From the category archives:
Last year, Smithee reported that Bank of America was the first major bank to allow customers to opt out of overdraft protection and the associated fees. Those customers who opted out of overdraft protection would have their card rejected when attempting to make a purchase without the funds available. Thanks to these changes as well as ... Continue reading this article…
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I never thought I’d put an exclamation mark on a sentence about credit card statements, much less be sincerely excited about it, but here we are. You have to pick your battles in life, and clearly-displayed information is one of mine. Educating people about credit card danger is another. Today, I feel like I’ve won ... Continue reading this article…
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I’m growing more concerned about my relationship with credit card issuers. We’ve been getting along mostly well for several years. I charge many of my expenses, pay my bills on time, collect some rewards, and they don’t levy any additional fees. These companies are certainly making money off of me through the interchange fees they ... Continue reading this article…
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May 22, 2009 seems like ages ago. That is the date that the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act became a law, changing the way credit card issuers interact with their customers. As of today, this law is now fully in effect. The new regulations are designed to help protect consumers from practices that ... Continue reading this article…
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The last time I talked about my credit card debt here, one of our community said that he didn’t know the specific numbers of my problem, and it got me thinking that I’ve probably lost sight of one of the main reasons I wanted to be writing here in the first place: to keep myself ... Continue reading this article…
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Because I check my credit card activity online almost every day to ensure nothing unexpected has been charged to me, it’s rare that I examine my paper statements. I usually look through the envelopes to make sure there aren’t any notices identifying any significant changes in the user agreement, such as a requirement to sign ... Continue reading this article…
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American Express offers a point-based rewards system called “Membership Rewards” to those qualify for and use their credit or charge cards. Points generally benefit only cardholders who pay their bill in full every month, so any accumulation of benefits does not first need to offset interest or late fee charges. With American Express, these points ... Continue reading this article…
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When I was a new college graduate in 1997, I got my father to co-sign on a credit account so I could buy a computer. It was a shining white beautiful Gateway 2000, it probably cost around $2,000 (you kids and your $300 computer deals!), and it came with an interest rate of 26.9 percent. Around the ... Continue reading this article…
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I can’t remember the last time I’ve signed the back of a credit card, and I use my credit cards (one for personal travel and big expenses, one for all other personal expenses, and one for business expenses) almost every day. It has never caused me any problems with cashiers; at the most, I might ... Continue reading this article…
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We reported just a few days ago on the passage of a measure in the House of Representatives to expedite the Credit Card reforms passed earlier this year. Unfortunately, I left out some of the story, as I’m still figuring out the intricacies of how laws are made, and there were some amendments made to the ... Continue reading this article…
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After the Credit CARD Act of 2009 was signed into law, we saw how credit card issuers started making life tougher for their customers. In short, banks were levying fees on their customers indiscriminately, affecting both the good and the bad. This has been going on for months. Lawmakers have publicly condemned it, and made requests ... Continue reading this article…
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With the current and upcoming changes in the credit card industry due to the Credit CARD Act and other regulations put in place by the Federal Reserve, banks and credit issuers are maneuvering as much as possible to be in a good position to continue making money off their customers. Public corporations have responsibility to ... Continue reading this article…
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For a few years, Credit Karma has been offering a product that lets consumers see what lenders and employers see when they look at the consumers’ credit reports. After securely and privately providing your personal information, Credit Karma retrieves your credit report from one of the credit reporting bureaus, either Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. Credit ... Continue reading this article…
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If you’re an AAA member in California, Hawaii, New Mexico or Texas, you’re suddenly eligible for a free credit monitoring service, provided by Experian. While I was looking through the fine print (a free service for you provided by ConsumerismCommentary.com), I found this, which gave me pause: You are receiving a complimentary credit monitoring membership. Your membership ... Continue reading this article…
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Frequent readers know all about how a depressed economy and new laws are serving as convenient excuses for banks to be raising interest rates and otherwise penalizing clients, even those who pose no risk. Ann Minch was presented with multiple notices of an interest rate hike. Even though she says she’s never missed a payment, she ... Continue reading this article…
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After we got married, my wife and I combined our finances. We moved most of our money from a local brick and mortar bank to a bank that we primarily access online and over the phone. This arrangement has worked out well for us, but it does mean some accounts that were previously utilized many times ... Continue reading this article…
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Now that regulations established by the Credit CARD Act and related rules by the Federal Reserve have begun to take effect, I’ve started receiving notices from card issuers regarding my accounts. My Discover Miles Card was opened in 2005 to attempt a 0 percent balance transfer, a way to earn interest on someone else’s money for ... Continue reading this article…
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My girlfriend is an elementary school teacher in the New York City public schools. One of the benefits of her employment is the reimbursement for the purchase of supplies and materials used in her class. Any teacher will tell you that they are required to pay for many of their own materials, and the amount ... Continue reading this article…
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When the Credit CARD act passed earlier this year, we weren’t expecting to see many changes until February 2010, unless taken voluntarily by individual companies. Thankfully (for me, anyway, since I have a personal vendetta against many aspects of credit cards, admittedly due in part to my own foolishness), some of the rules described in the ... Continue reading this article…
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I use a total of three credit cards. The first is a card issued by Citibank that offers a rounded set of cash back rewards, my alternate is a Bank of America Visa Signature card, and for business expenses I use an American Express Blue Cash for Business card. But I don’t pay interest fees ... Continue reading this article…
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