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Surprise! Credit Card Issuers Can Still Jack Your Rates

June 10th, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

[caption id="attachment_1486" align="alignleft" width="312" caption=" "]Photo by Kevin Zheng Li[/caption]

It amazes me that a lot of people haven't heard of the CARD Act yet. Perhaps I'm just biased because I spend a lot of time reading financial sites, but it seems like the CARD Act is one of those laws that's received an extensive amount of media hype since it was passed last year. How could anyone completely miss it?

I do happen to come across a friend or relative who knows what the CARD Act is from time to time, and when I do I like to ask them what change they think will matter the most to their wallets. Surprisingly, the general response is the same in almost every case—"no more interest rate increases on existing balances."

DebtGoal: Jenny Craig for Debt Junkies

June 4th, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

  I hear an ad for a new debt settlement company almost everyday. Frankly, most are pretty shady, and I would never recommend their services to someone looking for debt help. The last thing people in debt need is to give their hard-earned cash to someone else to "hopefully" make their problems go away. I mean, even if the company is legitimate, what does anyone learn from that? What's to stop the person from making the same mistakes again in the future?

Fed's New Site a Flop

May 28th, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

The Fed recently launched a new site that provides consumers with online access to credit card agreements from hundreds of major credit issuers. When I first heard about it, I thought this could turn out to be a pretty useful tool.

Any Blippers Out There?

May 20th, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

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I've yet to actually meet someone who regularly uses Blippy.com, the twitter-esque social networking site that allows users to share their credit card transactions online.

Apparently there are still thousands of you, but I can't for the life of me figure out why. Where are you? Who are you? If you're out there reading this, please enlighten me!

Should We Get A Free Credit Score Each Year Too?

April 21st, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

We can already get our "free" credit reports through annualcreditreport.com—one from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax each year. Now, a lot of people think consumers should be entitled to a free credit score too? Not a fake one that lenders wouldn't ever use to asses our risk, but a real credit score that matters. You know, one that lenders will actually consider when determining how much credit to offer, at what rate, and under what terms and conditions.

Ask Creditnet: Interest Rate Jacked on Existing Balance

April 15th, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

Dear Creditnet: The issuer of my primary credit card just sent me notice saying they're raising the rate on my existing balance to 30 percent. My account is already into the thousands and I can barely make payments as it is! I have been a little late in the past, for which I will now be massively penalized. Is there anything I can do? Any recourse?

Hurts So Good

April 9th, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

Dollar bills

At its most basic level, economics is really the science of trying to explain and predict human nature. Everything we do throughout a day, every decision we make, is based on supply, demand and price.

Even things we do that seemingly have nothing to do with money can be boiled down to these principles. Where you sit at lunch, the friends you choose and even whom you married can be explained through economic terms. (A word of advice—don’t tell your spouse you married him/her because of supply, demand and price. Trust me, that conversation doesn’t go over well.)

No More "Free" Reports from FreeCreditReport.com

April 1st, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

big_freecreditreport

I checked out FreeCreditReport.com today because I was interested to see what changes have been made in light of the new rules that take effect this week.

As you might recall, new regulations that were part of the CARD Act of 2009 require free credit report advertisers to clearly state that there's only one authorized place to get a truly free credit report—AnnualCreditReport.com. The deadline to make this change for online advertisers is April 2nd, while the same requirement for TV and radio ads doesn't take effect until September.

Wells Fargo Jumps Off the Wagon

March 18th, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

WF WagonPhoto by Art Poskanzer Higher interest rates for new credit card offers have become the norm in recent months. Credit issuers that quickly jumped on the rate-jacking wagon last year have blamed the increases on tighter regulations set forth by the CARD Act, difficult economic conditions, and increased risk in consumer credit markets.

Credit Card Lover in a Cash-Only World

March 10th, 2010 by Joshua Heckathorn

I really dislike carrying cash. It's dirty, makes my wallet annoyingly bulky, and always seems to disappear faster than it should. What's even worse is ending up with a pocket full of change after being forced to buy something with it. The horror! I used to catch my Mom throwing away pennies when I was kid because she didn't want to carry them, but frankly, I can't bring myself to do that. I'm too cheap. So I do the next best thing...dump the change into my wife's bottomless purse to never be seen again. I guess it has basically the same effect, but mentally I can handle it much better.

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