Back to the future with layaway plans

Once upon a time, ... up credit-card debt. We applaud that. And last year, 3.2 million Kmart customers bought merchandise ... and then spread the balance over several months. When consumer credit became more readily available [more...]

Date: 2008-10-26 02:41:16

Blog posts (278) | Videos (53)
 

BBB Consumer Alert About Credit Service

Hawaii's Better Business Bureau® issued an alert today warning consumers to be aware of companies taking advantage of the credit crunch by promising bogus credit repair services that can be costly and in some cases illegal. With lenders becoming increasingly... [more...]

Date: 2008-10-31 09:59:09

Making the most of mortgage overpayments

By Rupert Jones Shock news: Brits are repaying their debts. For years we were Europe’s most credit-happy consumers, unable to resist the lure of super-sized mortgages and seemingly addicted to flexing our plastic – but now it looks as if we have caught the thrift bug. Bank of England data issued this week shows that, for the first time since records began in 1993, homeowners are paying back more on their mortgages than homebuyers are borrowing. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-07 01:09:47

A Guide To Credit Counseling

Debt counseling has become a $7 billion dollar industry, but not all of them play fair. 10 years ago the credit counseling industry was dominated by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, who nonprofit affiliates, usually known as Consumer Credit Counseling Services, would [more...]

Date: 2009-01-04 13:00:09

Credit Card Consolidation

"I’d rather go to bed without supper than rise in debt." - Ben Franklin. Sure does! ... cards consolidation service that will help you work on your credit up. They offer a debt consolidation program for consumers with credit card debt, medical bills, repossessions, and accounts [more...]

Date: 2009-01-05 17:05:15

Welcome to the Carnival of Debt Reduction

Hi everyone, and welcome to this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction . There were more good articles submitted this week than are shown below, but only a small number of them dealt directly with (a) personal debt reduction stories or (b) how to reduce consumer debt: No Credit Needed dispenses with a lengthy introduction and jumps right in with a six-step process for eliminating credit card debt . Free Money Finance recounts a story of how one couple paid off their mortgage . Financ [more...]

Date: 2009-09-28 05:00:04

Are your APR’s increasing and you have no clue what is happeneing

Credit card issuers have large amounts of power over us, and it seriously is ludicrous. They have the right to significantly jack up our interest rates, lower our credit limits, and even share personal information on us. Credit card sign up applications are extremely one-sided and only benefit one party, the credit card organization. Most consumers are under the misconception that these are legal documents they are putting their name on, but that isn’t the situation whatsoever. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-06 13:11:38

Credit card crackdown coming soon!

The Fed is set to vote Thursday on a number of key protections for credit-card customers. Issue #1: America’s Money Crisis Oh Gee, Wow! ... to get out of the spiraling clinches of “Credit Card Hell” and take back your credit worth reputation. This is NOT– Debt Consolidation, Debt Settlement, Arbitration or Credit Consumer Counseling. Don’t even [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 01:12:11

New Regulation on Credit Card Unfair Practices Approved

This week, the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the National Credit Union Administration, ... or Practices, by financial institutions in connection with consumer credit card accounts and overdraft ... until a payment is over 30 days late. I always understood credit card rates to be variable, meaning [more...]

Date: 2008-12-20 18:34:48

Top Debt Consolidation - Quick And Easy

It is more than likely that you are familiar with the negative aspects of credit cards debt. This would be a good example of unsecured consumer debt ... people probably know how credit card debt occurs, but for those who don’t it simply happens ... into credit cards debt, however that is not all it normally spirals out of control and people are stuck [more...]

Date: 2008-10-04 11:12:47

White House Hints At Veto Threat Of “Weak” Consumer Protection Bill

The White House on Tuesday suggested that President Obama would consider vetoing regulatory reform legislation if it did not include strong enough protections for consumers of credit cards, mortgages and other financial instruments. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that there were "big" concerns inside the administration over reports that Congress was scaling back a key pillar of the president's approach to reform: the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). An [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 19:32:53

Debt Consolidation - How Obama is Making it Easier to Eliminate Credit Card Debt

Amazon.de Widgets Recent economic conditions and massive government spending have actually made it easier for consumers to eliminate credit card debt. The passage of the financial stimulus bills has given creditors much more flexibility when negotiating debt settlements. Not only do creditors have a lot of stimulus money to hedge their losses on debt settlements but they are also very worried about defaults on delinquent accounts. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-16 08:49:45

White House Hints At Veto Threat Of "Weak" Consumer Protection Bill

The White House on Tuesday suggested that President Obama would consider vetoing regulatory reform legislation if it did not include strong enough protections for consumers of credit cards, mortgages and other financial instruments. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that there were "big" concerns inside the administration over reports that Congress was scaling back a key pillar of the president's approach to reform: the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 19:32:53

Credit Card Balance SmackDown - Higher Fees + Lower Limits

Happy Holidays. Just when we enter the spending season, families are likely to see their budgets strained by another complication ... running up a lot of debt if you can. After the holdays, use our online debt payoff calculator to help ... consumers! Many major credit card companies will pass on costs by: Raising Credit Card Fees [more...]

Date: 2008-11-25 16:38:29

Fed and Treasury Want You to Have a Nice Christmas

Remember how, post 9/11, President Bush urged patriotic Americans to go to the mall? It appears the officialdom is fond of time-tested remedies ... , 2. Some of the stinginess is warranted. Um, a credit bubble means a lot of people got loans who shouldn't ... bit of consumer credit ought to contract. And even if a lot of good customers also [more...]

Date: 2008-11-25 07:36:45

The Mission: CD Rates California, Mission Bank

Choosing a savings plan that makes sense for you and your lifestyle can be a difficult task ... , certificates of deposit, credit cards, and business, agricultural, commercial real estate, construction, residential, and consumer loans.  It also provides credit card processing services to area [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 05:21:10

Credit Card Day of Reckoning This Thursday?

Most of us are painfully familiar of the tendency for credit card issuers to try and screw us in any and every way possible, ... card (like, say, your interest rate…) if you default on another, completely non credit card related ... all are expected to act on Thursday. Consumer groups say practices of credit card companies blindside [more...]

Date: 2008-12-15 03:05:04

Consolidate credit card debt with debt consolidation - Loan Modification not the answer

Amazon.de Widgets Consolidate credit card debt with debt consolidationThe move by the FTC comes as federal and state officials plan to expand a crackdown on mortgage-related scams to other schemes that prey on debt-ridden consumers.. Try Credit card debt consolidationCan’t Pay Your Bills? You’re not alone. Today, millions of Americans are having difficulty paying their debts. Most of those in financial distress are middle-income families with jobs who want to pay off what they owe. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-23 18:54:41

Paulson Translated

After listening to and reading the text from Paulson’s speech this morning, ... at a tipping point. Credit markets were largely frozen, denying financial institutions, businesses and consumers access to vital funding and credit. He uses past tense verbs, but I’m not sure [more...]

Date: 2008-11-13 04:08:18

Taking the Mystery Out of Credit Card “Minimum Payment” Requirements

If you are one of the savvy consumers who pays off their credit card balances in full each month, ... will increase as the economy continues to suffer from layoffs, financial losses, company consolidations ... result being that those who only make minimum payments will simply see their debt continue to grow [more...]

Date: 2008-12-30 14:04:51

The Last 30 Years Weren’t Good For America’s Financial Picture

by William Blake The answer to that lies in remembering just what we were like in the late seventies, and where we are now ... mainstream consciousness with the advent of electronic payment processing. Credit card debt ... a credit card became a little tougher. Consumers in the late seventies were by and large cash [more...]

Date: 2008-10-29 15:56:05

White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire

The global financial system was teetering on the edge of collapse when President Bush and his economics team huddled in the Roosevelt Room of the ... : The credit markets, gripped by panic, had frozen overnight, and banks were refusing to lend money ... , like lenders who peddled easy credit, consumers who took on mortgages they could not afford and Wall [more...]

Date: 2008-12-22 07:32:37

The Absurdity of Creditor Arbitration

I just read a great article in BusinessWeek titled “Creditors Screw Consumers Again”, actually it was Banks vs. Consumers (Guess Who Wins) ... arbitration clauses in credit card agreements. Ever since credit card arbitration became popular ... who was in arbitration with MBNA and I wanted to drop off supporting documents for the clients side [more...]

Date: 2008-06-06 20:53:35

2009 The Big Picture – Part 6

We are now entering a period of extreme risk aversion. Investors have pulled back and have a wait and see attitude. Spending by the consumer is tightening and credit card companies are slashing the amount of credit their customers were previously allowed. In the first half of 2009 the US economy will most likely [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 15:00:53

Credit Card Consolidation Service - Financial Peace Of Mind

Are you one of the many people having trouble paying your bills on time every month? it does seem to be an epidemic at this point in our society ... things going reasonably well financially. How do you find consumer credit counseling service? Debt ... on the payments for your debt consolidation loan. The more rational course to take when money [more...]

Date: 2008-10-25 14:28:17

In major settlement, St. Louis Park company agrees to stop handling consumer arbitration disputes

Less than a week after being sued by the Minnesota attorney general’s office, the nation’s largest arbitrator of credit card and consumer collections has agreed to stop performing such work, state Attorney General Lori Swanson announced today. The National Arbitration Forum, based in St. Louis Park, allegedly deceived consumers into thinking it was a neutral arbitrator in debt collection, the lawsuit said. [more...]

Date: 2009-07-19 21:01:22

Ask SCORE How to Survive Tough Economic Times

Washington, DC (PRESS RELEASE - November 4, 2008) - Entrepreneurs face challenges on many fronts during the next 12 months, including lower consumer spending, rising unemployment, tightening credit, and inflation pressures ... banks also may be a source of a line of credit. A solid business plan can help you make your case [more...]

Date: 2008-11-10 23:00:08

Citigroup: Bowing to the Inevitable

Citigroup’s (NYSE:C) move to spin off its Smith Barney brokerage unit into a joint venture with Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE:MS) ... of operations in scores of countries, the notion that having a consumer credit card operation under a common ... some of the international banking units and transaction processing. We note that HSBC has publicly [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 19:02:24

Six Simple Steps to Avoid Credit Problems in a Bad Economy

The New York Times ran a story today that says the next consumer crisis is credit cards — a sobering fact in a nation that has racked up massive amounts of credit card debt. Unfortunately, when times get hard, many people turn to credit cards ... TVs, but about necessities like medical bills. As a result, I dug myself deep into debt [more...]

Date: 2008-10-29 23:20:31

What Every Consumer Needs to Know

What Every Consumer Needs to Know Building good credit history is extremely important to one’s life ... that control credit. These rights have been stated as provisions on Fair Debt Collection Practices ... so as to bear witness on whatever maltreatments or unduly practices of debt collectors and lenders. Fair Debt [more...]

Date: 2009-01-07 12:47:09

A First Look At The Economic Stimulus Plan

Jake at EconomPicData.com has, as usual, a good graph depicting the allocation of the fiscal stimulus under the proposal that was just released ... Action and Action Now! The economy is in a crisis not seen since the Great Depression.   Credit is frozen, consumer purchasing power is in decline, in the last four months the country has lost [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 22:28:05

Can Debt Consolidation Help To Overcome Credit Card Debts?

by Ann Collin The only way to keep up with the latest about debt consolidation is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information. If you read everything you find about being sued for debt, it won’t take long for you to become an influential authority. Our society encourages consumers to “buy now, pay later”, offering credit cards and convenience to spend more everywhere we look. This is why it is so easy to get carried away with spending, and eventually end up “knee-deep in debt”. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-21 11:48:57

White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire

The ReckoningBy JO BECKER, SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and STEPHEN LABATON“We can put light where there’s darkness, ... out the latest terrifying news: The credit markets, gripped by panic, had frozen overnight, and banks ... . There are plenty of culprits, like lenders who peddled easy credit, consumers who took on mortgages they could [more...]

Date: 2008-12-22 20:46:00

The Fed Should Buy Down Consumer Credit Card Rates - Fast

Lets say I owe the bank behind my credit card  1k dollars and Im paying  10pct interest because the best I can do is a little bit more than the ... that I have my credit card  with and charge it 5pct plus some warrants to in turn loan that money back ... with to help save people’s homes, are many of the same banks that are pounding credit card holders [more...]

Date: 2008-10-24 23:38:36

Bank Of China VP:Govts’ Bailouts Not Solved Roots Of Problem

SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)–Bank of China Ltd. (3988.HK) Vice President Zhu Min said bailout plans by governments around the world to rescue markets ... Rising default risks in industrial loans and consumer credit caused by a recession in the global ... years, we could see more medium- and small-sized banks collapse, a lot of hedge funds [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 02:37:15

Friday morning links

TOP STORIES Rate cut from Japan, Barclays seeks funding - Reuters Nevada, Michigan, Florida lead 'underwater' list - AP Housing plunge: ... is more likely than many assume - MarketWatch Banks, consumer advocates urge U.S. to allow credit card debt ... it feels so bad - CNN/Money Economic data point to the start of a recession - LA Times Recession Ghost [more...]

Date: 2008-10-31 13:20:00

Will the GMAC Deal Spell Relief for GM?

“Consumer credit is the jet fuel of the auto business,” said Michael J. Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation Inc ... has to meet a certain quota for financing GM cars. Also, falling auto sales aren’t the only problem ... it is burning through cash to a punishing level of debt that couldn’t be funded through the markets once [more...]

Date: 2008-12-30 09:57:00

Chase Behaving Badly: Unintended Consequences of the Fed's New Credit Card Rules

In late December, banking regulators agreed to new rules to limit actions by credit card issuers that consumer advocates deemed to be abusive ... your account agreement, which is the contract governing your credit card account. It provides ... rule changes would lead banks to restrict credit, particularly to riskier borrowers. What they may [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 02:26:47

End Your Bad Debt

This article should give debtors a chance to look at their fianancial position and help put their debt in order ... Debtline: Free confidential helpline to those in debt Consumer Credit Counselling Service ... . If you’re in debt, it’s time to face up to it. Denial is the worst thing you can do. You need [more...]

Date: 2008-12-19 01:33:15

Can Debt Consolidation Help To Overcome Credit Card Debts?

The only way to keep up with the latest about debt consolidation is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information. If you read everything you find about being sued for debt, it won’t take long for you to become an influential authority. Our society encourages consumers to “buy now, pay later”, offering credit cards and convenience to spend more everywhere we look. This is why it is so easy to get carried away with spending, and eventually end up “knee-deep in debt”. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-15 15:05:02

Chrysler, Ford idle factories, GM delays new plant

DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler announced Wednesday it is closing all its North American manufacturing plants for at least a month, ... , the Volt. Ford also said it will shut down 10 plants for an extra week in January because of sluggish ... to work. That’s all we want to do. It’s scary, man. It’s really scary.” The lack of consumer credit [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 04:00:06

How to Get Credit Card Debt Collectors to Focus Their Energy Elsewhere

Most of those people who cannot afford to pay their monthly minimum credit card payment become potential victims of the consumer debt collection industry. However, a growing number of consumers have found a law to protect themselves against credit card debt collectors. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-26 12:39:41

Going Down the Path of Consumer Debt - Again

At creditslips.org, Bob Lawless raises the most reasonable question I’ve seen so far about Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s decision to shift the ... s the question from Lawless, an expert on credit and bankruptcy at the University of Illinois College of Law school: Why? After two decades in which consumers piled debt on their credit cards without [more...]

Date: 2008-11-14 13:52:32

Banks Supposedly Will Cut Consumer Credit Card Lines by $931 Billion if Reforms Mandated

There is a rather amusing story at the Financial Times tonight, "Credit card reforms ‘to cost banks billions’". Let's look at the particulars ... from customers. But how much more are the credit card issuers making due to the tremendous drop in funding ... . The story is based on a study by law firm Morrison & Forester which concluded that banks [more...]

Date: 2008-12-15 01:59:42

Credit card debt and a bad market are hurting US residents

Today here in the great country the United States of America we are sensing the full blown end product of what a economic slump can do ... in unsecured consumer credit card debt are also the ones who are going through the most problems. People ... about to get out of debt. These methods include the world renowned credit counseling, credit card debt settl [more...]

Date: 2008-11-05 00:02:15

Stores With Layaway Option Seeing Increased Interest

I know it is en vogue to bring back things from the past, but this is a trend I thought had gone forever:  layaway.  With tightening credit policies, and maxed out consumer debt, it seems layaway is making a comeback.  Personally, I am not a big fan of layaway, ranking it somewhere between using a credit card [more...]

Date: 2008-12-15 19:00:32

Reining in Harmful Credit Card Practices

By Karen Harris,  Supervising Attorney Medical emergencies, unexpected events, job loss, ... risk” consumer’s ability to pay off credit card debt may be exacerbated by the likelihood of unexpected ... or other credit card debts pay higher interest rates or have other penalties or restrictions placed [more...]

Date: 2009-01-09 18:20:42

Recent Financial Blog Posts

3 Cheap and Easy Formulas for Homemade Windshield De-Icer (Plus Bonus Tips) ... is amazing Consumer Credit Counseling Service, CCCS, NFCC, and National Foundation for Credit ... Endowment Style Portfolios for December 2008 Preliminary Credit Suisse Indices for December 2008 Nine [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 23:23:15

Will the GMAC Deal Spell Relief for GM?

“Consumer credit is the jet fuel of the auto business,” said Michael J. Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation Inc ... . Also, falling auto sales aren’t the only problem facing GM. The auto maker is dealing with myriad issues, ranging from the speedy rate at which it is burning through cash to a punishing level of debt [more...]

Date: 2008-12-30 09:57:00

Ex-Credit Card Bankers: "Every Customer Who Calls In Is A Mark. It's A Great Big Con." [Confessions]

CNN has an interview with two former credit card bankers who are admitting that their job was to get consumers to max out their credit cards and take on as much debt as possible, regardless of the customer's ability to afford it. They both worked for MBNA at their "sprawling consumer call center in Belfast, Maine." The bankers say [more...]

Date: 2008-09-25 16:39:25

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