Debit Card Fees are getting some scrutiny these days. The New York Times has an editorial this week decrying the use of these fees to generate income. They point out all of the small transactions above your account balance can come with a hefty over the limit fee. They cite how “One college student whose bank records were analyzed by the center made seven small purchases including coffee and school supplies that totaled $16.55 and was hit with overdraft fees that totaled $245.” and that “According to a 2008 study by the F.D.I.C., overdraft fees for debit cards can carry an annualized interest rate that exceeds 3,500 percent.”
I have been getting a little cranky on my blog lately. That stinks. The thing is…I’m just as passionate about things I like as I am about things I don’t like.
With the credit crisis that started in 2008, many folks who have credit card debt now realize that they should eliminate them as quickly as possible. For today’s post, I interviewed LuLuGal from How I Save Money, who got into credit card debt and used a variety of means to chip away at her debt. There is a lot you can learn from her experience. You should consider subscribing to her blog.
Just as the word free has taken on a somewhat fishy connotation (i.e. comes with tons of junk mail) in this day and age, so too has the meaning of convenient been warped. When it comes to offers from your credit card company, the word convenient is simply code for exorbitantly priced and probably useless. In many cases, the marginal time and effort you save with such conveniences barely outweighs the fee you pay in the end. Here are just a few examples:
Today, August 20th, is the first day that some provisions of the Credit Card Bill Of Rights Act (CARD) become effective. It is fair to say that, being a credit card user in the United States will never be the same again. What is questionable is how the act will ultimately effect you and I, the credit card users.
Several months ago, I tweeted a seemingly the random comment: credit unions should go to a two-party system. One person responded What are you proposing? The Credit Union Civil War? Others wondered if I was joking.
The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 or Credit CARD Act of 2009 is a federal law passed by the United States Congress and signed by President Barack Obama on May 22, 2009.
I interviewed Matt Jabs from Debt Free Adventures yesterday on my Blog Talk Radio Show.
Everyone knows how to write a check…ok, well not everyone, but I bet the majority of our readers do. So, for this post, let’s assume you know how to write a check. What most people don’t know is that there are five points on a check that make it negotiable. If any one of the five are missing, then the check can be refused. It always seems to get people when we bring it up to them at the credit union, they just dont seem to understand why, so I figured it would make a good post. The following are in no particular order.
Hi
I read your article(which had a question from someone asking if closing a card hurts her score) about how amex cards aren’t the same as other ones (mastercard, visa, etc) because they don’t report the limit and only report how much you owe.