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Cartoon: New card law puts on a happy face

Written on February 23, 2010 – 3:09 pm | by admin

(click here to view) Joe HellerGreen Bay Press-GazetteFeb 23, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Of all the commentaries I’ve read on the new credit card law — and believe me, I’ve read a lot of them in the past few days — I think this cartoon by Joe Heller of the Green Bay Press-Gazette is my favorite. (HT Greg Brown)

Of course, it’s not fair. The disclosure requirements and restrictions on “any time, any reason” rate increases are real, not just a happy face. But since when do editorial cartoonists have any obligation to be fair?

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CNNMoney rates Credit.com as one of the best websites for personal finance questions

Written on February 22, 2010 – 4:04 pm | by admin

A credit score has become more important than ever when it comes to things like trying to get an auto loan or better mortgages rates.

And, with credit tightening, lenders are looking for people with higher credit scores as they try to limit the risks involved with letting consumers borrow money. As a result, people may wonder where they can go to get an idea about how their credit history stands.

Recently, CNNMoney.com released a list of the top 20 websites related to personal finance. Included in that list was Credit.com, which was picked by the news organization as a good place for consumers to learn about their credit standing.

Credit.com features a free service called the Credit Report Card, which pulls a record of a consumer’s credit report. Read more…

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Credit card holders are the banks’ latest victims

Written on February 22, 2010 – 2:36 pm | by admin

A series of body blows to savers, borrowers and consumers was dealt by the Government, banks and credit-card providers in a matter of days.

The news that average credit card rates hit a 12-year high was the first shocker, given that it coincides with the lowest ever Bank Rate of 0.5pc. Yes, you might have been forgiven for thinking credit-card rates should be falling as the cost of borrowing hits a nadir. But that’s because you live in the real world, not the make-believe one of financial services companies, where rules are made up as they go along and smoke and mirrors are used to confuse customers into coughing up more cash than they should. <

Read more…

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The credit card fraud detection conundrum

Written on February 20, 2010 – 11:12 am | by admin

It’s a Catch-22. Visa and MasterCard policies state merchants are not required to demand identification as a condition of a credit card sale, but then consumers get mad that cashiers aren’t doing their due diligence when processing their plastic.A Houston TV news team recently tested this conundrum by visiting area retailers to see if employees checked a purchaser’s identity against the names on the credit cards they used.  In their ruse, the news station workers made purchases on each other’s plastic to prove that big-name stores make it easy for credit card thieves. Then they ran with the story about how easy it is to use someone else’s credit card as no one was asked to prove that they were the actual cardholder.And the story got results. Read more…

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Credit card profits must be investigated

Written on February 19, 2010 – 1:33 pm | by admin

Ros Altmann, who has advised the Number 10 Policy Unit on pensions and has acted as a consultant to the Treasury, warned that credit card rates of around 18% are excessive.

She believes there could be a case for a regulator to oversee the rates they charge.

Credit card customers are now paying the highest interest rates for 12 years despite the fact that base rates are at an all-time low of 0.5%.

The card companies say rates are high because of the large number of people failing to pay their bills during the recession.

The government is currently examining some of the charging methods used by card companies, although there are no plans to look at the level of the rates they charge.

Read more…

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Equifax promotes credit monitoring to its employees following tax mailing mishap

Written on February 17, 2010 – 11:15 am | by admin

U.S. credit bureaus typically advertise their credit monitoring services as a way for consumers to keep tabs on any unusual account activity. However, credit bureau Equifax was recently prompted to highlight the service to its own employees after a mailing potentially exposed the Social Security numbers of current and former workers. According to a report by CNET (and later confirmed by Equifax), an undisclosed number of the credit bureau’s current and former employees were mailed W-2 forms in January that made their Social Security numbers potentially visible through the envelopes’ plastic windows. Read more…

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