The so called ‘Durbin Amendment’ passed by congress last year, limits the amount of interchange fees (or swipe fees) that credit card companies can charge retailers. Because of this, several big credit card companies (Chase, Citi, Bank of America) are retaliating. These major creditors are considering capping debit card use to $50 or $100 for transactions. [...]
It seems debt collectors and debt collection agencies are getting more tech savvy these days. In the past, collectors would use things like ’skip-tracing’, personal investigations, phone records, and utility bills to find you. Their job seems to be getting easier now with the advent of social media. Facebook, My Space, Linked In and Twitter are [...]
If you have difficulties curbing your spending and getting out of debt with your credit cards, you are not alone. Hundreds of thousands of Americans still struggle with credit card debt. Credit card debt is a never ending cycle. Credit card companies know this, and by keeping you in debt, they profit by millions of [...]
Ok, for all you folks thinking you’re safe out there with credit cards and the deceptive practices of creditors, here’s one more example of how they put consumers deeper into debt. And they like to keep it that way for obvious reasons. The U.S. Justice Department and seven US states are suing Visa, Mastercard and American [...]
We’ve talked before about the threatening and abusive practices that some credit card debt collection agencies use. This story made abc headlines recently. If you have the stomach for it, the entire video and transcript can be viewed HERE. This time, it was a major creditor who hired this particular debt collection agency. [...]
The latest reports are in. Graduating students owe approximately $23,000 in student loan debt on average. This translates into over $830 billion dollars in student loan debt nationally. Compare that to the just over $825 billion in credit card debt and we have a winner! Not really. You see, any federally funded student loan debt cannot [...]
Having large amounts of debt can cause many problems we all know. We blog about it here all the time. Debt affects credit score, your ability to get new loans, and even a new job. What we haven’t talked about yet is the strain it puts on your personal relationships. Sometimes the hidden debt isn’t even [...]
When paying down your credit card debt, be sure to pay your monthly payment on time. Everybody knows that right? Sure. Everybody also knows when you don’t pay on time there’s typically an interest hike and a late fee. Right again! Do you know what your late fee & interest penalty is exactly? Well, it’s [...]
Here we go again. The latest report from a Fed study shows that credit card companies are like a ‘reverse Robin Hood’. You know Robin Hood. He’s the guy that used to help out his fellow woodsman and villagers by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Ok, well credit cards do the [...]
Job seekers today are finding it a difficult search for employment. Layoffs, cutbacks, and a rather sluggish economy have made a time of it for people looking for work. There is now however another obstacle that people may not realize when interviewing for positions; credit checks. An ever growing number of employers are now using [...]
