It's beginning to look like people who borrow money on their credit cards are in a strong negotiating position with the credit card issuers. I find this really surprising; however, people have borrowed so much -- $2.4 trillion in installment debt -- that they have the credit card companies in a strong position when it comes to repaying -- or not.
And those credit card companies expect to get stiffed by 44% more over the next five years than they did in the past five. For example, between 2003 and 2008, credit card companies wrote off $275 billion in credit card receivables but in the next five years, they expect not to collect $395 billion.
And just as we see with the government forking over $8 trillion of taxpayer money to financial institutions, the ones that took on too much risk are the ones getting the special deal. This means that if you are delinquent for 90 days or longer; your income is in the right range; you have a broad network of banking relationships; and your credit record suggests missing a payment is an exception rather than the rule then you can get a deal.
Holiday hiring slow for retailers
Closing Bell: What sell-off? (AIG, ABK, EPR, MBI, JAVA, ORCL, ERTS)
Chasing Value: 2009 blazing picks -- Q3 review 
