit, which has gone down to just above his balance. Pavone refuses to pay now and is threatening to sue BoFA for breeching the “good faith” clause in the credit contract.
Pavone said he got “squeezed for cash” and asked Bank of America to raise his credit limit in October. The bank responded with a two-page letter. The first page declined the request; the second told him his limit would be reduced from $32,100 to $30,400. Bank of America cited “economic trends” in both decisions.
“I consider your action an anticipatory repudiation of the contract and am treating you as in breach,” he wrote in a Dec. 31 letter to the bank. “I am therefore not paying the money that is currently due on January 3, 2010 out of protest.” The letter concludes by asking the bank to reduce his rate to 10.99 percent, after noting that it would probably cost less to reduce the rate than to have to fight the suit.
“For the record, I have a perfect payment history and I have a nearly perfect payment record on my credit,” Pavone’s letter continued. “I have no doubt that you will mark my credit in light of this default, but if you do, I will sue you. I am eager to argue to a court that your interest rates are unfair within the meaning of various state and federal statutes, and anxious to point out that you ‘had’ to cut my credit limit from $32,000 down to $30,000 at the same time you were borrowing billions from the federal government and paid your executive bonuses in full.”
As for the legal theory of Pavone’s possible lawsuit, consumer law experts say he just might have a case. Pavone said a possible suit would allege unconscionability. When jacking up interest rates, credit card lenders typically provide notice and an opportunity for cardholders to refuse the higher rate and settle their accounts at the current rate — nothing unconscionable about that. But maybe Bank of America breached good faith by reducing the limit to a level that would likely incur fees and damage Pavone’s credit report.
Lawsuits against big banks are not totally unwinnable. In November a federal judge refused to dismiss a class-action claim against Chase filed by customers who said the bank acted in bad faith when it raised minimum monthly payments from 2 percent to 5 percent on fixed-rate cardholders.
Mr. Hottie Laywer has the right idea. FIGHT and if you don’t want to fight then cancel your cards, take your money out of the bank and open an account and get a card through a small community bank.
BoFa, 5/3, Chase, all of them. They need to be taught a lesson.