“Revolvers”—customers who keep a revolving balance on their credit cards—used to be the cash crop for credit card companies. But now more and more of them are turning into expensive charge-offs, and the new CARD act is going to make it harder to acquire those riskier customers anyway. As a result, card companies are beginning to look more closely at the customer who was most hated back in the credit-orgy years: the deadbeat.
deadbeats
Amp'd Mobile Shuts Down Tomorrow, Port Your Number Today!
By 7.23.07
Amp’d Mobile will shutter its ailing service on July 24th at 12:01 am, meaning that today is the final day to port your number to another carrier. The mobile virtual network operator has worn a giant “Kick Me!” sign ever since it filed for bankruptcy after half of its 175,000 customers failed to pay their bills; securing its fate, Amp’d costs Verizon $370,000 per day and owes the telecommunications behemoth over $56 million. The goodbye text Amp’d sent its customers, and information on porting your number, after the jump.
Amp'd Mobile Bankruptcy Costing Verizon $370,000 A Day
By 7.19.07
Verizon Wireless said that as of June 23, Amp’d Mobile had incurred $15.6 million in post-bankruptcy charges and is costing the carrier $370,000 a day, but still has not obtained debtor-in-possession financing that would assure the carrier that its bills will be paid. Verizon Wireless said it has received one payment of $2.5 million, which was supposed to placate the operator and allow Amp’d Mobile to have continued access to its network.
At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Amp’d had already run up $41 million in unpaid bills to Verizon, in addition to the aforementioned $15.6 million.The Pioneer Press reports that Amp’d has about $9,000 in cash. This means that you are likely richer than Amp’d mobile.
Amp'd Mobile Files For Bankruptcy After 1/2 Of Their Subscribers Don't Pay Their Bills
By 6.5.07
Collecting payments from these subscribers proved to be a challenge, however. “Approximately 90% of the debtor’s customers were on 18-month service contracts,” according to the filing. “The debtor began to find a host of credit and collections problems (that) contributed ultimately to a liquidity crisis.” By May, the number of nonpaying customers reached 80,000. That’s nearly half of Amp’d’s current customer base of 175,000 subscribers.
A Cold Shower A Day Keeps The Gas Company Away
By 10.6.06
Erstwhile Consumerist guest blogger and Upgrade Travel editor Mark Ashley has been taking a lot of cold showers lately. Heck, his nipples protrude like fleshy awls. Yet unlike most men who take to basking themselves in an icy deluge, Mark is not trying to extend his life or cut down on his sex drive: the situation’s been thrust upon him by Chicago People’s Energy (as Communist a name for a gas company as I’ve ever heard).
