Blogging at Four Hour Work Week, John tells about how he made Visa his personal assistant via its concierge service. Testing it out to see whether or not he could get the CSRs to agree to his silly whims, he decided to enlist the company’s help in securing a huge tub of nacho cheese: [More]
credit cards
Join The 24 Hour Fitness Class Action Lawsuit
By 5.3.10
If 24-Hour Fitness kept charging even after you cancelled, you might be eligible to join a class action lawsuit against them. You can join if you were debited between Oct 2, 2002 and Feb 28, 2010. You could get $20 back, or, in a perhaps ironic twist, a three month gift certificate to 24-Hour Fitnesss.
Friedman, et al. v. 24 Hour Fitness USA [via Top Class Actions]
Worst Week Ever For Debt Settlement Industry
By 4.30.10
It may have been a rough week for Comcast and Goldman Sachs, but the debt settlement industry arguably faced even worse luck. [More]
Visa Snuffs Out Credit Card Scam
By 4.28.10
In an attempt to stop a scam in which third parties make unauthorized charges to credit cards thinking they were signing up for a loyalty rewards program, Visa is putting up a roadblock meant to keep information safer, CNet reports: [More]
What's The Best Card For International Travel?
By 4.27.10
When hitting the shops overseas, many credit cards will charge you additional international transaction fees. The savvy traveler needs to equip themselves with a credit card that charges low or no fees at all. Here’s the current rates for the seven credit cards with the lowest international transaction fees: [More]
One Of The "Blippy Four" Speaks Out On Credit Card Leak
By 4.23.10
It’s been a bad day for Blippy.com, the site lots of people hadn’t heard of until it managed to leak the whole credit card numbers of four users to the entire internet. Now, one of the four people whose digits are in the public domain has come forward to talk. [More]
Blippy: "We Take Security Seriously"
By 4.23.10
After this morning’s revelation that Blippy.com — the site for people who think foursquare isn’t enough oversharing — had somehow leaked users’ credit card numbers to anyone with Google, the company wants everyone to know that the problem is not as big as it seems and, yes, they are taking it seriously. [More]
Blippy Revealing Users' Credit Card Numbers To Internet
By 4.23.10
UPDATE: Blippy is taking this seriously. [More]
Citibank Celebrates Record Profits By Treating Customers Like Deadbeats
By 4.22.10
Citicorp posted a $4.4 billion profit this past quarter. Pretty fantastic, right? How are they rewarding their loyal customers? By jacking their interest rates and closing their credit card accounts, of course. [More]
Chase To 15% Of Cardholders: Drop Dead
By 4.16.10
15% of current Chase credit card users are going to get the axe, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon announced in a shareholder letter this week. “In light of new regulations,” that forbid sucking in customers with zero-interest introductory rates and then ratcheting up lunatic penalty rates, “we deem them too risky.” Other highlights from the letter (PDF): [More]
"Help, Equifax Won't Give Me My Credit Report!"
By 4.14.10
A reader just had his credit limit lowered on a credit card due to some bad credit history that he says isn’t his. He’d like to see what’s going on with his credit report, but Equifax says he’ll have to pay for the privilege, because they have no record of any inquiries in the past 60 days. The reader asks, “Has this happened to anyone else, where a credit card company waited over 60 days to notify them of credit limit reductions? Also, does this violate the FCRA?” [More]
MasterCard Opens Online Store, Uses Predictive Software To Guess What You'll Buy
By 4.12.10
MasterCard has decided to expand into online retailing, so it’s opened a store that’s sort of Amazon lite. Well, Amazon several design iterations ago. Actually the site looks like one of those themed mini-stores eBay keeps promoting these days, but the merchandise is all new and tailored to your shopping patterns. And by “tailored,” I mean that the card issuer is using special customer behavior software to predict the things you’re most likely to buy, which it then shows to you. [More]
Tell Your Senator To Rollback Unfair Interest Rate Hikes
By 4.12.10
Before a new law went into effect in February to clamp down on their abusive tactics, credit card companies jacked up interest rates, putting the squeeze on already strapped consumers. But that same law can still help as. In it, Congress told the banks to review those spiked rates, and, for responsible cardholders, bring them back down to normal levels. Of course, the banks are working feverishly to make sure they don’t have to live up to the law. As the Senate considers Regulation Z; Docket R-1384, be sure to grab their ear and say hey! Gimmie back my rates! Contact your rep now. [More]
Kid Racks Up $1,400 In Farmville After Stealing Mom's Credit Card
By 4.8.10
A 12-year-old kid is probably getting his crops slashed and burned by his mum after he racked up $1,400 in Farmville purchases, draining his own savings and running up charges on her credit card. [More]
If You Were Broke, You Don't Need To Pay Taxes On Forgiven Debt
By 4.8.10
Here’s an important caveat to our “You Need To Pay Taxes On Forgiven Credit Card Debt,” post: you don’t need to pay the taxes if you were insolvent at the time the debt was discharged. [More]
How To Cancel A Credit Card Without Hurting Your Credit Score
By 4.5.10
Say you’ve got a credit card you don’t want for whatever reason and have decided to cancel it. Here are some simple steps you can take to make sure the card a) really gets canceled b) it doesn’t harm your credit score. [More]
Don't Skip Court If You're Sued By Creditors
By 4.5.10
With the economy still creeping along on its belly, many Americans are facing mounting piles of debt. And for an increasing number of people — whether through mismanagement of their finances, loss of income or change in employment status — creditors are moving to garnish their wages to recoup their money. [More]
Prison Inmate Charged With Running Major Department Store Credit Card Scam
By 4.5.10
Seven Ohio men between the ages of 27 and 50 were arrested last week and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, after an investigation found evidence that they were gaining access to strangers’ store-issued credit cards to buy and resale merchandise. The group’s leader, who was also charged, is a 33-year-old inmate at Fort Dix, NJ. Investigators think he initially met one of the Ohio men in prison. [More]
