Credit Card Stimulus

Even though the Credit CARD Act has been passed into law, it hasn't prevented credit card companies from making last minute changes to credit card terms before the law goes into effect.  

The latest round of credit card changes are coming in the form of switching fixed rate cards to variable rates.  By switching to a variable rate, credit card issuers are basically ensuring that they'll be able to adjust the interest rate (based on the prime rate) without having to ..read more

When it comes to choosing a low interest credit card, does whether it have a fixed or variable interest rate make a difference? If so, you will have fewer choices of fixed rate credit cards as JP Morgan (Chase) and Bank of America have opted to change many of their credit card options to variable rates. The reason for the switch, changing cost and U.S. curbs on pricing from the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act being signed ..read more

Credit.com collects statistics on student credit and debt, and that data shows that most undergraduate students take on significant debt to finance their education.  According to The Project on Student Debt, this breaks down as follows:

at public 4-year institutions, 62.4% of graduating seniors have education debt at private, non-profit 4-year institutions, 73.9% of graduating seniors have education debt at for-profit institutions, 88.3% of graduating seniors have education debt.

A bit of good news: the July 1st changes to Federal Student Loan programs offer ..read more

I opened my email Monday morning to find a message from a reader, taking me to task about my last post on challenging your property tax assessment. She not-so-gently pointed out that you don't have to pay for advice to do this. All you have to do is contact your local property tax assessor's office. I don't know if it's always quite that easy… I am in the process of challenging the assessment on property I own out of state ..read more

With the ongoing recession, nearly all lenders including credit card companies have been feeling the pressure as more consumers miss payment due to many different reasons. However, according to an article in Yahoo Finance there is one credit card company that is considered a top pick when it comes to investing in stock. Recently Goldman Sachs Group added Discover Financial Services to their list of top picks, causing their stocks to surge well above other financial stocks.

 

Why would you put ..read more

Though we occasionally talk about cutting up your credit cards, we rarely talk about cutting up your cash, both because it's not entirely legal, and, well, most of us need every last dollar we've got. 

Artist Mark Wagner takes a different approach, creating some gorgeous collages with little more than dollar bills and an x-acto knife.  As he says "Blade and glue transform it - reproducing the effects of tapestries, paints, engravings, mosaics, and computers - striving for something bizarre, ..read more

When the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act was signed into law earlier this year many Americans believed change in credit card practices had begun. In many cases they were correct, but it just was not the change they were looking for. Since the CARD Act was signed, complaints against credit card issuers have rising to an all time high, and now lawmakers are feeling the pressure and pain of their constituents.

 

Recently Senator Chris Dodd, the Senate Banking ..read more

When it comes to credit and debit card fraud, do you think of it as a major deal? For many Americans, who use their plastic as a way of making payments everyday, it actually ranks near the top, exceeding that of terrorism, computer viruses, health viruses and personal safety. This fear is justifiable as more electronic records were stolen in 2008 than any of the previous four years combined, and that within a years time period, major breaches at Heartland, ..read more

With gas stations coast to coast, it comes as no surprise that the Chevron credit card is one of the most widely issued gas cards in America. But be warned… before you fill out an application to get your own, there are a few important things you should know.

The Interest Rate Shocker…

Chevron includes Texaco (they acquired the company in 2001) so they issue similar cards under each brand. Their ordinary cards are no affiliated with any major payment networks (like ..read more

According to results of a recent survey by NYCE Payment Network, cardholders showed that they would make more purchases online if the card’s issuers and financial institution offered them a safer payment method than those used commonly today.

 

The survey in which around 2,600 consumers were polled gave researchers their reason for choosing the payment methods they use. As expected, their results found that the main issue cardholders have with shopping online deals with the security or their personal information. When ..read more