In lawsuit complaints it is common to amend the original complaint as more evidence is discovered. What is to keep you from amending your letter? Or sending an addendum to Dr. Dimon to add the balance transfer fee demand? I see no reason why you would be limited to the only the issues raised in your first letter.

I’m not a lawyer, so with that caveat, I think that criminal action has to be pursued by the State or Federal governments. Maybe we need a campaign directed at the US Dept of Justice? If anyone knows how to do this, perhaps we could file some mass complaint to them as victims of this crime. If nothing else, it should get some attention if we did it en masse and made the press aware.

Thanks for your kind comments. However, another post on this board by Vito Caputo in response to the article on the 9th class action suit raised an important point that I absolutely had not thought of, and so wish I had. I should have also demanded a refund for the “one-time-balance-transfer fee” which was part of the life of the balance fixed rate.

It’s hard to ascertain when one might have gotten her money’s worth out of that fee, or what part of it should be returned in its entirety, or partially on a pro-rated basis. My first loan was taken 3 1/2 years ago. However, my second response to the offer was only 3 months before the “change-in-terms” which essentially forced me out of the agreement rather than submit to the onerous terms. I most definitely did not get my money’s worth out of the fees I paid for the $10, 500 loan.

Though an appeal to sympathy was not a part of my communication to Dimon, as I would not expect him to give a rat’s patoot about that, the fact is that coming up with the means to make the original jacked up payment last month, and then having the good luck to find an exit strategy (thanks to my wonderful credit union) was a close call financially and created some moments of real desperation and fear.

My heart is on fire at the financial terrorism being suffered by the people still trapped, as well the pervasive corruption in the political life of this nation that gives bankers who wish to act like feudal lords plenty of room to maneuver. Essentially, the laws hold the people down, so the corporations can financially rape us. I don’t think this is an exaggerated description for the National Bank Act, for example, as I discussed in the article reporting on my discussion with one of the class action lawyers, Michael Braun.

Another thing that became obvious in talking to Braun, was that all the laws under which we may seek redress against Chase are civil laws, and thus can’t be enforced until we bring a suit into court. In this sort of arena we are always at a disadvantage against a large corporation, which can use the money they are stealing from to hire lawyers to defend their right to steal from us more, and then deduct from their taxes as a business expense those legal fees as well.

If the laws against what Chase was doing were criminal laws, then the state would come to prosecute, just as it would if Chase bankers came in through the window with a gun to rob us. The famous Depression Era folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote a song about Pretty Boy Floyd, a bank robber who was known for buying Christmas dinners for poor families with the proceeds of his activities.

Here are the lyrics, written 70 years ago, that might feel pretty timely:

Pretty Boy Floyd

If you’ll gather ’round me, children,
A story I will tell
‘Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw,
Oklahoma knew him well.

It was in the town of Shawnee,
A Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude,
Vulgar words of anger,
An’ his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain,
And the deputy grabbed his gun;
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.

Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame;
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name.

But a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little homes.

Others tell you ’bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal,
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City,
It was on a Christmas Day,
There was a whole car load of groceries
Come with a note to say:

Well, you say that I’m an outlaw,
You say that I’m a thief.
Here’s a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief.

Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won’t never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.

If this were baseball, you just hit a Grand-Slam Home Run!

Please update us if and when you receive a response from Mr. Dimon. I think he’d be wise to consult legal counsel.