Posts tagged as:

credit cards

Credit card eliminations spike

June 8, 2009

The credit card industry is purging accounts, shutting down just over 19% of their accounts in the past year. As you can see, that is a huge increase over past rates. And this is on top of all the credit limit reductions (not to mention lines of credit). Since the industry is threatening further account [...]

Read the full article →

Credit card companies: they’re finally getting f***ed back

May 29, 2009

Happy Friday!

New Credit Card Laws – watch more funny videos

Read the full article →

Credit card agreements must use 12-point font

May 20, 2009

As someone who reads dozens of credit card agreements every month, this may be the most-welcome part of the new credit card legislation:
(d) Minimum type-size and font requirement for credit card applications and disclosures. -All written information, provisions, and terms in or on any application, solicitation, contract, or agreement for any credit card account under [...]

Read the full article →

Senate Passes Bill to Restrict Credit Card Practices

May 20, 2009

Senate Passes Bill to Restrict Credit Card Practices | New York Times

Read the full article →

Why is Obama silent on bankruptcy reform?

May 19, 2009

The Red Tape Chronicles asks whether Obama is “backing the wrong horse” by championing credit card reform while ignoring bankruptcy reform that would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce mortgage loans in bankruptcy—just like they can do for all other debts. Credit card reform is a great thing, of course, but it will have a tiny [...]

Read the full article →

Austan Goolsbee (Obama’s credit card advisor) interviewed by Consumerist

May 18, 2009

(This is part 1 of a 4-part series.)

Read the full article →

Link roundup

May 14, 2009

Time to clean out my Google Reader queue.

How to complain about: credit report errors | The Red Tape Chronicles
Does it make sense to pay “points” upfront to lower your interest rate? Decoding the Mysterious Mortgage Points Game | Alpha Consumer
What’s The New Credit Card Reform Bill All About? | Consumerist
Stop fighting bankruptcy. When bankruptcy is [...]

Read the full article →

Deal with your debt: negotiate a settlement

May 7, 2009

Once a debt is in default—meaning you stopped paying it—one option is to attempt to negotiate a settlement with the creditor. (You can try this before you go into default, but creditors are rarely willing to play ball until you prove your poverty—and before they rack up some more fees.)
You could just pay the full [...]

Read the full article →

Deal with your debt; do not ignore it

May 5, 2009

Nobody likes to talk about their debt. Not me, not you, not anybody. But your debts do not like to be ignored. As I wrote in my column for Consumerist yesterday , if you let your debts go into default and do nothing, it could end up hurting.
Credit card companies in particular want you to [...]

Read the full article →

Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Passes Out of Full Committee

April 22, 2009

From NACA: “Here is a very quick update on credit card legislation. Just now the House Financial Services Committee passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights by a 48 to 19 vote. According to Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), the bill is expected to go to a full House vote next week! . . . [...]

Read the full article →

Credit Card Skimming: How thieves can steal your card info without you knowing it

April 7, 2009

Fantastic gallery of card skimmers. Credit Card Skimming: How thieves can steal your card info without you knowing it | NetworkWorld (via Consumerist)

Read the full article →

Are we a nation of deadbeats?

April 1, 2009

Yesterday evening, on MPR’s Marketplace, John Dimsdale reported on private equity firms that may buy up bad debts under the government’s economic recovery plan. In the report, he referred to the business of servicing bad credit card debts as “collecting payments from deadbeat borrowers.” Here is the segment:

/*
With unemployment at its highest in decades, many [...]

Read the full article →

There are no secret programs to get out of debt

March 23, 2009

Consumer lawyers and collection lawyers agree about as often as Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann. But one thing they do agree on is the dubious value of most for-profit companies that promise to get consumers out of debt.
They go by many different names: credit counseling agencies, debt settlement companies, debt negotiators, etc. They usually charge [...]

Read the full article →

Credit card companies hike rates and cut credit lines

March 17, 2009

It’s tough to follow up on a post about how to make a Black and Tan, but I’ll give it a try. I was inspired to write by an interesting discussion over at the Consumerist about credit card rate hikes and credit line cuts. Many AFFIL members have written to us about this phenomenon, and [...]

Read the full article →

Link roundup

February 27, 2009

The Credit Card Debt Crisis: The Next Economic Domino | The Huffington Post
Third Circuit Strikes Down Class-Action Ban, Eliminates Claimed Circuit Split | CL&P Blog
“The increase in credit card rates is having a bad effect on college students.” Credit card blues | MPR News Cut
Bank Fees on Unemployment Benefits | Neatorama
How You Can Green Your [...]

Read the full article →

Identity theft at the ATM

February 23, 2009

Embedded video from CNN Video

Read the full article →

Does July of 2010 seem a long way off to anyone else? (AFFIL Week)

February 12, 2009

On December 18, the Federal Reserve Board released new regulations for credit card issuers. The substance of the regulations is great – in some ways it’s even stronger than what was proposed (more on this below). But the ridiculous problem with the Fed’s announcement is that, for some reason, the rules won’t go into effect [...]

Read the full article →

5 credit card company tricks — and how to thwart them

February 9, 2009

5 credit card company tricks — and how to thwart them | Get Rich Slowly

Read the full article →

Debt collectors think consumers knowing their rights is “ominous”

February 3, 2009

Yesterday, on Consumerist, I criticized an article in the Washington Post for sounding like it was written by debt collectors. Apparently, it was prompted by a dispatch from the Associated Press, which distributed “Six Tips for Dealing With Debt Collectors” on Friday. (The “6 tips” are good tips, by the way, although the WaPo article [...]

Read the full article →

Creditors willing to haggle with debtors in tough economic times

January 6, 2009

In anticipation of an increase in economic and credit turmoil, creditors and debt collectors are racing to collect as much as possible from their debtors and to minimize future losses. While many banks are cutting credit lines, raising fees, and reducing lending, creditors are also giving debt collectors more latitude to work with debtors in [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries