A new report shows that consumers are charging less to their credit cards while also paying down the balances on those cards. (more…)

Popularity: 5% [?]

After you’ve packed away all your winter coats, scarves, and turtlenecks and dusted off all your t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops for spring, keep that spring-cleaning momentum going and tackle your bills, your financial files, and your debts. By taking better hold of your finances, you may be able to find ways to save throughout the rest of the year. (more…)

Popularity: 6% [?]

JPMorgan Chase has dropped the $10 monthly service fee it began charging thousands of Chase cardholders earlier this year and is refunding an estimated $4.4 million to the 184,000 affected cardholders, according to a statement released by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. (more…)

Popularity: 6% [?]

A group of U.S. democratic senators introduced legislation on Tuesday that would create a new financial regulatory agency to monitor firms offering financial services to consumers and prevent these firms from using predatory or deceptive business practices. (more…)

Popularity: 4% [?]

Consumers are hurting. Already battered by tightened access to credit, rising unemployment, and unaffordable mortgage payments, consumers are also contending with soaring credit card interest rates and fees. (more…)

Popularity: 3% [?]

Payments processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc. – which processes more than 100 million debit and credit transactions per month – is facing two class-action lawsuits seeking financial compensation for U.S. consumers whose credit or debit card information was stolen during a large-scale breach of the payment processor’s data system late last year. (more…)

Popularity: 4% [?]

Credit card holders have had some pretty big changes made to their accounts over the last few months, witnessing credit card issuers slash their credit limits, increase their interest rates, and even shut down their unused accounts as these companies aggressively try to minimize the risks posed by cash-strapped consumers.

But card holders have seen little effort by credit card companies to encourage consumer spending, until now. (more…)

Popularity: 8% [?]

Hoping to offer lenders a more effective way of predicting which consumers are likely to default on their accounts, the Fair Isaac Corporation, has revamped the 20-year-old formula it uses to determine a consumer’s FICO score — the credit score most lenders use to determine who can qualify for a loan or new line of credit. (more…)

Popularity: 3% [?]

Credit card companies will soon have to abide by new federal regulations meant to protect consumers from interest-rate increases and other unfair credit card practices, reports The Associated Press (“Regulators Adopt New Credit Card Rules,” Dec. 19, 2008). (more…)

Popularity: 4% [?]

We’re learning the hard way to reign in our spending and reduce our debt, and we’re not always responding well, says Gaetano Vaccaro, deputy clinical director of Moonview Sanctuary, a treatment center for emotional and behavioral disorders (more…)

Popularity: 7% [?]