New graduates are about to walk smack into the Great Recession, and they need every bit of financial advice they can get. The Wall Street Journal has five excellent money tips that should apply not just to new graduates, but to everyone.
credit cards
Capital One Charges Woman $29 Late Fee For Paying Too Early
By 5.1.09
Jason writes, “My wife just sent me an email saying that she paid ‘too early’ (before the new statement was generated) and got charged a ‘Late Fee’ of $29!” He says she called Capital One and got the fee waived, but it’s a good reminder that if you make a payment before the new statement period begins, your card provider will likely apply the payment to the previous statement period, and will still expect a fresh payment from you by the new due date. Just make sure your payments aren’t scheduled so early that they’re applied to the past and you’ll be fine.
House To Pass Credit Card Reform, Tell The Senate To, Too
By 4.30.09
The House is expected to pass the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act today, and the Senate is considering similar legislation. The Senate battle will be harder, but you can help!
Amex Hikes Rate, Drops Balance, Then Tries To Bribe Customer To Pay Off Debt Early
By 4.28.09
Courey Gouker’s recent experience with American Express encapsulates every trick the company has pulled in the past few months to drive away their customers, including dropping the credit limit, hiking the rate, and even offering him a cash bonus to pay off his balance in full. In addition, the company’s CSRs made promises to him that they didn’t keep, and notes on his account have gone missing. About the only thing they haven’t done is email a photo of the CEO flipping him the bird.
Big Shocker: Students Are Abusing Credit Cards
By 4.26.09
Sallie Mae‘s 2009 study of credit card use shows that students just love binging on plastic. Kids these days have more than four cards on average, and most of them carry a balance pushing $3,000. Many don’t tell their parents, and almost a fifth graduate with more than $7,000 of debt. This is how meltdowns start…
You Curse At One Customer Service Representative, You Curse At Them All
By 4.26.09
Brad learned the hard way that asking a Chase customer service representative “WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH MY ACCOUNT?!” is not the best way to find out what the f*** is wrong with your account. Brad had fumbled a wire transfer that temporarily shut down access to his card. He called to restore access, but the card still wouldn’t work. At this point, Brad decided to curse at the CSR and hang up after being placed on hold for thirty seconds. When he called back, he was surprised to learn that the next CSR knew that he had just cursed at a colleague.
Would You Use A Government-Issued Credit Card?
By 4.25.09
With President Obama and Congress threatening to tag-spank credit card issuers, Slate is left wondering why the government doesn’t just issue its own credit card. Before you scream “SOCIALISM!,” consider the government’s heavy involvement in the banking sector, not just through the recent bailouts, but through long-standing institutions like Fannie and Sallie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Credit-worthy borrowers in Germany, France, and India all have access to low-interest, no-fee credit cards issued by their central banks. Would you ever be interested in an Obama-backed credit card?
What Are You Going To Use Your Tax Refund For This Year? 28% Say "To Pay Off Debt"
By 4.24.09
The comparison shopping website PriceGrabber.com just completed its “what are you going to do with your tax refund?” survey for the second year in a row, and not surprisingly there are some notable differences between last April and now. The biggest change is among those who plan to spend the money: it was 44.0% in 2008, but only 29.2% this year.
Legislation To Protect Consumers From Crappy Credit Card Practices Moves Forward
By 4.23.09
The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights is back in the news, and with Congress considering the legislation, we offer a refresher on what’s in this bill and why it’s important.
President Obama Meets With Credit Card Executives Today To Tell Them They Are Not Approved
By 4.23.09
It’s a good week for consumer protection against abusive credit card practices. Yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee approved the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, and this afternoon President Obama is meeting with officials from 14 credit card companies to tell them “that greater consumer protections are coming for their customers, with or without their cooperation.”
HSBC Canceled My Card Due To Inactivity And Ruined My FICO Score!
By 4.22.09
Reader Travis recently found out that one of his oldest cards had been canceled due to inactivity. This caused quite a dent in his FICO score and he’s about to go shopping for student loans— so he’s understandably freaking out.
Here’s What A Card Skimmer Looks Like On An ATM
By 4.19.09
[protected-iframe id="9b6e89c2a2d363ebc95643d071c6468b-40783744-40309798" info="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.php?u=http://digg.com/hardware/Here_s_What_A_Card_Skimmer_Looks_Like_On_An_ATM" width="55" height="82" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"]A lot of you have been asking to see what a skimmer looks like before it’s yanked off an ATM. Are they easy to spot or virtually unnoticeable? Our reader Timeus works for a bank and deals with this sort of thing every day, and he sent in the following photos. Enjoy.
Reader Finds Another Card Skimmer On ATM
By 4.19.09
Kelly sent us these pics of a card skimmer he found yesterday on a Bank of America ATM in Atlanta. He writes, “I asked the police what to do; they said give it to the bank. I asked the bank what to do, they said give it to the police. I assume that no one has established standard procedures to handle this kind of thing yet.” Well if nothing else, send us a photo! Then we can publicize it for other readers, which is how Kelly found it in the first place: “I would have not even recognized it or known to look for it had I not read the article on your website a week earlier about what to look for.” Full size pics below.
Check Your Bills, WaMu Cardholders, Due Dates May Be Changed
By 4.16.09
If you’re a former WaMu credit card customer and now with Chase, check your bill due dates. They may have changed, according to reports CreditMattersBlog is getting from its readers. Seems WaMu had a 25-day grace period, while Chase has one of “at least” 20.
Email Address Format For Capital One
By 4.15.09
This is the format for email addresses at Capital One: firstname.lastname@capitalone.com. Cheers.
CitiBusiness Strands Customer In The Middle Of The Pacific With No Credit Card
By 4.15.09
Skye is on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean without any way to pay for things, because Citibank canceled his card due to a security breach and didn’t bother to warn him first. What’s worse, they’re making him call repeatedly to try to fix it, which is costing him $3.50/minute because he’s in the middle of an ocean.
Banana Republic Lowers Credit Card Limit From $1000 To $100
By 4.13.09
It’s no surprise that a popular purveyor of work-suitable vestments suck lowered a reader’s friend’s store credit-card limit, but to go from $1000 to $100, that’s cold, Banana Republic. Danielle writes:
BoA Hikes Rates On Millions Of Credit Card Customers
By 4.13.09
Last week Bank of America decided to hike rates on millions of credit card customers. They said that if you carry a balance and have an interest rate below 10%, starting in June you’re likely to see it spike into the double-digit category. BoA said it had to do it because these customers were “underpriced relative to market conditions.” But according to at least one email, Bank of America might be underrepresenting the number of customers caught in its interest rate dragnet…
