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Living with credit (126)
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New, interesting products (48)
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Research, regulation, industry reports (137)
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Rewards (16)
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Protecting yourself (72)
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The fine print (24)
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Credit card miscellany (121)
December 2007 Archives
In two New England states, there's a struggle under way over gift card funds. A Dec. 20 warning to consumers from New Hampshire's Attorney General shined a spotlight on retailers who are trying to bypass the state's gift card rules. Meanwhile, the neighboring state of Maine is using its unclaimed property law to demand a portion of the funds left on dormant gift cards.
InformationWeek and New York's WNBC report that a New York software engineer was able to gain access to the operating system for the credit card reader's touch-screen display, which is meant for presenting ads and short videos to riders, as well as enabling them to pay their fare with a credit card.
The New Year brings a new federal regulation that will help prevent more telemarketers from pestering you with offers during the dinner hour at home, spamming your email boxes or clogging your home mailbox with junk mail.
Men's Health put together a list of cities in its November issue with the worst personal debt, "Is Your City A Debt Trap?" and gave grades from A+ to F.
Looking for a last-minute holiday gift for the guy or girl who has everything? How about a little heat?
The U.S. lost a round Friday in its effort to clamp down on people who sit at home and use their credit cards to gamble on the Internet. In an unusual ruling, the World Trade Organization ruled against the U.S. and in favor of the offshore gambling haven of Antigua. The odd part: The ruling OK'd piracy.
I was in a perfectly good mood before I called to find out the balance on a Visa rebate gift card from Cingular, now AT&T. The gift card was a rebate that I got after buying a Motorola V3i razor cell phone from Cingular in January 2007. At the time, I didn't notice the fine print on the back of the card: It would expire in June 2007.
Congressional heat on the credit card industry just turned up a notch. A key congresswoman is floating a bill that would abolish many of the card issuers' practices that consumers find most offensive, including double-cycle billing, universal default and hiding rate changes in tiny type.
While it's mostly impossible to get by in modern-day American life without a credit card, there is no required education on credit. Many consumers find themselves into deep debt merely because they weren't taught how to manage money . That's why I was delighted to hear that the Family Credit Counseling Service based in Rockford, Ill. has launched an educational campaign called Stop. Think. Save!
What do you do with your credit cards when they're worn, expired or no longer fit in your wallet? Rock, paper, scissors?
What do you think people do with tax rebates, repay credit card debt or spend the money? In a newly released paper from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, three economists find that most of us saved a little and spent a little. But the picture was worse for one group of people: Those nearly maxed out on their credit cards. For them, it represented an opportunity to rack up more debt.
The Associated Press reports police in Rancho Cordova, Calif., are giving drivers a holiday season surprise -- pulling people over for good driving and then rewarding them with $5 Starbucks gift cards.
My stories today on gas and oil prices in 2008, and about how many people will have to borrow money or freeze this winter, touched a nerve, judging from your e-mails.
In what looks like an April Fool's article, a Russian English-language newspaper, Kommersant, says that in Russia, credit cards made of actual gold and platinum are about to hit the Visa and MasterCard marketplace.
Credit card readers may have been installed in nearly half of all New York taxi cabs, but that doesn't mean that cabbies are welcoming plastic with open arms. In fact, Big Apple cab drivers are pretty hostile to card payments.
A slew of "convenience" checks in the mail remind me that shredders are a thoughtful holiday gift.
What really happens to people who take out payday loans...
New Christmas-themed panties in the juniors department at Wal-Mart have been removed from the store due to complaining parents. What's all the fuss? The front said of the panties said, "Who needs credit cards..." The booty read, "When you have Santa." Apparently these mothers don't want their daughters to think Santa is their sugar daddy.
I have 18,675 World Points on my TexasExes Bank of America rewards card, which I got for being a TexasEx via a telemarketer to alumni. The card had a low interest rate at first, but it's popped into the stratosphere. (Don't ask.) I really want to get rid of that interest rate, and will be calling Money Management International soon for help in getting it slashed. That will mean closing the account, so I might as well redeem the points first.
I am always fascinated when I read a story about someone really well-off and educated who has decided to live a life of crime. What makes them abandon legitimate living for the dark side? Why do they steal when they come from a family with money?
Those questions raced through my mind last week when I read about 22-year-old Jocelyn Kirsch and her 25-year old boyfriend, Edward Anderton, now coined Bonnie and Clyde. They were privately schooled and come from good families, but they are being charged with identity theft, forgery, unlawful use of a computer and more.
New statistics just out from the Federal Reserve Board give weight to what many of us know from our day-to-day lives. We're writing fewer checks these days to pay the bills.It's not that we're not paying our bills, but that...
New research says that person-to-person "social lending" will grow, grow fast, and that one of the major sources of demand for the loans will come from people who want to pay off credit card debt.
That's good news for consumers, because more competition for card customers will exert downward pressure on everyone's credit card rates.
"I'm sorry, but this card has been rejected," the snooty waiter says. Your companions around the table stare and you can't meet anyone's eyes as you go shifting through your wallet for another credit card that perhaps will go through.
Sorry. It just doesn't happen that way any more ...
Planning a wedding can be incredibly costly, time-consuming and complicated. I've already told my boyfriend that if we get married, it will be super small, maybe barefoot on a beach; no bridesmaids, no expensive dress, no third cousins, no shenanigans. I'd rather save the money for a great honeymoon or a house. But if you're the type who has been planning your dream wedding since age 6, believe it or "knot" (ha), there is a credit card for you.
What time is your credit card payment due? Yes, not what date is it due (though that, of course, is important). But do you know the cut-off time your credit card company sets for processing payments? For many credit card...
Add this item to the list of dangers involved with store credit cards: In Wauwatosa, Wis., fists began flying after a promotion in a local Kmart resulted in approvals for anyone seeking a store credit card, reports television station WISN.
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They're the pieces of plastic we love, and love to hate. Get the latest news, tips, research and more from the CreditCards.com staff.
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