The Man Who Could Salvage Wall Street

I'm stunned! I never thought I would read a favorable article on JPMorgan/Chase or Jamie Dimon. Then, several months ago, I was "treated" to an idiotic cover story in "Fortune Magazine" titled, "Weathering The Perfect Storm" all about "the great job" that Jamie Dimon and his top VPs were doing at JPMorgan/Chase. I became nauseated by it, literally!

Now, Rick Newman writes "The Man Who Could Salvage Wall Street", a ridiculous fluff-piece on Jamie Dimon & JPMorgan/Chase! I became nauseated by it; thankfully, this time, figuratively! All Rick Newman proves is that a Democrat can be as soulless as a Republican!

I have 3 credit cards from JPMorgan/Chase, although I have never applied for a JPMorgan/Chase credit card! The 3 cards were with 3 other companies and JPMorgan/Chase acquired them. The 3 companies were: Bank One (First USA) with an annual APR of 8.99%, Providian with an annual APR of 10.99%, & Washington Mutual with an annual APR of 12.99%. JPMorgan/Chase acquired them and immediately raised my APR on all 3 credit cards to 29.99%, 29.99%, & 31.99%, respectively; these APRs are almost the same as the Default APR! JPMorgan/Chase raised the APR even though I had never missed a payment, never exceeded my credit limit, always paid 25% more than the minimum payment due, and have a credit score of 703! The APRs payments were too high for me to pay and I damn near had to declare bankruptcy. I wrote a registered letter to Mr. Dimon. In it I stated the facts above and declared that the APRs were usurious, especially given the low interest rates on Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds, the low rate of price inflation, the high rate of unemployment, and the decline in GDP! Needless to say, the APRs weren't lowered! After paying through the nose for 2 1/2 years, I am finally making a dent in the amount I owe JPMorgan/Chase!

Rick Newman asks: "Are all bankers evil?"

No, not all bankers are evil. Vikram Pandit (CEO & former Chairman of Citigroup) promised to only accept a $1 annual salary in February 2009. He lived up to his word. Mr. Pandit should still be the Chairman of Citigroup, rather than Richard Parsons. Mr. Parsons, and every other executive of whom I know at a large bank, doesn't have the ethics of Mr. Pandit.

I have 1 credit card from Citigroup. Citigroup charges me an APR of 8.24%! If it wasn't for Citigroup, I would have needed to file bankruptcy! Since the day that I received my Citigroup credit card, I have been able to save more than $3,000 by transferring balances from JPMorgan/Chase to Citigroup!

There is no logic to the actions by JPMorgan/Chase and all other major credit card issuers (except Citigroup). If people are having trouble paying an APR of 11.99%, what makes them think that people will be able to pay an APR of 31.99%?

Mr. Newman, please stop viewing JPMorgan/Chase and other corporations from your "Ivory Tower". Articles like "The Man Who Could Salvage Wall Street" are a humiliating kick in the croch!

Robert Ternes of OK 8:14AM October 26, 2009

Rick

I think you should check out his history of using his financial expertise to thwart credit exposure.

See his time at Bank One and the $40 billion deliberate loan reduction program that led to Bank One's "record earnings" under his leadership. The true impact on businesses is only known by Jamie Dimon.....the net effect was a $40 billion reduction in the commerical portfolio.

The fact that he recaptured over 50% of the loan loss reserve to prop up earnings right prior to the "merger" with JP Morgan is not the relevant fact, it just underscores that he was misguided with his strategy in the first place.....the loss of jobs and the destruction of businesses is the issue.

Check around now as he is undertaking the same type of strategy in order to better manage the systemic risk within our economy. The fact that he was part of creating (derivitives) the economic downfall and is now using the same basis for running off loan customers is irony within itself.

To JP Morgan customers: While at Bank One, his organization utilized people who made threats of death against business owners and their spouses and young children in order to facilitate the completion of his deliberate loan reduction program to facilitate is return to NY.

Former Jamie Dimon customer of IN 2:19PM October 21, 2009

Had a Chase modification offer, paid a healthy good faith deposit, then was told it expired due to the fact that the 2nd mortgage didn't subordinate in time. The kicker is the 2nd is also controlled by Chase (EMC Mortgage), so I go thru the process a 2nd time (another year of $5,000.00 per month payments) and got a 2nd modification offer, this time, no mention or regard for the 2nd. But Jamie did add another $60,000.00 to my first, so now instead of being $130,000.00 upside down Jamie has me $190,000.00 under water, because He doesn't believe in taking a hit. Pretty impressive if your the Servicer, you write the rules,and since their your rules you determine when they apply,things like appraisals, and subordinations don't matter if you pickup another $60k.

I know who isn't John Galt.

Jon Charles Realtor of CA 1:02PM October 16, 2009

What a disgustingly shallow and biased article.

citizen wa of WA 4:32AM October 16, 2009