Credit Card Report
Financial News Made Easy

In a facts round-up piece titled, House of Cards, Mother Jones confronts its readers with some numbers that illustrate America’s credit card crisis.

Credit card APRs remained locked in place this week, as some analysts predicted that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates alone for the time being.

Now that more and more vending machines are accepting credit cards, your it is easier to get nickled-and-dimed into debt.

If your credit card spending is out of control, you may be tempted to cancel some of your cards so that you can elevate your score. But simply cutting up the card the old-fashioned way, rather than canceling it, may be the better way to go.

After getting socked with a late fee and finance charge on my Kohl’s account in May, I called to plead my case. How could a $45.08 pair of sneakers result in a $70.58 charge? O.K., I was two days late. Still, the $25 late fee and 50? finance charge came to a whopping annualized penalty rate of more than 21,000%. A local loan shark would have cut me a better deal. The Kohl’s rep’s response: It’s perfectly legal, and everybody does it.

It is true that when you agree to pay less than the full balance on an old debt, it can affect your credit score negatively.

A new report on credit card debt accuses card issuers of pushing consumers to borrow beyond their means and calls for new regulations. The report, released by the National Consumer Law Center in Boston, says the industry’s tactics are particularly devastating to older Americans who have fewer resources to dig themselves out of a hole.

Consumers hankering to show off their family photos — or their car or their dog — are getting more chances every time they whip out a credit card.

More than 6 billion credit-card offers were mailed to Americans last year. With so much competition for your attention, credit-card companies are coming up with new come-ons to entice you toward their piece of plastic. But don’t get distracted by those goodies…

Prepaid cardholders have zero liability for loss or fraudulent use and can get reimbursed for funds they lose. Some cards also offer emergency-assistance services and baggage-loss protections.