THUMB AWARD MR. NICE GUY DOESN’T WORK HERE ANYMORE

Thumbs Down to Richardson Savings and Loan for the game of economic hardball it has been playing with its loan customers in recent months. In one instance, the company forced a woman who had been 20 days late on a payment to renegotiate her loan (or lose her house) to a higher interest rate that jumped her payments from $219 a month to $299. Another customer who was 26 days late on his loan had to drop his fixed-rate loan, accept a floating interest rate loan and pay a $1, 500 fee for the privilege of doing business with good ol’ Richardson Savings. One has to wonder if the company considers the money it will gain from its tough tactics to be worth the ill will it will doubtless reap as a dividend.