I ALMOST FEEL BAD FOR THE USURIOUS BASTARDS, AND THEY ARE THE FIRST BANK I USED SINCE COLLEGE IN 1963

Bank of America Credit-Card Unit Loses $373 Million (Update1) By David Mildenberg http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaCdPylW8B.U&refer=home Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. consumer bank, lost money in its credit-card unit for the first time since its January 2006 purchase of MBNA Corp. as more borrowers missed payments amid the slowing economy. Card services, which includes unsecured loans, lost $373 million in the third quarter, compared with a profit of $1.04 billion in the same period last year, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said today in a regulatory filing. Defaults on cards, consumer loans and home mortgages contributed to a 47 percent decline in operating profit at the consumer and small-business division. Bank of America provided more details on its third-quarter results today, two weeks after reporting a 68 percent decline in profit. Those earnings, released early as the bank announced plans to raise $10 billion by selling common shares, were worse than analysts expected. The world's biggest financial companies have disclosed $661 billion in losses and raised $634 billion in fresh capital.