Debtors Revolt Video Starring Ann Minch Versus Bank of America

"You are evil, thieving bastards," so says Ann Minch in a video in which she blasts Bank of America for raising the rate on her credit card to 30%.

She was a Bank of America customer for 14 years and was not over the credit limit or behind in her payments. As she says: "I can get a better rate from a loan shark." She called Bank of America but "they weren't willing to negotiate anything." She says their message to her was "tough shit."

Her message to the banks is: "you are evil, theiving bastards. You have reaped ungodly profits in your behemoth casino scams, then lost, only to turn around and usurp the wealth of this great nation by the outright rape and pillage of middle-class Americans whose sweat and toil built it..."

Because of all this, she is staging a debtors revolt and refusing to make any additional payments unless Bank of America lowers her interest rate back to where it was. She says she has no�real estate or real assets and is unconcerned about debt collectors. In her words, "with so many people defaulting on their debts, the civil courts will be tied up for years."

Her video has been viewed by over 354,000 times and has over 5,000 comments. Media began to pick up on the story, undoubteltly getting Bank of America nervous. According to Fortune magazine, on September 19, Jeff Crawford from Bank of America contacted her and told her that her rate was increased because of two late payments. He told her that they would lower the rate to 16.99% but she replied that Bank of America is receiving "money from the Fed at 0% interest ... 12.99% is a more-than-generous profit margin." He eventually agreed to lower the rate to its original level of 12.99%.

There are a couple of lessons here:

1. Don't be late on your credit card payments.

2. If you are late, yell and scream and create a YouTube video. That may be the only way to get your rate lowered.

But apart from that, the whole indicent speaks to just how angry Americans are with their financial institutions. A bank that received billions in public funds is going to have a hard time making exorbitant rates stick, even when the consumer has made late payments.

What do you think? Is she a hero for standing up to Bank of America or a whiner who deserved the higher rate for two late payments?