Let's set the tone for this topic:

• I have been a customer of Bank of America's for 10 years
• I currently have 12... that's right, 12 accounts with Bank of America.
• I have perfect credit, 750+
• I have NEVER missed a single payment on any line of credit, revolving account, mortgage, etc... NEVER.
• My debt to income ratio is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the national average.

Now, let's talk about banks, debt, and risk assessment.

I have a financial plan that includes paying off debt, creating financial sustainability, and building wealth.  The first part of the plan is to stop going into the red: done.  The next step is to build a safety net: done.  The third step is to pay off debt: half way done.  And the last step is to save and invest to build wealth.

More on step three:

The way I operate, is to save large amounts of money, then pay off large credit lines in one payment.  There are several reasons for doing it this way.  First and foremost: risk management.  I own several peices of Real Estate, and have a massive overhead to run my business.  So, it doesn't make sense to spend every penny I earn paying off a line of credit knowing that if I ever get in a bind, I would be spread too thin, and I would be completely screwed.  ESPECIALLY SINCE EVERY TIME I PAY DOWN A BALANCE, THE BANK LOWERS MY LINE OF CREDIT!

Accordingly, I just paid off a $21,000 line of credit all in one payment.  I specifically chose which line to pay off so that I could leverage the line of credit to consolidate other debts for organizational purposes, and to get better interest rates.  I then initiated two balance transfers to effect this for only HALF of the available balance.

Following, I get a call from the bank - they called to inform me that "We notice you have very large deposits going into your account, and good cash flow, however, you aren't making large enough payments against debt for us to consider transferring balances to the account."  I asked them, "Did you notice the $21,000 payment I just made?"  The lady on the phone replied, "Yes."  I then inquired, "So you don't consider $21,000 to be a large payment?"  She then proceeded to tell me how that didn't "count".  I informed her that clearly Bank of America assesses risk and performs business much differenyly than I do, and that I would remember this in the future when I am considering a financial instituion to fund my business.  So if I would have taken that $21,000 payment and spread it out over 12 months, apparently that would have COMPLETELY changed the situation.

It is important to note that in the in the last year, I have cut my debt by 60%.

Here's what gets me - The banks all complain that their customers are foreclosing, or going bankrupt, yet any attempt that we (the customers) make to get out of debt is NOT RECOMMENDED and is PUNISHABLE by your financial institution.  I am completely in awe, and really don't know what to do... other thank fleeing to the mountains and escaping society.