The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced that it will launch a new pilot program that will give unbanked and underbanked Americans access to safe, low-cost financial accounts. "Far too often, unbanked and underbanked Americans are forced to turn to high-cost alternative financial products - such as check-cashing and other services - that take [...]
Bank of America and Citibank have announced that they will stop automatically enrolling its checking account customers into costly debit card and ATM overdrafts. The move comes as the Federal Reserve begins to roll out new rules that prohibit banks from automatically enrolling customers into overdraft protection schemes without their prior permission. However, the rules [...]
The Federal Reserve has approved the final set of rules for the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) of 2009. The new rules, which will limit credit card companies' ability to charge penalty fees, will go into effect August 22, 2010. Listed below is a summary of the rules and how they may [...]
The CARD Act stipulates that credit card companies cannot give a credit card to youth 18 to 21 years old unless they have a co-signer or sufficient income to pay for any debts they may accrue on the credit card. However, could giving credit cards to 18 to 21 year old who is most likely [...]
Real Housewives of New Jersey' star Teresa Giudice and her husband Joe have filed for bankruptcy. The couple who live a lavish lifestyle on their Bravo network reality show, are in reality up to their necks in debt. The couple filed for bankruptcy showing that the owed $10.85 million in debt. Bankruptcy documents reveal that [...]
Credit card companies are making millions of dollars from the Haiti earthquake disaster in the form of service fees attached to each donation made to charitable organizations. But there is currently a movement underway to force the credit card companies to waive fees on charitable donations. Credit card companies charge 1%-3% for each transaction. What [...]
To get around the Credit CARD Act passed by Congress earlier this year, some credit card companies have decided to play dirty with even their best customers. Regarding late-payment fees, Dan of Campbell Hall, NY, says he's had a WaMu credit card for five years and has always paid his card down. He tells ConsumerAffairs.com [...]
For the past 10 years, our dependence on credit cards has grown exponentially. But as the credit crunch worsens many Americans are finding it difficult to fund the things they want or even need. Christmas is right around the corner and if you don't want to charge up a pile of credit card debt, you [...]
In part one of our series about why the middle class is becoming more vulnerable to bankruptcy, we discussed the swelling numbers of Americans who have a college education and own homes filing bankruptcy. In part two of this series, we will explore how the massive numbers of job losses and rising unemployment rate is [...]
I don't want to sound the alarm too soon; but the road to municipal bankruptcy usually begins with small things, like the city's recreational facilities facing budget shortfalls and closure. Unfortunately, Fort Worth, like many other municipalities around the country has suffered tax revenue declines caused by the battered economy and now they may need [...]