[Lapsiks]

Well, I bought 45 shares @ $58 a pop. Hope fully if this does half as well as MasterCard, I should be set with a good amount of money to help my parents out with the mortgage...maybe this combined with proceeds from Etrade (hopefully this one does well too) I could pay off their 2nd mortgage in the next couple of years.

[Illisezek]

I posted my analysis on the Fool's Visa board. It should be accessible to anyone: http://boards.fool.com/Message.asp?mid=26449139

Basically, I did not believe that Visa shares would offer a compelling value at the $42 maximum offering price they were expecting so, naturally, I feel the same about the $44 price of the IPO. I was expecting substantial action on the first public day of trading so I knew that I would not be able to get in at any price that I thought was reasonable and that was the case. I think that at $58 you're getting fully valued shares in a very tumultous market. I expect buying opportunities at lower prices over the course of the next year and honestly I still doubt I will be buying.

The action we saw today was less substantial than I was expecting given the anticipation surrounding Visa and I guess that comes on the back of the poor market conditions and the absolutely massive size of the offering. This is not at all like Mastercard's offering, which was modestly sized and priced very conservatively, correctly acknowledging the substantial risks of ownership. MA's offering was either a great deal or a tremendous deal depending on the extent to which they were whacked with settlements in their many outstanding legal cases. In Visa's case, it's either a mediocre deal or a poor deal depending on basically the same legal issues.

I hope it does half as well as Mastercard so that you profit but I shall not be partaking. E*Trade is very interesting because there's a solid brokerage under there but the bank is so exceptionally leveraged that the whole proposition is very risky. *Very* risky. I've been tempted to buy it but I don't think that I will until there is solid evidence to support a turnaround. Bear Stearns' almost instantaneous collapse really put the leverage that some of these banks are operating under into perspective for me. I knew it but I had to see it and I'm glad I was nowhere near when it happened.

[Audi_z]

I just don't see credit cards in general making as much profits as they did because of three reasons:

The costs for the businesses make them not so interesting for companies to support them and fraud is costing more and more money to prevent.

The consumer is much less willing to pay something for their credit card and gets more aware of the total costs.

The consumer is more aware of not living on CC and rather pay them off every month which isn't good business for the CC companies.


Buying at IPO price making at first day is alright, but for longterm I rather not have them.

I simply don't have the knowledge to buy any finance title right now, not even the Swiss ones.

[jPNy2BP5]

The consumer is more aware of not living on CC and rather pay them off every month which isn't good business for the CC companies.

That's definitely not the normal in the US. At least not in my area. One example, a good friend of mine makes roughly $24k a year, but has almost $60k in CC debt. That's probably an extreme example, but a lot of people in my area making less than $100k a year have $10k or more just in CC debt. Foreclosures are crazy right now.

At least it's getting harding to get a home loan, but it's still easy as hell for just about anyone to rack up the credit from credit card companies.

[intifatry]

The consumer is more aware of not living on CC and rather pay them off every month which isn't good business for the CC companies.

Credit card companies still make money on every transaction, whether or not you pay it all off when you get the bill or let it sit there. On every transaction you make, they make at least 3% or more, depending on the card company. Sure, they don't make as much, but considering how there's plenty of people out there who have thousands in credit card debt, they'll still give the people who pay them off insane limits, and they still make money.

[Lapsiks]

Credit card companies still make money on every transaction, whether or not you pay it all off when you get the bill or let it sit there. On every transaction you make, they make at least 3% or more, depending on the card company. Sure, they don't make as much, but considering how there's plenty of people out there who have thousands in credit card debt, they'll still give the people who pay them off insane limits, and they still make money.

Yes sir. I my way of seing things, it can only go up, heres why :

1. Unlike Amex or Discover, Visa doesnt carry the debt, the banks do, so doesnt matter if people default on their bill, the banks are just sol and visa still gets their fee.

2. They Charge transaction fees, so the more people use their cc, doesnt matter for what, the more money they make, and in a world where most people earn points and flyer miles on their cards, alot of people, including me put everything I can on the card. Anything from computer parts for like $800-$1000 to a movie ticket, or even the pop corn for the movie.

3. Unlike the US, many many countries still can grow as far as cc use, as the economy gets better in certain countries in south america, asian and europe, more and more people will start using plastic.

there are probably a couple more things I could say....This is all I remember for now though....lol

[Zugaxxsn]

That's definitely not the normal in the US. At least not in my area. One example, a good friend of mine makes roughly $24k a year, but has almost $60k in CC debt. That's probably an extreme example, but a lot of people in my area making less than $100k a year have $10k or more just in CC debt. Foreclosures are crazy right now.

At least it's getting harding to get a home loan, but it's still easy as hell for just about anyone to rack up the credit from credit card companies.

HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?!? What loon decided it was a good idea to extend that much credit to this guy? ****, your friend needs to fake his own death to rid himself of that debt. There is no way he pays it off in his life time.

[FsQGF1Mp]

HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?!? What loon decided it was a good idea to extend that much credit to this guy? ****, your friend needs to fake his own death to rid himself of that debt. There is no way he pays it off in his life time.

because the banks know that some people are so stupid that they will use all of thier credit on a card and just pay the minimum, or default every couple of weeks so they can slap a late payment charge on to the bill hence making money.

and your right they shouldnt lend him almost 3 times his gross income

banks hate people like me, buy somthing enjoy the 6 months purchase interest free and then pay it all up before they can start charging interest.