There’s some good news in the world of credit cards. Americans cut their credit card debt by 11% last year, as compared to 2010, according to a new report by Credit Karma. While some analysts say this decrease is a positive sign, others feel it is the result of “weak consumer confidence, resulting in slower […]
The state of the economy has stretched so many Americans beyond their means that the demand for emergency credit and debt relief is skyrocketing. Payday lending has become a $7 billion-a-year industry. And even though some states limit the interest rate lenders can charge and a few states have banned payday loans all together, there […]
Consumers were able to reduce the number of late payments they dealt with in 2011, but at the same time, were not able to reduce debt as they had in previous years. The number of credit card balances that fell 90 days or more behind on payments slipped to just 0.78 percent of all accounts […]
The amount of credit card debt owed to lenders in the metropolitan areas that were hardest hit by high balances in the past has been falling significantly in the last year. Of the 100 metropolitan areas nationwide that had the largest credit card debt as a percentage of annual income at the end of 2010, […]
The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is once again stepping up efforts to help consumers avoid predatory practices related to credit card debt, this time by focusing on debt collections agencies and credit reporting bureaus. The CFPB recently issued a proposal that would allow it to oversee some of the "larger participants" in the debt […]
One of the best-known payment processors on the internet recently announced plans to expand its footprint into the physical world by partnering with major national chains. PayPal, the online payment processing service owned by eBay, recently revealed that it was conducting a test run ofbeing a payment option at 51 Home Depot locations across the […]
During the recession, millions of consumers shied away from using their credit cards on a regular basis due to financial concerns that forced them to reassess their debt relief plans. But now, after many may have been able to successfully reduce debt, consumers are returning to credit use. Visa recently announced that in the final […]
The federal agency tasked with helping to protect consumers from misleading or confusing lending practices is now looking into a service credit card issuers provide ostensibly to help avoid fraudulent credit card debt. The new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with the help of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, is looking into a plan offered […]
While many aspects of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act have come under fire in recent months, particularly from Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently defended the law. Geithner recently issued a statement in which he said that many aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act are already working to […]
In an effort to help make credit card information safer and protect consumers from being hit by bogus credit card debt, MasterCard is rolling out a new plan to introduce a safer type of credit card within the next 14 months. MasterCard, the world's second-largest processor of debit and credit card payments, recently unveiled what […]