Over at Reddit, things are buzzing with a story from one 23-year-old reader who went to their local ShopRite in New Jersey to pick up some beer only to be told they needed to fill out a form that includes their credit card number — even though they weren’t using their credit card. [More]
credit cards
Eat Healthier By Leaving Your Credit Cards At Home
By 10.21.10
In the last few decades, Americans use credit (or debit) cards for more and more of our everyday spending. We’re also, collectively, becoming more and more obese. A group of researchers wondered: is there a correlation here? They conducted four experiments looking at what types of food people purchase when using a credit card, and what they purchase when using cash. They published their findings in the Journal of Consumer Research. The result is not surprising: people are more likely to buy junk food, on impulse, when paying with plastic. [More]
Walmart Said I Needed Wisconsin Driver's License To Buy With Credit Card
By 10.18.10
Matthew says a Wisconsin Walmart demanded not only an ID with his MasterCard purchase, but a Wisconsin state driver’s license. Because Matthew is from out of state, he was out of luck. Read on to see whether or not Matthew escaped the store with his munchies: [More]
Pizza Place Employee Forces Customer To Undress, Beats With Pipe
By 10.18.10
A Dallas-area pizza parlor employee forced an elderly customer to undress and beat him with a pipe after he tried to pay for his $17.60 meal with someone else’s credit card. According to the police report, the worker did it because he was “sick and tired of this type of thing happening at his business.” [More]
Capital One "No Hassles" Card Actually Kind Of A Hassle
By 10.13.10
Reader Neurocat says he loves the rewards on his Capital One “No Hassles” Visa card. Cashing in points for $100 gift cards to Home Depot, Sears and the like is handy when you’ve just bought your first fixer-upper house. Then he was slightly late on two of his payments and the honeymoon was over. [More]
HER-NAN Saves Kingdom With Powers Of Castle VISAskull
By 10.13.10
VISA is blanketing Argentina with a new ad in which a shopper named Hernan is turned into “HER-NAN,” like HE-MAN, imbued with the powers of Castle Greyskull. You don’t need to know Spanish to experience the awesomeness, but we also have a translation. [More]
Old-School Personal Loans Make A Comeback
By 10.12.10
Out of the soil of the post-apocalyptic credit graveyard shoots the skeletal hand of a forgotten lending practice. Banks are once again busting out “personal loans” to help finance what might otherwise be just out of reach for consumers. Here’s how they work: [More]
When Automatic Payments Won't Stop
By 10.12.10
Here’s what you need to do when a vendor won’t stop billing your bank account automatically after you ask them to quit it. [More]
Why Does American Express Need A Copy Of My Wife's Tax Return?
By 10.8.10
Evan writes that he recently got married, and the newlyweds make more money than they did at this time last year. American Express suspects something, and has suspended their credit card, demanding a copy of his wife’s tax return from last year. What’s going on? [More]
Citicard Thinks You Need To Pay Off $3,422 Credit Card Balance Twice
By 10.7.10
Jon tells Consumerist had things arranged very nicely with his credit card from Citi. He would use his credit card for purchases, then pay the balance off at the end of every month. He set up his account to auto-debit the credit card balance from his checking account every month. One month, he paid his balance of more than $3,000 early. The autopay from his checking account went through anyway. Jon would like his money back. [More]
Consumer Reports Finds The Absolute Worst Credit Card
By 10.5.10
Think your credit card is bad? Check out this specimen that our sister-publication, Consumer Reports, says is the absolute “worst credit card.” [More]
Hacked Card Readers Found At Aldi Stores In 11 States
By 10.4.10
Late last week, discount grocery chain Aldi revealed that customers’ banking info may have been compromised by card readers that had been illegally tampered with at stores in 11 states. [More]
Amex Slapped With Antitrust Suit, Visa & Mastercard Settle
By 10.4.10
The Justice Department sued Amex today, saying that the restrictions it places on merchants were anti-competitive. According to the complaint, the rules “impede merchants from promoting or encouraging the use of a competing credit or charge card with lower card acceptance fees.” [More]
Man Gets 87,000 Rewards Points Back
By 10.4.10
Andy and his wife were saving up for a trip for Hawaii. They had 87,000 points, which represented $87,000 they had spent accumulating these points. Out of nowhere, Citibank closed his account and gave him no chance to get his points. [More]
Fee For Paying With Plastic? Decision Nears
By 10.4.10
The US Justice Department is said to be close to a decision on whether credit card companies can continue to forbid merchants from charging extra to customers who use credit cards to cover the cost of the credit card processing fees (usually 1-5% of the price). [More]
BofA: Let Us Email You Disclosures Or Get The Hell Out
By 10.1.10
In a shift that can be rationalized as environmentally friendly, Bank of America is telling customers that they must agree to receive disclosures, notifications, statements and bills via e-mail if they want to continue using online banking. [More]
College Kids Buying Credit Card Cosignatures
By 10.1.10
Tell a college student they can’t do something and someone will figure out a way to monetize it. Thanks to the CARD Act, makers of fake ID’s on campuses may now have a new sideline business: selling real credit card cosigner signatures. [More]
Post Office Says It's Too Cool To Abide By Credit Card Merchant Agreement
By 9.30.10
Steve got into what J.K. Rowling would describe as a “row” with a Postal Service worker who demanded he show his ID to make a MasterCard purchase. This is a violation of MasterCard policy, but that doesn’t matter, according to the employee, because the Post Office is like the Fonz in that it plays by its own rules. [More]
