I’ve been yapping away up here and on Linkedin about consumers finally taking matters into their own hands and attacking customer-unfriendly sellers and even whole industries. And you may have thought I was gulty of wishful thinking (which, I admit, I sometimes am). Well, read this piece from Suze Orman’s CNBC show last Saturday.
“There is a phenomenon happening in the United States of America,” said Orman. “It’s where people are getting seriously angry, so angry at their banks, their credit card companies. They feel like they are not being treated fairly when it comes to the interest rates they are paying. Guess what they’re doing: They are staging a debtors’ revolt. Oh yes, a debtors’ revolt.”
Consumers may not be able to attack large banks directly, particularly on the credit side. But consumers are also voters, and voters are going to be looking for revenge as Congress develops new financial regs, including the proposed consumer oversight committee. The banking community has overplayed its hand far worse than the health insurance industry did last week, and get ready to see customer powewr expressd in ways we haven’t seen for decades. This will be fun to watch.
