Last week the CFPB and the FTC held a workshop to address what happens to unpaid debts at different stages of the debt collection cycle. The workshop brought together state and federal regulators, economists, major banks, debt collection agencies, debt buyers, consumer advocate attorneys, technology companies, members of the judiciary, credit reporting agencies, and more. …
The recent announcement from American Express that it will raise interest rates for more than 1 million cardholders has a lot of people asking questions, like how this change will affect them or whether or not this could be the start of an industry-wide trend. It’s been a while since credit card issuers were in …
A reader forwarded me the following mailer she received. It is a spinoff of the many bogus debt relief mailers over the past few years. This mailer bears the following identification: Document NPDRA2012 Non-Profit Debt Relief Agency – Pre-Qualification Notice 800-370-9375 Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009 Claims to be associated with …
Thanks to some pretty awesome tipster (send in your tips here)s the flood of fake, misleading and deceptive mailers has been coming in fast. The latest is the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2011 mailer that tells consumers they need a Forensic Mitigation Program. For those of us who deal with the …
The Federal Reserve has recently proposed new rules in credit card lending to only consider one’s personal income and not the household’s income. Essentially, this sounds smart. They are trying to prohibit those without a steady income from taking on credit, especially those unable to repay their debt. However, Margaret Ryznar points out an outstanding …
Small business credit cards are not as innocent as you would want to believe. Here is a story about these cards from our friends at MoneyTalksNews.com This post comes from partner site lowcards.com. Contrary to popular belief, the new CARD Act provisions do not apply to all types of credit cards. Only consumer cards. The …
Effective August 22, 2010 the following new rules now cover credit card transactions and use. Good news for consumers. In addition to the points below, as of now, credit card companies are prohibited from increasing rates within the first year an account is opened. Reasonable penalty fees Let’s say you are late making your minimum …
Now that the new CARD Act (Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act) has been implemented to prevent unfair interest rate hikes and protect consumers there is a big loophole if you use your personal credit card for business purchases. The problem is that the CARD Act does not apply for business or corporate credit …
Excellent article in the Washington Post titled “Five myths about America’s credit card debt.” You should read it, click here. Highlights from the article. 1. Middle-class American families have long depended on bank credit cards to manage their budgets. Not true. 2. More people have credit cards because companies got better at managing risk and …