Credit Education
The credit card companies find new ways to make lemonade, part 2
Part 2 of 2 How to protect yourself. Keep in mind the interest rate increases won’t affect you if you’re not carrying large balances. Going from 9.99% to 14.99% isn’t going to really impact your wallet if you’re already living within your means rather than living on credit. Be aware of the fine print on your credit cards. ...
The credit card companies find new ways to make lemonade
Part 1 of 2 I’ve spoken a lot recently about what credit card issuers are doing before the Credit Card Reform Act goes into effect next February. They’re justifying their practices by saying that their revenues are suffering with the ever increasing unemployment and default rates. Sadly their solution is to penalize the paying...
Credit Unions & Big Banks
With the meteoric rise in credit card interest rates and the plummeting credit limits I often wonder why more people don’t turn to credit unions for their credit needs. There was a time when going through the big banks for credit cards made a lot of sense—back when they’d offer no interest on balance...
Breaking News: House votes to enact credit card reform immediately
The House voted today to hasten the enactment of fresh rules for credit card companies after constituents complained of a drastic rise in interest rates and steep new fees. The bill, approved 331-92, will force credit card companies to meet the terms of the new rules at once unless they agree to stop increasing interest rates...
Credit Freezes and Identity Theft
There’s been a lot of talk recently about identity theft. With identity theft rising 22% in 2008 over 2007, with an average cost of over $500 to repair the damage, being proactive it becoming more and more necessary. One option is a credit monitoring service that alerts you anytime there is a change in your...
Did Congress Include A Poison Bill in the Credit CARD Act?
By Eva Norlyk Smith, Ph.D. The Credit CARD Act signed into law in May of this year aimed to protect cardholders from unfair and abusive credit card practices. Unfortunately, as most all cardholders know first hand by now, credit card companies have been raising interest rates aggressively in advance of the enactment of the new law,...
Pew Report Finds Deceptive Credit Card Practices Remain Widespread
Reprinted from The Pew Charitable Trusts Written by Kip Patrick Washington, DC – 10/28/2009 – One hundred percent of credit cards offered online by the leading bank card issuers continue to include practices that will be outlawed once legislation passed in May takes effect next year, according to a new report by the Pew Health Group’s Safe...
Banks prefer foreclosure, really, they do
When the current mortgage crisis started a lot of financial experts encouraged homeowners who were falling behind on their payments to contact their mortgage lenders. The conventional wisdom at the time was that the banks wanted to avoid foreclosure as much as the home owners. Those financial experts aren’t so sure anymore, but...
Time is running out on the $8,000 home buyer’s tax credit
What’s that ticking sound? You’re probably hearing the clock counting down on the $8,000 tax credit for qualified home buyers. The tax credit, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is set to expire Nov. 30, 2009. That means anyone who has never owned a home before or has not purchased a home...
Can I do my own credit repair?
I have people asking me all the time “Can’t I just repair my own credit?” The answer is, quite simply, yes. You can learn all the laws that govern credit reporting in the United States and in your state of residence. You can learn the rules and regulations that govern the credit bureaus, credit card companies, collections...
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