Credit Card Company News
The overall cost of borrowing money has gone down considerably during the course of this recession but the number of credit card defaults has risen so sharply that most credit card companies and the issuing banks have to cope with the tremendous losses. Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess announced a raise in rates on customers who had an annual percentage rate under 10 percent and are carrying a balance this past week. With so many consumers drowning in credit card debt this is another chunk of concrete around their ankles.
Consumer Money Saving Tip
A new kind of seminar is sweeping the country. Survival boot-camps which are not focused on war repercussions but about living with the new economic realities of life are being put on in libraries, fair grounds, colleges, and civic centers. Millions of Americans are receiving unemployment checks or living on savings that have never been unemployed in their life and they are struggling to learn how to make the dollars they have go further. The poor in America are not feeling the impact of the economic downturn to the same extent the group of Americans that where living pay check to pay check on their six figure paychecks. The previously more privileged are at a great disadvantage when it comes to knowing how to “make do” with less. The subjects covered in the survival boot camps are how to grow your own vegetables in a “Victory Garden” from seeds not $2.50 per plant starts from the nursery, how to make and stick to a budget, how to determine the difference between needs and wants in daily living and conserve the cash that previously flowed from the fingertips in lattes, entertainment, and miscellaneous expenditures. The seminars are often free.
The fact that many consumers have stop consuming and started saving for the first time in a decade and a half. The highest level in savings since 1993 was reported this week. The average rate of savings in the years between 2005 and 2007 was less than 1%. In a report released by Washington DC this week that included figures through May of 2009 the current savings rate stands at 6.9%. The stimulus dollars coming from the government to boost the economy is finding its way into savings accounts as people live in anticipation of being the next to receive a pink slip. The days when Americans spent with abandon appear to be a thing of the past.
Identity Theft and Fraud News
The head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Rita Glavin, has released the latest information on identity theft in America and it is not improving. Hackers these days are criminal organizations with sophisticated large scale operations. The most recent theft innovation is called “PIN cashing”. The organization spreads out stolen financial information immediately to criminals who promptly withdraw money from all over the world for ATMs. Thousands of withdrawals can occur in less than 48 offers after the information is stolen. Identity theft convictions have experienced a 138% increase in the past four years. Federal prosecutors nationwide are working more than 2,000 cases directly related to identity theft. Americans need to devote time to learning the signs of an identity theft attempt, how to report it, and do so when an event occurs. Industry wise, The House Homeland Security Committee is examining the credit card industry’s data standards with the intention of reducing cybercrime committed from their databases.
Coastal Credit Solutions, Inc. operates a financial market place that matches Consumers and Businesses with debt eliminating and/or alternative financing service providers. If you have over $5,000 personal or business credit card debt or are seeking small business financing, please call us 866-205-8370 for a FREE no obligation consultation.
Coastal Credit Solutions, Inc. operates a financial market place that matches Consumers and Businesses with debt eliminating and/or alternative financing service providers. If you have over $5,000 personal or business credit card debt or are seeking small business financing, please call us 866-205-8370 for a FREE no obligation consultation.
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