Last year, a group of around 15 credit card issuers paid a total of more than $50 million to various schools and school-affiliated organizations in order to market credit cards to people at those educational institutions. Around 70% of that money came from a single Bank of America-owned credit card company, and though hundreds of schools received some sort of payment for helping introduce cards to college students, just the 10 largest single payments account for nearly 30% of the $50 million. [More]
credit cards
Stolen Target Credit Card Info: The Perfect Holiday Gift For the Criminals On Your List
By 12.20.13
Merry Christmas, and be sure to check your online statements: security investigations reveal that the tens of millions of credit card numbers stolen from Target shoppers in the weeks since Thanksgiving are indeed flooding the black market and making their way around the world. [More]
3 Things To Consider Before Signing Up For A Store Credit Card
By 12.20.13
As you make your way through the final days of this holiday shopping season, you will undoubtedly be asked on numerous occasions if you would like to save money on your purchase by signing up for a store credit card. It’s definitely tempting, but you need to be aware of just what you’re signing up for in order to get that discount. [More]
Target “Deeply Regrets” Letting Someone Steal 40 Million Credit Card Numbers From Customers
By 12.19.13
In case they missed the news last night, Target customers around the country are waking up this morning and learning that they may be one of many millions of consumers whose credit and debit card information was compromised during the course of a nearly three-week-long security breach at the retailer. Big Red, you’ve got some explaining to do… [More]
GE’s CareCredit To Refund $34.1 Million To Misled Consumers
By 12.11.13
CareCredit is a medical financing service operated by the folks at GE Capital. For almost all of its 4 million customers, CareCredit is a deferred interest loan, meaning cardholders who don’t pay off their balances in full by the end of the initial promotional period are hit with all of the interest that had been accruing during those months. That would be fine (and is quite common in retail credit cards), if the company hadn’t misled consumers into thinking CareCredit was an entirely interest-free product. [More]
CFPB Looking Into “Confusing Rules” Of Credit Card Rewards Programs
By 11.15.13
As we mentioned earlier this week, credit card rewards programs can be overly complicated and come with rules and limits that drain their value. Now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it is looking into these programs to determine if cardholders are being misled about the costs and benefits of these offers. [More]
How To Not Suck… At Understanding Credit Card Rewards
By 11.13.13
From rewards points to airline miles to cash back, there are many, many ways to earn so-called rewards by using a credit card. But rewards programs are often confusing and are sometimes limited by byzantine rules that can make them worthless or cause points to vanish into thin air. [More]
Even The Former FDIC Chair Isn’t Safe From The Clutches Of Retailer Credit Cards
By 11.13.13
The next time you’re banging your head against the wall and moaning over what an idiot you’ve been to ignore late credit card payments, know this: You are not alone. Also you’re not an idiot, but if the woman who used to head up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation can get entangled in problems with retailer credit cards, it can happen to anybody. [More]
How To Not Suck… At Getting Out Of Debt
By 10.15.13
You’re in debt and you know it. But (a brief pause, while I invoke my inner Jersey) whaddya gonna do about it? Credit card debt can seem like a never-ending spiral. As you try to pay it down, more interest charges accrue, and it seems your balance isn’t getting anywhere. Stop the bleeding already so that you can ultimately get back in the black. [More]
How To Not Suck… At First Year College Budgets
By 10.8.13
Welcome to “How To Not Suck,” a new, weekly series in which personal finance writer and consumer advocate Karin Price Mueller gives you the essential information to avoid being foolish with your finances. [More]
Man Loses Out On $217 In Credit Card Rewards Over Vague Definition Of “Pay At The Pump”
By 10.7.13
“Pay at the pump” generally means you swipe your credit or debit card at the machine. But in New Jersey, where you’re forbidden from pumping your own gas, there really is no other choice than paying at the pump, though the card isn’t always swiped at the actual pump. This vague distinction between “pay at the pump” and “giving your card to someone at the pump” is why one Jersey driver is out $217 in credit card rewards. [More]
Consumers Saved $4 Billion In Credit Card Fees Last Year, But Fewer Have Access To Credit
By 10.2.13
It’s been four years since lawmakers passed the CARD Act, a massive set of reforms for the credit card industry. As a result, consumers have saved billions in fees and other charges, but access to credit has also become more difficult for some people. [More]
Chase To Pay $389 Million Over Illegal Charges For Credit-Monitoring Services
By 9.19.13
It’s not been a banner week for JPMorgan Chase, which has agreed to pay out nearly a billion dollars to close investigations related to the 2012 “London Whale” trading fiasco, and now is told it must pay out $309 million in refunds and $80 million in penalties over illegal credit card charges for ID and fraud-protection services customers never ordered. [More]
Chase: Refunding A Scam Victim Is The Same As Forgiving A Debt
By 9.9.13
When you successfully convince your credit card company that you were scammed out of thousands of dollars and that a chargeback should be issued, you’d think that would be the end of the story, but not for one Chase credit card customer who just found out — two years after receiving the money back — that Chase now says the refund is actually a forgiven debt, and that he must pay income taxes on it. [More]
Man Tries To Beat Bank At Its Own Game With Fine Print That Gives Him Unlimited Credit
By 8.9.13
When it comes to fine print on user agreements and terms of service, I’ve found that there are those who blame companies for making these documents so long and complicated that most people will never read them (and might not even be able to understand the terms even after reading them), and then there are those who say consumers can’t complain if they don’t first read and understand everything they agree to. Here’s a story out of Russia that should appeal to both sides of that debate. [More]
Gym Payment Processor Forgets Decimal Point, Terrifies Members
By 7.26.13
Like many gyms, Fitness Connection in North Carolina charges members an annual fee for “maintenance.” Unlike most gyms, they had something go terribly wrong this year when they charged that fee. It seemed to lack a decimal point, so members saw $2,990 charged to their cards instead of $29.99. [More]
Scammy Pedicab Drivers Using Smartphone Credit Card Device To Overcharge Customers
By 7.22.13
For reasons I’ll never be able to comprehend, some visitors to New York City enjoy being chauffeured around in pedicabs, which combine the slow pace of a horse-drawn carriage with the discomfort of a rickshaw. But what these people don’t enjoy is when they find out they have been scammed out of money from pedicab drivers who use a smartphone credit card scanning app to tack on hidden fees. [More]
Capital One Sends Me Across London To Get My Debit Card To Work
By 6.28.13
Lucky reader Twila is enjoying a European vacation right now. Only she has one sort of inconvenient problem: her Capital One debit card won’t work in many of the places she’s visiting. Like her hostel. And entire parts of London. [More]
