Browse by Tags
-
Posted
Dec 24 2007, 04:57 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We can hear the gears grinding in the minds of personal-finance bloggers everywhere as they process the following information: Paul Brant, 70, of Frankfort, Ind., used about $25,000 in spare quarters and dollar coins he had accumulated over 13 years to help pay for a $26,670 2008 Dodge Ram half-ton pickup last week. Sheriff's deputies provided security as Brant drove the rolls of coins to the dealership. Brant, who works for Chrysler, decided to give his collection of spare pennies, nickels and dimes to his wife, Judy.
Read More...
-
Posted
Sep 15 2009, 05:44 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Ann Minch is mad as hell and she's not going to take it anymore.
Like many, she has seen the interest rate on her credit card jacked up (in her case, to 30%), even though she made all the payments on time, wasn't over her limit and didn't in any way violate Bank of America's rules. She had been making the minimum payment on her account for years, about $130 a month.
After trying, and failing, to get the interest rate reduced, she has, in her words "fired the first shot in the debtors' revolution" by refusing to pay another cent of her $5,943.34 debt unless Bank of America returns the interest rate to its previous level, 12.99%. She has staked out her position in this YouTube video, which has circulated widely on the Internet and has been viewed more than 150,000 times.
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 17 2008, 09:21 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Check out the latest super-anti-counterfeit bill to hit the streets: It's none other than the fiver, and it debuted last week with much fanfare over its added security features and that humongous purple "5" on the back.  Many of the added security features -- more watermarks and a security strip -- were already on higher-denomination bills, and I was surprised that they would revamp the $5 bill with them, but what do I know.
Read More...
-
Posted
Sep 25 2008, 03:14 PM
by
Charley Blaine
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Let me start by stating that CNBC's Jim Cramer can be loud, obnoxious, annoying and even -- as he would admit -- occasionally boorish.
His rant a year ago on how he thought the Federal Reserve was making a horrible mistake when it raised rates in the face of a global credit crunch is the stuff of legend. (Which is why CNBC plays it over and over and over again.)
But Cramer is a very smart guy, and he's offering the best explanation I've seen on why Congress and the White House should pass a financial rescue plan.
Read More...
-
Posted
Dec 03 2008, 05:03 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"Brainy Smurf" was pretty well gloating when MoneyMateKate announced that Citibank is upping her credit card interest rate. "I kinda selfishly thought to myself, 'Wow, sucks to be her,'" he wrote at Pants in a Can. Then he got his own letter from Citi. As of today, his APR is jumping from 9.96% to at least 16.99% (and 29.99% if a payment is late). What's up? He pays in full every month and he's never late. And didn't Citigroup just get a huge government bailout?
Read More...
-
Posted
Oct 31 2008, 04:30 AM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 As if the economic bailout by U.S. taxpayers isn't enough to make you sick to your stomach, new information has come to light that several banks are planning to pay billions of dollars in year-end bonuses from the bailout funds they received. Investigations are beginning into the nine banks that took in the first $125 billion -- the same $125 billion that was supposed to be used to unclog the credit system which was preventing banks from providing much needed funds for individuals and businesses.
There are many feathers in a ruffle over this and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and several congressmen are furious that over $20 billion has already been earmarked as bonus funds for management and employees. Unbelievably, that is just the estimates from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. There are six more banks that are also working on similar heists.
Here is their rationale for using that money:
Read More...
-
Posted
Feb 06 2008, 11:06 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A nasty upper respiratory virus recently laid me low. During this time I discovered, to my chagrin, how easy it is to overspend with a debit card when you're not feeling good.
I'm about to blame illness for yet another personal-finance gaffe: the Big Bill-Pay Snafu.
It turned out to be correctable, but it was a boneheaded error. Here's hoping you will learn from my mistake.
Read More...
-
Posted
May 12 2009, 06:02 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.
Do you know why credit cards have an expiration date? In the beginning, it was because a credit card had a limited useful lifespan. After a few years, the magnetic stripe on the back would either get demagnetized or damaged so much that it was unreadable.
It wasn't until later that the expiration date was used as a security feature. For many years, you could continue to use expired credit cards because the stripe was fine and the expiration date wasn't used for verification.
So what are you to do with an expired card? You have to destroy it, of course. In our age of identity theft and fraud, only a fool would throw a credit card into the trash without cutting it up first. However, with the economy the way it is and the value of credit card numbers going up, it's important to properly destroy a credit card.
There are two crucial parts of a credit card -- information embossed on the front of the card and the information encoded in the magnetic stripe on the back of the card. Not surprisingly, both locations contain the same information, which is merely displayed differently to the typical "reader." When you want to destroy a card, it's important to destroy both sources of information, and this article will explain how.
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 12 2009, 11:49 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A Wall Street Journal story discloses what may be a surprising fact: Credit card companies can cancel your card without giving you advance notice.
The story relates how a lawyer tried to use her American Express card to pay for a spa treatment and was surprised to learn that her card was no good. The same thing happened to a man who wanted to pay for a sushi meal with his HSBC Cash or Fly Platinum MasterCard. (Both said they have very good credit.)
Many people have encountered similar denials as credit card companies -- facing rising delinquencies and new federal regulations -- "reassess risk" and cancel accounts, the story said.
Bing: Best credit cards
We have to wonder: Has this happened to you? Is it embarrassing, or do you calmly reach in your purse or wallet for a backup? Shouldn't the card companies be required to give you warning?
Read More...
-
Posted
Jan 14 2009, 03:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Have a credit card you haven't used in the last year or so? It might be canceled.
Numerous credit card companies are cutting costs by closing accounts due to inactivity, and they're doing it without warning.
Can this ding your credit score? The simple answer is: Yep.
Read More...
More Posts Next page »
|
