Archive for the ‘Credit Cards’ Category

Capital One Credit Card Losses Drop

Capital One has announced that its losses from credit cards in the U.S. has eased up in the month of February, according to BusinessWeek. This news accompanies additional reports suggesting that consumer stress levels are easing.
Capital One Charge-Off Rate Drops
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Capital One reported that its net charge-offs [...]

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Opting In to Debit Card Charges Carries Risk

The New York Times recently reported on some tactics banks are using to protect revenue streams that they might otherwise lose with the Credit CARD Act regulations in place.
Background: The Overdraft Fees You Pay Now
One of the major banking abuses addressed in the Credit CARD Act is abusive overdraft loans—when banks charge if you make [...]

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Credit Card Charge Disputes can Save Money and Worry

Hopefully, when you receive your credit card bill each month, you scan the itemized charges to make sure nothing looks amiss. And, if you do, at some point you may notice a charge for something you didn’t buy – or a charge that rang up incorrectly, or a charge with the decimal in the wrong [...]

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Loopholes Still Exist in New Credit Card Laws

New legislation that went into effect this week outlaws a number of practices by credit card issuers, which is good news for consumers. However, there will still be loopholes for these companies to take advantage of in The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009.
Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post broke down [...]

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To Punch or to Sign? The Truth about Debit Cards

Whether you’re using a debit card to help keep you on track after a bankruptcy filing or simply because it’s so much more convenient than cash, you’ve probably encountered the checkout decision of whether to enter a PIN or sign your name on a digital screen.
Have you ever wondered about the difference between these options? [...]

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Understanding Cuts to Your Credit

The recession has been hard on a lot of Americans, in part because the decreased availability of credit now means that many people are seeing their accounts limited or closed for what seem like mysterious reasons.
Here’s a look at some potential explanations for why you may have seen your limit shrink recently.

Changes to Your Credit [...]

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Read This before Co-Signing for a Credit Card

We all know that credit is tight right now, which means credit card issuers aren’t bombarding Americans with quite as many free offers for credit cards as they did in years past. Getting credit may be the first step in building credit, but that may not be a good enough reason for you to co-sign [...]

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