Credit Guy Blog
Timothy Geithner tells the banks to start lending again
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, speaking at a small-business financing forum at the Treasury Department, called on banks to “get back to the business of lending.” The Treasury Department released a report earlier this week showing that many of the banks that received government aid in the form of stimulus money earlier this year continue to...
15.4 million taxpayers in for a shock. Are you one?
If you’re counting on your tax return in 2010 for a vacation or to pay off some bills, you might be one of the 15.4 million taxpayers in for a shock when you discover that your refund will be lower than expected, or even worse, you might end up owing money to the IRS. The Making...
Debt consolidation warnings and tips
“Debt consolidation.” It has such an alluring ring to it. It creates this fantasy that you can wrap up all your debts into one attractive, low interest package, and everything will be hunky dory with your debt. Sadly, the easy quick fixes are often rather bad for you, financially and credit worthiness-wise. This...
Breaking News: President signs homebuyers tax credit bill
President Obama today signed into law the bill extending the homebuyers tax credit through May 1st, 2010– a 6 month extension of the tax credit. The law provides an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, and $6,500 for homebuyers who have owned their current home for at least 5 years. Contracts must be in place...
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,...
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