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Posted
Sep 21 2009, 04:33 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Ann Minch, the California woman who took her fight over a credit card rate increase to YouTube, apparently has extracted the concession she sought from Bank of America.
In a new video posted Saturday, she said Bank of America had agreed to return the interest rate on her $5,943.34 balance, which had been hiked to 30%, to 12.99%. The bank's first offer was 16.99%, which she said she rejected.
She said she was contacted by Jeff Crawford, senior vice president of existing credit card accounts, who was polite. He didn't mention either her video or her "taxpayers' revolt" -- which she says is not over.
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Posted
Aug 14 2009, 05:11 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Jason at Frugal Dad.
When I worked in a credit card customer service call center a decade ago, I'll bet I took a dozen calls a day related to overlimit fees being charged to cardholders' accounts. I was, of course, trained to toe the company line, explaining that fees were well documented in our terms and disclosures, and by using the card customers agreed to those terms. Inside I always felt a little dirty.
Ultimately, I decided to leave the industry altogether for a variety of reasons, not just because the companies I represented charged fees. But one that always got me was the overlimit fee. To me, overlimit fees were an interesting example of human behavior mixed with strange business practices.
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Posted
Aug 11 2009, 12:06 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
As predicted when the credit card reform law passed, credit card companies are imposing new fees -- and inventing new ones we'd never imagined.
- Citi has notified some customers that they'll pay an annual fee of $35 that will be waived if the cardholder charges more than, say, $2,400 a year, our partner blogger Jim Wang reports at Bargaineering.
- Chase now has an annual fee on some Freedom cards, USA Today reports.
- Citi has created a "reinstatement" fee that customers with a late payment can pay so they can keep their rewards points. The fee is now $0 and the bank says it has no plans to raise it. "Um, duh, if the idea was that the fee was always going to remain at $0, why the heck was it introduced in the first place?" The Cheapskate Blog at Time said.
- Fifth Third Bank charges a $19 fee if you don't use your card for 12 months, USA Today says.
The only good news we've found is that American Express and Discover are eliminating their over-limit fees -- not out of the kindness of their hearts -- and there's a possibility that other banks will follow suit. (This New York Times story explains why.)
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Posted
Jul 17 2009, 06:12 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This is a condensed version of a post at partner blog The Dough Roller.
Student credit cards kind of remind me of the movie "A Few Good Men," starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. If you've seen the movie, you remember well Lt. Daniel Kaffee's (Cruise) cross-examination of Col. Nathan R. Jessep (Nicholson). In that powerful cross-examination, all Lt. Kaffee wants is the truth.
When it comes to student credit cards, the truth is all we want, too. We want to peel away all the marketing hype that surrounds student cards, understand the pros and cons, risks and rewards of student cards, and then make an informed decision.
To do that, we've created this College Student's Guide to Credit Cards. The aim of this guide is not to convince anyone that credit cards are good or bad. Instead, the guide is designed to arm college students (and parents) with the information they need to make sound financial decisions about credit cards.
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Posted
Jul 14 2009, 02:51 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Mark Huffman at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
It's hard to believe the nation's banks could be in such rocky financial condition, considering the amount of money they collect from their customers in the form of fees.
Charles, of Cary, N.C., says he's been a BB&T customer for five years, and claims to have spent more than $3,000 per year on overdraft fees.
"My last overdraft, which I ran 29 cents over in the account, cost me $200," Charles told ConsumerAffairs.com. "This is highway robbery and they know it and I know it. It's a shame no one has ... put a stop to this."
If someone were to put a stop to it, banks might be even less profitable. They clearly count on customers overdrawing their accounts and triggering overdraft fees. And those fees can add up to some pretty sizable sums.
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Posted
Jul 09 2009, 04:57 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Rewards credit cards have many fans, but did you know they have a downside or two or three? How about five?
Use them carefully and you'll get free stuff (although some bloggers, like "Mr. ToughMoneyLove," argue that they entice you to spend more than you normally would). But a misstep -- or a lack of knowledge -- can be costly, writes blogger Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com.
Fees and more fees. We're sometimes tempted to get a particular airline credit card but the prospect of paying an annual fee makes us waffle. But it could be even worse. Curtis writes that "with redemption fees of up to $75 for each leg of your journey, it can feel like you're paying ‘through the nose' to get an airline ticket." That would be a deal-breaker. We'd better read the fine print.
Among the advice in his post called "5 consumer warnings involving reward credit cards":
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Posted
Jun 02 2009, 06:04 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It used to be that you had to leave the country before your credit card company would charge what was known as a "currency exchange fee."
Those were the days -- before a fee with another name began gaining traction. "Credit card companies are quietly shifting away from currency exchange fees," says Christopher Elliott at the Elliott Blog. "They're replacing them with foreign transaction fees, which cover any purchase made across the border -- even if it's in dollars."
In fact, you don't even have to leave home to pay a foreign transaction fee, which comes as a surprise to some online shoppers.
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Posted
May 22 2009, 08:57 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Conventional wisdom in and around Washington, D.C., is that the credit card legislation that passed the Senate this week is a big win for consumers. On an overwhelming majority of 90-5, the measure passed the Senate and is on its way to the White House. (Update: President Obama signed it today.) Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who had sponsored a similar measure that passed the House earlier this month, said, "Today is a victory for all credit cardholders."
But is that right? Is the credit card legislation a victory for all cardholders? While the measure certainly has some benefits for consumers, it will likely make credit cards harder to get, more expensive for some, and less rewarding. So let's clear away all the political hype that surrounds credit card reform, and evaluate who the winners and losers really are.
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Posted
May 21 2009, 03:35 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Many bloggers have applauded the credit card reform legislation now on President Obama's desk. It would eliminate or restrict some of the card companies' most egregious practices.
But will it have unintended consequences? For instance, will people who don't carry a balance end up being charged an annual fee? Will higher interest rates and lower credit limits become the norm for those who do carry a balance? We'll see.
But the strangest observation we've seen is that the new law does next to nothing to benefit the cardholders called "deadbeats" -- the term of endearment credit card companies have for those customers who never carry a balance from month to month.
Hmm, maybe we don't need any help.
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Posted
May 21 2009, 02:40 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Odysseas Papadimitriou at Wallet Blog.
Both houses of Congress have now signed off on a bill to amend the Truth in Lending Act, and now it's off to President Obama's desk, where it's anticipated the legislation will be signed into law. At Wallet Blog, we have been covering the news on this bill as it has evolved. Now that it's headed to the president for approval, we'd like to provide an in-depth analysis on the bill's major features.
They are as follows:
APR changes on your existing balances. Credit card companies won't be allowed to raise interest rates on your existing credit card balance unless you are more than 60 days behind on your payments to them. If you get an APR hike because you were 60 days late, you will be able to get back your original rate by making payments on time for six months in a row.
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