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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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Posted
Sep 03 2009, 03:21 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from James Limbach at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
Are you happy with your credit card? If not, you have a lot of company.
Driven by a significant decrease in satisfaction with fees and rates, overall credit card customer satisfaction declined to a three-year low, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Credit Card Satisfaction Study.
The study finds that overall credit card customer satisfaction fell to 703 on a 1,000-point scale -- the lowest level since the study's inception in 2007. Overall satisfaction among credit card customers remains the lowest among the financial services industries in which J.D. Power and Associates conducts research, including insurance, banking and investment services.
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Posted
Feb 03 2009, 01:44 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
If you've been following the soap opera known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), you know that the government is complaining that banks aren't increasing their lending enough despite big infusions of government cheese. Well, now the banks are revealing what's stopping them from lending more -- the government.
Bear with me. The banks claim that they want to lend, but the government is making them hold onto more reserves -- in other words, making sure they stay solvent -- while at the same time requiring them to lend primarily to creditworthy borrowers. The nerve of that Uncle Sam!
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Posted
Apr 22 2009, 06:01 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Bank overdraft-protection programs at first glance seem like a great safety net to have in place. Should you overdraw your checking account, an overdraft-protection plan can kick in to cover the shortage. And because the bank cleared the check, you avoid insufficient funds fees that can hit $35 and the embarrassment and headaches that come with a returned check. Banks do charge interest on the money until you repay it, but for most, the interest charged is just for a day or two until the next payday.
The problem with these programs, however, is the ridiculous and often hidden fees that banks charge. We'll come back to the fees, but first, let's take a look at the types of overdraft-protection programs banks offer.
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Posted
Mar 13 2008, 11:25 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Lisa Wade McCormick at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Even a consumer reporter can get ripped off. Just ask me. I've waged a lengthy battle against a furniture store that repeatedly pushed back the delivery date for a loft bed my husband and I ordered for our son. More than six months have passed since we placed that order. The bed hasn't arrived. And now, the furniture store is closing its doors. How, you may wonder, did a supposedly savvy consumer reporter get into this predicament? That's a question I keep asking myself. After all, I thought I followed all the consumer protection rules.
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Posted
Jul 25 2008, 07:23 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Joseph S. Enoch at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. More than 30,000 consumers have deluged the Federal Reserve Board's public comment system with opinions on the agency's proposed rules to addresses abusive credit card practices, according to the Consumer Federation of America. This is the second largest number of public comments the Federal Reserve has ever received, trailing the reform of the mortgage brokers, said Travis Plunkett, legislative director for the not-for-profit federation. The public comment period ends Aug. 4.
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Posted
Apr 01 2009, 08:29 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Lately I've become overwhelmed with clutter. Everything from my office to my home to my finances is filled with unnecessary stuff.
All this stuff creates stress and reduces efficiency. Just the other day my wife and I spent one hour searching for two bills that, as we eventually learned, were at the bottom of a pile of stuff on our kitchen counter. And now I am just plain fed up with all this clutter.
So I've started embracing what Leo Babauta (famed blogger of Zen Habits) calls "The Power of Less." In his new book of the same title, he describes "the fine art of limiting yourself to the essential ... in business and in life."
That's what I'm trying to do, beginning with our finances. Here are 10 tips to help you de-clutter your finances:
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Posted
Sep 22 2009, 02:56 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Frank Curmudgeon at Bad Money Advice.
I still don't get the debit card thing. But according to The Wall Street Journal, there is a new trend I do understand: establishments accepting cards but not cash.
Slips of paper and metal disks are an inefficient and archaic form of money. You have to go to an ATM to get some, and often pay a fee. To use it, you have to wait for the clerk to make change. You have to carry it around. And then there is the growing pile of coins most of us have at home.
And don't get me started on parking meters. Offering me a nice parking space for half an hour in exchange for a quarter, and only in exchange for a quarter, is more scavenger hunt than transaction.
Plastic pushing out paper has been a long brewing trend. I can remember when grocery stores didn't take cards. I still feel a little funny charging things there. Today we take for granted that we can use plastic just about anywhere, even in places, like taxicabs, that a generation ago would have seemed implausible as potential users of cards.
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Posted
Jun 16 2009, 03:16 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Mr. ToughMoneyLove at Tough Money Love.
Recently I read a post by The Finance Buff which the writer entitled "The credit crunch finally hit me." After reading the post, Mr. ToughMoneyLove had to leave a comment that disagreed with the title and premise of the article.
My comment started with this: "The credit crunch didn't hit you. Common sense in lending hit you." I will tell you why I said this.
The author ("TFB") told us that he/she had applied for an unsecured personal line of credit from Wells Fargo Bank. The credit application had recently been denied. TFB was surprised enough by this to post about it:
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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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