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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
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
Nov 04 2008, 11:19 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
What's the No. 1 way to tell that a credit-repair firm is not legitimate? It asks you to pay upfront for services that haven't been rendered, "Blunt Money" says.
Another tip-off, she writes: No matter what they claim, "no one can remove accurate negative information from anyone's credit report."
Unfortunately, many desperate people have responded to ads containing bogus claims, often paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to shady firms promising to improve their bad credit. As a result, the Federal Trade Commission and 22 states have launched a crackdown on unlawful practices, targeting 33 companies.
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Posted
May 10 2008, 05:38 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Did you know that you can learn a lot about personal finance from the Rolling Stones? They said, "You Can't Always Get What You Want." "They didn't say, 'Put it on a credit card,'" writes Debbie Dragon at Destroy Debt. Debbie identifies 28 songs that contain lessons about money management. Here are some of our favorites:
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Posted
Jun 26 2008, 05:42 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Linsey Knerl at partner blog Wise Bread. Debt is the hottest topic on personal-finance blogs around the world. Why? I would venture to guess it's because so many people are drowning in it. The unfortunate truth is that few people care to read about debt until it has already had a negative effect on their financial situation. This can make the final solution to their debt problems even more difficult to hear about.
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Posted
Sep 17 2008, 04:57 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. How much do we miss out on because we fail to do one really simple, free and easy thing? This one thing can greatly improve your finances. Amazingly, it can lower the interest rate you pay on a home-equity line of credit. It can eliminate the balance-transfer fee on a credit card. It may get you a raise at work or more money at your next job. And I know from experience that it can get you more investing options in your company's 401(k) plan. And this one thing has applications far beyond money management. It can improve just about every area of your life. So what is this one thing?
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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
Mar 28 2008, 11:33 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Mark Huffman at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Unauthorized charges and negative-option marketing traps continue to plague consumers, judging by the number of complaints received at ConsumerAffairs.com. One company in particular, Columbia House, seems to get under consumers' skin, producing 41 complaints in the last 30 days. Will, of Locust Grove, Ga., says he has no idea how he became a member of Columbia House, but now says he is receiving a steady stream of DVDs -- and bills. "I canceled my account, but nothing happens," he told us. "You can't call and talk to anyone. I fear they are going to ruin my good credit for something I never signed up for." Columbia House is one of the oldest "record of the month" clubs in the U.S., offering its members inexpensive CDs or DVDs in exchange for an ongoing commitment to keep buying its products. Book and record clubs like Columbia House pioneered "negative-option" marketing, where a lack of response from a consumer is taken as implied consent. But while some negative-option plans are well-run, many others are questionable.
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Posted
Apr 10 2009, 01:13 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Truman Lewis at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
As Congress mulls new restrictions on credit card issuers, Bank of America is raising interest rates on millions of its customers who routinely carry a balance on their credit cards, a move already taken by most other larger issuers but not one that goes down well with consumers.
Basically, BofA and other banks are penalizing customers who don't pay off their bills each month. It's a reversal of banks' usual practice. During normal economic times, bankers loathe customers who pay their balance each month, because by so doing they deprive the bank of the interest it would have earned on the unpaid balance.
But now, with banks hoarding every cent, the worm has turned.
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Posted
Dec 13 2007, 11:57 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We hope the creep who took Glblguy's debit card reads his post at Gather Little by Little. It contains a personal message: "You are a thief, and in my opinion pure scum." Total damage done: $877.35, including $280 in overdraft fees. What made matters worse is that Glblguy and family were on a mini-vacation and ended up running out of funds. "Fortunately we had enough gas to make it home, but just barely," he writes. What did he learn from this experience? He needs better access to his emergency funds, and it's probably best to take extra cash on trips. He says, "I even considered carrying a credit card again." Luckily he called his bank when he first noticed the charges, and it made good on the stolen amount and canceled the overdraft fees.
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