Credit Card Laws and Court Rulings–Have They Helped Consumers?

This is a guest post by Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com . Congress passed the Credit CARD Act in May but gave issuers and banks almost one year to implement the major provisions of the bill. Since then, issuers did exactly what they threatened to do–raise rates and fees on a broad group of cardholders. Consumers and elected officials are not happy about this, and members of Congress plan to introduce a bill to accelerate the effective date of the bill from February 22, 2010 to December 1, 2009. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-25 19:18:38

Blog posts (146) | Videos (117)
 

BizWeek: Leading Arbitration Firm Favors Creditors Over Individuals

scales In its cover story this week, BusinessWeek offers up a lengthy critique of the National Arbitration Forum, one of the nation’s largest arbitration firms. The story focuses on credit-card collection ... that NAF enlisted law firms with ties to credit-card companies to help NAF win business from creditors ─ [more...]

Date: 2008-06-10 08:45:00

Nader: Obama might not protect consumers

Not since the 1960s, when seat belts became standard equipment in cars, has the atmosphere been so favorable for consumer-friendly reform ... have just elected a president who has promised to reform the credit card industry, bankruptcy law, and toy ... has received more campaign donations for his Senate campaigns from credit card issuers than any other [more...]

Date: 2008-11-07 10:00:00

Dems: New Credit Card Regs Are No Substitute for Legislation

After months of proposals, arguments, hearings and public comments, ... sooner to protect American consumers by giving credit card protections the permanence and force of law ... card practices that mire families in debt. Legislation is needed to stop abuses such as charging [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 21:12:36

Consumer Groups Blast Banks' Card 'Tricks'

If credit cardholders feel worse off since the passage of the law designed to protect them from banks, that's because they are. An avalanche of new fees, interest rate hikes and other costly changes since the law was signed in May suggest the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, or the CARD Act, has backfired. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 19:40:03

Turning Attention to Christmas Bills

When I was a kid I remember being so depressed the day after Christmas, knowing Santa would not make a return trip for some 364 days ... and pen, and listing each of your credit cards.  Update each card’s balance with current information ... -in-law” syndrome. The symptoms include overspending around the holidays in an effort to impress [more...]

Date: 2008-12-26 14:07:19

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

Protect Insurance Companies PSA

Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm and a few other Hollywood celebrities got together and put together this PSA explaining why it’s important for Americans to protect the big insurance companies.   These Guys Are Some Rich Dicks New Credit Card Laws Dow Joes - He'll Put You In Debt Online Q&A With Will Ferrell Will Ferrell Fights With A Bat Padded Light Posts - Protecting Bodies Not Smart Enough To Protect Themselves [more...]

Date: 2009-09-22 16:00:09

New York Fed Paper: Seismic Effects of the Bankruptcy Reform

Donald P. Morgan, Benjamin Iverson and Matthew Botsch of the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have published a paper titled " ... ' credit losses would be even higher at the moment if the old bankruptcy law was still in place. See also ... from credit card and auto lenders to mortgage lenders. The means test under BAR gives credit card [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 19:22:41

Credit Card law questionable

There’s no shortage of blame for the mortgage crisis that drove the economy into the ditch ... Act of 2005, households could erase their unsecured debts by filing for Chapter 7 liquidation ... the reform, overindebted households might file bankruptcy and get rid of their credit card debt [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 10:09:00

The Credit-Wise Consumer

Louise M. Carwell is a senior attorney with Maryland Legal Aid Bureau in Baltimore, where she has practiced consumer law for more than 20 years ... cards to entice them. Sure, using your store credit card might get you an extra 20 percent off ... , specializes in the areas of credit, foreclosure prevention, consumer protection, and bankruptcy [more...]

Date: 2008-11-05 21:06:03

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

Re: Edwards to speak publicly again

Senator John has been a modern day Paul Revere. I remember his July 2007 Coopers Union speech where he tried, oh so gently, ... national laws protecting us against the worst abuses in credit markets predatory mortgages,abusive credit card terms, and payday loans with interest rates of 300 percent or higher. Finally [more...]

Date: 2008-11-11 06:22:53

Court Reviewing Dates for Federal i-Gaming Law Challenge

January 15, 2009 -The US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has asked iMEGA’s legal team to provide notice of their availability in April, ... that necessary determination as to what is ‘lawful’ or ‘unlawful’ to US banks and credit card companies ... prohibits US financial institutions from processing transactions between online gambling sites [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 14:28:34

What to do if a retailer goes bankrupt

From the Better Business Bureau As a result of the declining economy, the number of retailers closing their doors has increased substantially, ... Bankruptcy law is specific regarding who will benefit first in the case of a retailer’s liquidation ... . Customers who paid with credit cards, though, may be able to dispute the charge with the credit card [more...]

Date: 2009-01-04 14:12:16

Philippine Congress Tables Proposed Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Law

While the public was distracted yesterday by the deliberations of the justice committee of the House of Representatives on the substance of the ... . They consider any balances left unpaid as unsecured loans, as opposed to other forms of consumer loans which [more...]

Date: 2008-11-26 14:12:51

Good Credit Report Score

Good Credit Report Score December 20th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed Bankruptcy is an option but the laws have changed and it is not always the ... what you are getting yourself into. Credit card debt consolidation companies must be of concern ... there are some ways of credit card debt relief. There are no instantaneous solutions [more...]

Date: 2008-12-20 06:19:18

Federal Reserve Proposes Rules to Implement Card Law

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve proposedrules today that will end banks’ ability to apply credit-cardpayments to balances with the lowest interest rates first,implementing legislation Congress passed in May. The Fed also proposed that creditors obtain consumers’consent before charging fees for transactions that exceed creditlimits. Restrictions on lending to people under the age of 21and subprime credit-card fees were also included, the Fed saidin a statement. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 17:59:56

Bankruptcy - Is It the Answer?

Bankruptcy - Is It the Answer? October 11th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed If your finances are in a mess, you may have considered bankruptcy ... to pay back a portion of the debt that is owed to creditors. Your credit will be damaged ... laws. They were allowed to file more than once for Chapter 7 so many used it to beat credit card [more...]

Date: 2008-10-11 21:47:58

Rich Blog, Poor Blog

Last night I was watching NOW, featuring Harvard law professor and TPM guest writer Elizabeth Warren, ... History of the Credit Card." And do check out the full Elizabeth Warren interview. It reminded ... that was 'insuring' my credit card, charging a moderate fraction of the balance so that in the event I lost [more...]

Date: 2009-01-03 10:31:45

Foreclosures linked to 2005 Bankruptcy Reform law

For those readers not familiar with the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act ("BAPCA"), prior to October of 2005, unsecured debt ( ... of their credit card debt, and that would free up income to pay the mortgage. The new law blocks that escape route and forces better-off household to continue paying credit card debt, which makes [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 16:03:13

Four Quick Ways to Build A Strong Credit Rating

#fullpost{display:inline;} ... of our card accounts. We can make it a goal to pay off our credit card bills in full at the end ... for a time-dependent loan, say a mortgage. The Federal Law entitles us to one FREE annual credit [more...]

Date: 2008-11-18 05:21:00

So it begins with garnishment law

The first step was to pick a field and then to pick a very specific topic ... research and interpretation, bankruptcy law, multiple state jurisdictions, Federal preemption, debt ... . The field I selected was “credit card debt” contained within the general legal domain. “Credit [more...]

Date: 2009-01-06 19:07:34

Shamed solicitor faces jail for taking from pensioner’s will

By Michael MacLeod A DISGRACED former lawyer who took almost half-a-million pounds from a dead pensioner’s will used the cash to pay off his own debts. Michael Karus, 48, embezzled £413,052.81 while acting as the executor of the estate of the late Edith Hampton, who died aged 89 in 2003. It emerged yesterday in court that he used the former teacher’s cash to settle debts in his own law and property firms and even paid off a personal credit card debt. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-28 17:11:34

2005 Bankruptcy Law Finance Industry Sought has Strangled Economy

Was the banking industry screwed over by its own bankruptcy law? It sure appears to have hurt the economy.. ... that escape route and forces better-off households to continue paying credit card debt, which makes ... .“Before the reform, overindebted households might file bankruptcy and get rid of their credit card [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 04:35:33

Mortgage bankruptcy reform may speed losses

A change in bankruptcy laws to allow judges to reduce the mortgages of consumers would probably boost filings, accelerating lenders’ losses on home-equity, automobile and credit-card loans, according to Keefe ... harmed may benefit in some ways, the Keefe, Bruyette analysts wrote. Credit-card companies [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 08:30:01

A Loophole for Medical Bankruptcy

In 2005, special interest groups pushed for, and obtained, ... for. But if you buy too much crap with your credit card, you’re on the hook, pal.What will happen bankruptcy laws ... and high debt loads? You connect the dots. I’m beginning to see where this whole “medical credit [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 14:19:51

U.S. Mortgage Meltdown Linked To 2005 Bankruptcy Law

From Kansas City Star There’s no shortage of blame for the mortgage crisis that drove the economy into the ditch ... by the credit card industry. So say three researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who argue that the legislation shifted risk from credit card lenders to mortgage lenders, helping trigger [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 05:25:41

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

PEBO Wants AEI Libertarian Opposed to Product Bans Deciding OMB’s Health and Enviro Rules

What does the Office of Management and Budget have to do with our health and our environment? ... about the mortgage crisis, credit card reform, savings for retirement, prescription drugs, health care ... Federal Law. For decades, OMB's been where proposed Federal rules to keep poison out of our lives [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 02:00:20

YOUR TOP TEN CONGRESSIONAL HITS, coming to your neighborhood shortly, is the plan (stolen from Tapped): * S ... mortgages by bankruptcy judges, new regulations for the credit card and financial industry ... interference") and perhaps another go at the Ledbetter law ("removing barriers to fair pay for all workers [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 20:47:59

HOW TO EXTERMINATE AUTOMATED/RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE/COLLECTIONS PESTS

August 19, 2008 at 3:23 am (Home ownership, Law, Sub-Prime Mortages, Uncategorized) ... in every city.  A major reputable credit card company once harassed me–called my home ... , consumer relations, Consumer Rights, credit, customer service complaints, foreclosures, identity theft [more...]

Date: 2008-08-19 03:23:58

Roni Deutch Tax Center on Entrepreneur.com

Elizabeth Wilson of Entrepreneur.com recently interviewed me, and I was ecstatic to see how well the resulting article turned out ... school. In 1991 at the age of 26, with $120,000 in law school debt, Deutch rented a two-bedroom ... business services: credit card restoration, bookkeeping [more...]

Date: 2009-01-07 19:58:00

Stocking Stuffer

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse… With the Federal Reserve cutting bank lending rates to near zero, ... and credit card debt are at anywhere from six to 20 ... tree?” My white in-laws are taller than our tree. If you’ve been capitalistic, materialistic, perhaps [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 18:47:31

Obama Would Like All People Out of Credit-Card Debt – Legally Erase 50-60% of Your Past Due Debts

Are you plagued by your financial troubles? If so, how would you like to have your debt legally erased? You can! Little-known tactics along with consumer protection laws have enabled many Americans, just like you, to erase past due balances. The end result is a decrease in stress and an elimination of those past due balance letters from creditors.Last 5 posts by In the News - Sears Remodels US Army Veteran's Home - September 24th, 2009Don't Miss This Great VA Loan Benefit - No Penalty For Prepayment [more...]

Date: 2009-09-25 06:01:12

CITI Drops Opposition to Cramdown; May Help Homeowners to Avoid Foreclosure

Citigroup and key Senate members reached an agreement on Thursday that will bring the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act one step ... can be reduced by the court including credit card debt and, ironically, mortgage debt on vacation homes ... closer to passage. The proposed law, introduced by Senator Durbin (D-IL) in the Senate and Rep [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 15:27:40

Blackwater CEO Lights Pants on Fire in WSJ Op-Ed

Blackwater CEO Erik Prince's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal is so full of spin, sugar-coating, and quarter-truths, ... writes in Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror. "He ran up credit card debt and worked day ... into the security industry after having careers in the military of law enforcement, Shannon just read [more...]

Date: 2008-12-17 19:14:15

“Cooling Off” and other tips for Overspending: Learning to Value Your Money

  Throughout the United States, there are counties and states that have a mandatory 5-7 day waiting period for purchasing a handgun ... dangerous” in a mall.   ”Me, a credit card, and a mall do not mix well”, she said jokingly.   After helping ... .  One of the major premises behind this law is that it will give the applicant a possibly needed [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 04:20:00

Greer won't disclose re-election campaign funds

Even after scattered calls for a "forensic audit'' of spending by the Republican Party of Florida, ... . And he doesn't have to. State law says political parties must post their donations and expenses (though they can disguise spending by bundling items under credit card charges) but doesn't require [more...]

Date: 2009-01-09 13:06:28

The Irony of Bankruptcy. The More You Have The Better It Is.

I came across an article by Ann Woolner, “Buy a Beach House for Shelter When Going Bankrupt” that was absolutely spot on ... credit-card debt. You can modify student loans. You can modify debt on a yacht,” points out Levitin ... . “Current law permits modification of any type of debt in bankruptcy except for a single-family [more...]

Date: 2008-10-17 14:54:46

"A Creation Myth For The 21st Century"

Did anyone ever ask IVF children whether they wanted to go through life as genetic orphans? ... have been willing to pay for IVF, even if it means remortgaging the house or racking up credit card debt. And IVF ... . But Olivia compares herself to adopted children, and like them, she wants the law to recognize her right [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 02:50:00

Best Web Sites to Learn About Consumer Law Issues -- Our Chicago Consumer Attorneys Can Assist You in Your Lemon Law, Predatory Lending, Auto and RV Fraud, Unfair Debt Collection, Unfair Wage Practices Claims and Other Consumer Rights Lawsuits

[ consumer%20protection%20m-Chicago%20Consumer%20Protection%20Attorneys%20--%20Chicago%20Consumer%20Protection%20Lawyers%20--%20Chicago%20Class%20Act ... more trouble Managing credit card debt Stopping eviction, lockouts and utility shut-offs ... consolidation options How to find effective credit counseling agencies Alternatives to filing bankrupt [more...]

Date: 2009-01-04 18:28:31

Restrictions on Wage Garnishment for Debt Collection

Many debtors that have defaulted on their credit card debt or other unsecured loans are concerned about their wages being garnished. Often collection agencies will threaten to turn your debt over to their ‘legal department’ ... for you… at no charge. The U.S. Department of Labor has developed The Federal Wage Garnishment Law [more...]

Date: 2008-11-30 16:13:23

Fair Debt Collection - Know Your Rights!

  FAIR DEBT COLLECTION If you use credit cards, owe money on a personal loan, or are paying on a home mortgage, you are a “debtor ... Collection Practices Act requires that debt collectors treat you fairly by prohibiting certain methods of debt collection. Of course, the law does not forgive any legitimate debt you owe.   This brochure [more...]

Date: 2008-12-27 18:39:33

The first law that should be repealed in the United States is the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill: Will Obama eliminate debt slavery?

Our centralized government representatives would like us to believe that the subprime mortgage crisis was not expected, however, ... American citizen from this scam? In 2005, they created Debt Slavery by passing The Bankruptcy Bill. After years of lobbying, the “dream bill for credit card and financial service companies” finally came [more...]

Date: 2008-11-17 18:10:02

Mortgage Rights and Wrongs

Congress has said that they want judges to adjust mortgage debt. On the face of it, this makes sense. After all, when people declare bankruptcy they get their credit card, auto loan, and personal debts adjusted. What makes a mortgage any different? Well, one difference is the law. By law [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 05:01:08

US Elects First Poker Playing President in 40 Years

In a gamble hoping to improve the US situation in the global community, the American people elected Mr ... to either revoke or revise the UIGEA to allow credit card transactions from US banks to online poker ... George Bush, who signed the UIGEA into law in 2006. The last president of the United States [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 16:01:20

Collector Threatens Jailtime Over Dead Debt [Debt Collectors]

Reader R. kinda messed up his credit years ago. He's a good boy now and his credit score is 700+, ... of limitations on the debt has well passed and threatening to send a debtor to jail is a violation of Federal law ... but now RSI Claims Process Services is hassling him about a 12-year-old credit card debt [more...]

Date: 2008-10-24 21:04:06

Best Web Sites to Learn About Consumer Law Issues -- Our Chicago Consumer Attorneys Can Assist You in Your Lemon Law, Predatory Lending, Auto and RV Fraud, Unfair Debt Collection, Unfair Wage Practices Claims and Other Consumer Rights Lawsuits

[ consumer%20protection%20m-Chicago%20Consumer%20Protection%20Attorneys%20--%20Chicago%20Consumer%20Protection%20Lawyers%20--%20Chicago%20Class%20Act ... get them into even more trouble Managing credit card debt Stopping eviction, lockouts and utility ... while you get back on your feet. When you cannot ignore a particular debt without serious [more...]

Date: 2009-01-04 22:18:05

Reviews On Nikon - Coolpix 10.1-Megapixel Digital Camera

With a thesis on money laundering, a certain law student frequently used Google to find her online references ... to repair problem with the internet or the search engine were dashed as the glitch refused ... activity, spyware is frequently used for purposes such as gathering credit card information [more...]

Date: 2009-01-16 01:06:56

1 - 50 of 146 Posts
Page: First | < Preceding | Next >
0 | 1 | 2