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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?
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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
Oct 22 2008, 04:27 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. While the $700 billion bailout and presidential election have dominated the news, the U.S. House passed a major piece of credit card reform legislation. The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008 passed the House on Sept. 23 by a vote of 312-112 (with nine members not voting). The bill, which still needs to pass the Senate before heading to the White House, would have a major impact on everything from how credit card issuers apply cardholder payments to outstanding debt to limits on interest rate increases. Here are some of the more significant provisions of the act:
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Posted
Dec 04 2008, 10:48 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Martin H. Bosworth at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. If there's one thing Kristen King knows, it's how to use a credit card smartly. The Richmond, Va.-based communications consultant uses her American Express Open Blue card to finance purchases for her self-owned business, including supplies, travel costs and regular expenses. "I made every payment early and amounts well over the minimum due -- and by 'well over' I mean several hundred dollars more than the minimum," King said. "I never exceeded my limit." Thus it came as a shock when she received a notice via e-mail that American Express was cutting her credit line, effective immediately, with no advance warning.
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Posted
Apr 03 2009, 03:22 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Credit card companies are spending lots of money to tell you they're on your side.
Peter at Bible Money Matters has noticed the trend: Discover is pushing its cards as "a built-in easy-to-do budget and spending tracker," he said. He also got a mailing from Chase touting savings he could enjoy by using his rewards card, like discounts at Chase's online shopping portal.
We get irritated by the commercials claiming the card companies will bend over backward to help if you're having trouble paying your bills. (In all fairness, credit card companies do help some struggling customers with a variety of methods, like a temporary reduction in interest, to get them to keep paying. The companies don't want to write off the debt.)
Peter isn't buying all the feel-good stuff. He writes: "The credit card companies are not your friend. They just want your money."
Let's review some of the card companies' recent attempts to reduce their risk by assessing more interest and fees or getting rid of customers they no longer want. In the process, these companies, many of them recipients of bailout money, are divesting themselves of any public good will:
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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 07 2009, 01:57 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We've been hard on the credit card companies for changing the rules in the middle of the game -- upping interest rates and dropping credit limits on customers they used to value. (They're the ones who carry a balance and make minimum payments, thus fattening the companies' bottom line.)
But we didn't explore another side of the equation -- consumers who abuse the privilege. "Free From Broke" does in a post called "Credit cards don't suck, you suck!"
"Sounds harsh, I know," FFB says. "But a lot of people who have credit card problems need to take a deep breath and look at themselves." He proceeds to list things people hate about credit cards and explain why he thinks those gripes are misguided.
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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
Dec 18 2008, 11:30 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Mark Huffman at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. As expected, federal banking regulators approved a final rule today that addresses longstanding consumer complaints about credit cards. The action was taken by the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Reserve and the National Credit Union Administration. The banking industry called it "unprecedented in scope."
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Posted
Jul 31 2008, 06:19 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Philip Brewer at partner blog Wise Bread. There are certain ways to get free money or free stuff simply by paying attention, keeping track, and being careful. I don't do these things. It's not because they don't work; it's not even because the risk-adjusted earnings don't pay for the time spent. It's because time -- and especially time spent paying attention -- is very precious. The clearest example of the sort of thing I'm talking about is getting a cash advance from a new credit card with a 0% teaser rate. Slap that money in your high-interest savings account, pay off the loan when it's due, and you can pocket the interest. Borrow $100,000, and you could pick up close to $2,000 of free money in six months.
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