tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-222125622009-11-05T13:00:04.524-06:00You may print any of these LowCards.com articles if you include a URL link back to LowCards.com and mention LowCards.com as the source.Lynnnoreply@blogger.comBlogger177125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-80680581155727336402009-11-05T12:57:00.001-06:002009-11-05T13:00:04.533-06:00

We are entering the holiday gift card season. While new studies show gift cards are the most popular presents to give and receive, the hidden costs may outweigh the convenience of the gift. It is important for consumers to give and use these cards correctly."Gift cards are easy to give, but they are also easy to forget. If the card has a monthly fee or expiration date, these can become costly

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-72484982239711245622009-10-28T14:28:00.002-05:002009-10-28T14:30:44.996-05:00

A new study confirmed what cardholders and Congress already know: credit card issuers are in no hurry to implement the regulations of the CARD Act. Instead, some of the most harmful practices are even more widespread.Today, the Pew Charitable Trust released "Still Waiting: 'Unfair or Deceptive' Credit Card Practices Continue as Americans Wait for New Reforms to Take Effect". The study examined

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-70154751380682247022009-10-26T21:50:00.002-05:002009-10-26T21:54:32.139-05:00

Today, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd introduced new legislation that would immediately freeze credit card rates on existing balances through February of 2010. Dodd felt this bill would prevent issuers from further interest rate hikes that have taken place since the Credit CARD Act was signed into law in May of this year."No sooner had it been signed into law, credit-card companies

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-48636515569277556872009-10-22T15:41:00.001-05:002009-10-23T00:52:46.322-05:00

Today, the House Financial Services Committee approved the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) by a vote of 39 to 29. This is the first step in creating a new regulatory agency that will protect consumers. The CFPA is an important piece of the Obama administration's plan to tighten lending regulations and help prevent future financial failures.The bill would give states more

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-78458930924190466792009-10-21T15:15:00.002-05:002009-10-21T15:18:00.143-05:00

In the past week, Citi has increased the interest rate on a number of their cardholders to 29.99% and cancelled the accounts of customers holding some of their gas partner co-branded cards. Bank of America notified some of their cardholders that it will begin charging an annual fee ranging from $29 to $99 on their cards beginning in February 2010.These actions follow last week's earnings reports

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-76007599781755090652009-10-20T21:14:00.003-05:002009-10-20T21:18:58.656-05:00

The September performance numbers from credit card issuers show the economicrecovery may not happen as quickly as politicians are predicting.The delinquency rates--the percentage of accounts where payments are overdue by at least one month--have increased for five of the six top credit card companies when comparing the September rates to August. (American Express reported an identical delinquency

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-87635827396274142852009-10-19T14:07:00.002-05:002009-10-19T14:09:46.559-05:00

On September 29, the Federal Reserve proposed 841 pages of rules designedto protect consumers from costly credit card practices. These proposed rulesrepresent the second stage of the Federal Reserve's implementation of the Credit CARD Act signed into law by President Obama in May.In this document, the Federal Reserve requires credit card issuers to includea number of new disclosures beginning

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-85805625742906330582009-10-08T17:01:00.002-05:002009-10-08T17:03:37.937-05:00

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve released the monthly Consumer Credit report for August that shows credit card debt is down for the 11th consecutive month. It declined at an annual rate of 13.1% to $899.44 billion, a drop of $9.9 billion. This was the largest decline since February.One factor in this decline is the decrease in credit card limits. Credit card companies slashed the limits for almost

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-76819620704247111682009-10-07T17:30:00.002-05:002009-10-07T21:26:22.405-05:00

Tomorrow, the House Financial Services Committee will be conducting hearings to move the effective date for the next provisions of the Credit Card Act from February 22, 2010 to December 1, 2009.Speeding up the implementation date for the next stage of these credit card reforms by 12 weeks won't be easy for a bureaucratic government. However, the timing would benefit cardholders."Starting these

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-25374021243627325052009-09-24T15:40:00.003-05:002009-10-01T17:11:08.223-05:00

Congress passed the Credit CARD Act in May but it gave issuers and banks almost one year to implement the major provisions of the bill. Since then, issuers did exactly what they threatened to do--raise rates and fees on a broad group of cardholders. Consumers and elected officials are not happy about this, and members of Congress plan to introduce a bill to accelerate the effective date of the

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-7606443577084975512009-09-23T17:07:00.002-05:002009-09-23T17:10:10.671-05:00

The major provisions of the Credit CARD Act do not go into effect until February of 2010. Meanwhile, cardholders have been encountering some of the negative consequences resulting from the bill while waiting for the benefits. Even after the bill goes into effect in five months, the benefits for cardholders may be outweighed by an acceleration of interest rate hikes and increases in fees that

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-29629925518442370972009-09-17T15:36:00.002-05:002009-09-17T15:40:56.462-05:00

While some Washington politicians claim the economy is recovering nicely, credit card default rates indicate consumers are still facing very significant struggles.The default rates reported by some of the country's major credit card issuers were up again in August. Two issuers, Bank of America and Citigroup, showed their highest default rates since the onset of this current economic crisis.Here

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-8279348881832253182009-09-16T17:38:00.001-05:002009-09-16T17:42:08.476-05:00

The death of a spouse is one of life's most difficult times. It becomes even more difficult if the surviving spouse is not fully prepared to handle the family's financial matters."It is human nature to avoid thinking about death and very few people like to talk about their financial matters. So it is not surprising that very few couples ever talk about how to handle their financial situation in

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-3076117217387012882009-09-10T15:11:00.002-05:002009-09-10T15:23:44.726-05:00

One of the most common complaints among credit cardholders is that changes have suddenly been made in the rates, fees or credit limits of an account. The customer usually reacts with the question, "Can they do that?" Despite the difficult personal hardships or the devastating effects these changes can cause on a household, the answer is almost always, "Yes, they can."The ability for an issuer to

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-54027557816039326232009-09-03T10:04:00.002-05:002009-09-03T10:10:05.798-05:00

The credit card industry is undergoing a major transformation in 2009 as a result of the Credit CARD Act and significant policy changes by issuers. Credit card loans are much more expensive as issuers make changes to bring in the most revenue possible through interest rates and fees.This is not a new development, but part of the evolution of credit cards. It is interesting to look back at the

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-39038815070760746712009-08-27T20:32:00.002-05:002009-08-27T20:33:59.744-05:00

Several studies released during the past two weeks provide some insight into what has taken place in the credit card industry during 2009. The studies show that some of the practices instituted by issuers may have helped the credit card companies turn the corner on their recent financial struggles.Two common practices that have occurred in 2009 are the cutting of credit limits and the tightening

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-61699796616829160742009-08-20T10:20:00.002-05:002009-08-20T10:22:27.322-05:00

The initial provisions of the Credit CARD Act go into effect today, giving consumers more notice on interest rate hikes, more time to receive their bills and the ability to say no to APR increases.The more significant aspects of the bill, signed into law in May, don't go into effect until February of 2010. Those provisions include restrictions on interest rate increases and marketing credit cards

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-86403868769515299572009-08-18T16:40:00.003-05:002009-08-18T16:51:01.759-05:00

This week, Albert Gonzalez was charged with involvement in the biggest case of credit/debit card data theft in United States history. Federal prosecutors allege that he was part of a group of hackers that seized access to 130 million credit and debit accounts. This is a startling number and a good reminder of the importance of protecting account information.According to a Javelin Research study

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-35437370818365463662009-08-13T21:03:00.002-05:002009-08-17T15:46:39.202-05:00

As we approach the enactment of the first phase of the Credit CARD Act next week, credit card issuers continue to make changes that could have a significant effect on consumers.In September and October, some cardholders can expect more fee increases, some may lose reward points because of a late payment, and more cards will be introduced with high annual fees."We feared issuers might make some of

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-72165875406325661262009-08-12T08:50:00.001-05:002009-08-12T08:52:28.471-05:00

A significant trend has developed since the economy weakened during the fourth quarter of 2008: consumers continue to decrease their credit card balances.According to the Federal Reserve's G.19 monthly report released last week, the amount of revolving credit has decreased for the third consecutive quarter. In addition, the revolving credit figure has declined on an annualized basis for a record

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-39264513737023327892009-08-11T09:29:00.002-05:002009-08-11T09:34:47.619-05:00

Millions of students will go to college in the next few weeks, making this the perfect time for parents to talk to their son or daughter about the correct usage of credit cards and the dangers of debt.But it is also the last full semester before the Credit CARD Act goes into effect in February of 2010. At that time, the marketing of credit cards to students will have a number of new

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-27384979931391503892009-07-30T17:47:00.001-05:002009-07-30T17:50:59.967-05:00

Two new studies give a clearer explanation of the effects of the credit card crisis: banks are tightening credit card lending standards at a time when more households are depending on credit cards to get them through the month.The Office of the Comptroller of Currency recently released its 2009 Survey of Underwriting Practices which shows that 68% of lenders tightened credit card underwriting

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-36451617933219887312009-07-22T08:30:00.002-05:002009-07-22T08:34:34.283-05:00

A look at the default statistics released last week by credit card issuers helps explain why consumers are seeing interest rate hikes and decreases in their credit limits.Bank of America, the largest bank in the country, reported its default rate jumped to 13.8% in June from 12.5% in May. Defaults, or charge-offs, are the debts that a lender believes it will never collect."The biggest bank in

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-32971039183719217412009-07-08T17:11:00.002-05:002009-07-08T17:14:44.784-05:00

The majority of provisions in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (the Credit CARD Act) take effect in February 2010. But a few key provisions go into effect on August 20, 2009.One helpful provision that starts next month requires credit card issuers to give 45 days notice before any rate hike. This may be small comfort to the many cardholders who have experienced

Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22212562.post-54666220091701505652009-06-24T06:45:00.001-05:002009-06-25T15:22:59.721-05:00

Credit card default rates are now above 10% for several major issuers. This means these banks don't expect to be paid back on over 10% of their credit card loans.To cut their losses, issuers now appear to be more open to settling or negotiating a payment plan for your credit card debt."While settlement and payment plans may relieve a bit of the pain for issuers and cardholders, this is not an

Lynnnoreply@blogger.com