atm fees
Tim was pretty sure he met all the conditions of Citibank's offer to refund ATM fees—he opened his account online and he doesn't live near a Citi Financial center. When he wasn't credited, he contacted them to ask why, and was told he had to meet the conditions he's already met. He had to contact them four times to finally get the $2.00 fee credited as per their advertising. You might be asking yourself, "All that trouble for two dollars?" Well, that's why he ends his email with this: "Can someone point me in the direction of a better bank that actually provides 'reimbursement of the fees other banks may charge you for using their ATMs' without hassle?"
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stupid shipping gang
From the looks of David's package, Dell isn't close to honoring its promise to switch to alternative packaging within the next two months. This obscenely large box contained nothing more than a 2GB flash drive. David's son snapped a few pictures, which appear as an eerie slideshow after the jump.
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stunts
Yeah, it's a PR stunt—but a funny one, especially because the only two people excluded by Dr Pepper's pledge are "estranged GNR guitarists Slash and Buckethead." Someone in the Dr Pepper PR department
really likes Axl Rose. Rose says
neither he nor his label are in cahoots with Dr Pepper, and that he'd share his drink with Buckethead because "some of Buckethead's performances are on our album."
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promises
Diabolical mustache-twirling,
evidence-forging, subprime mortgage lender Countrywide reassured investors that it had no plans to go bankrupt, despite the fact that loan fundings dropped 45% from last December, says
Marketwatch. There is a bright side, of course, for those of you who haven't yet given your money to Countrywide:
Financial institutions that have run into difficulties and need consumer deposits to fund loans and build up their capital levels. Countrywide and E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC), both of which have been hit hard by the credit crunch are offering some of the industry's highest rates on products like certificates of deposit.
Egan Jones, a ratings company, wrote in a report on Tuesday that Countrywide is "severely challenged and might falter if it does not receive an infusion of at least $4 billion within the next couple of weeks." It said funding is needed because of a 40% decline in mortgage originations at the savings-bank company and a shift away from formerly profitable subprime-mortgage loans.
Reacting to the bankruptcy rumors, Countrywide spokesman Rick Simon said, "There is no substance" to them "and we are not aware of any basis for the rumor that any of the major rating agencies are contemplating negative action relative to the company."
So, if you're seeking better interest rates, and are morally flexible about who you give your money too,
look for companies that are in dire need of an infusion of cash. Who's the predatory lender now? Don't you feel cool?
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Consumerist
