Joshua Heckathorn

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The CFPB is off to a rough start.  Still without a Director and lacking the day-to-day guidance of its mastermind Elizabeth Warren, I can't say this comes as a huge surprise.

The bureau did manage to get its much-anticipated credit card complaint system up and running by the time doors officially opened for business in late July.  Unfortunately, it wasn't running well.  Complaints logged by consumers weren't even getting forwarded to credit card companies for investigation due to technical glitches in the CFPB's system. Oops!

 Dear Creditnet: I have finally received my first credit card for bad credit after bankruptcy. My question is do I charge $400 to the card and make minimum payments over time to establish a track record, or do I charge $40 to $50 monthly and pay off the entire balance?

Congress has pushed through a last-minute bill that will arrive on President Obama's desk this afternoon. In addition, the White House has already stated that even though this bill is imperfect, the President will immediately sign it to ensure the debt ceiling is raised and our government is able to continue paying its bills.

Hurray, the debt ceiling crisis has been averted. Way to go guys and gals! You beat the deadline by a few hours…it's a miracle.