A few days ago, the minimum wage in Minnesota increased for the first time in years to $8/hour, putting it slightly above the federal minimum of $7.25. Some businesses are responding to the pay hike by tacking on “minimum wage” fees to customers or by taking credit card service charges out of servers’ tips. [More]
credit cards
Credit Cards From Amazon, Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy, Toys R Us Have Highest APRs
By 8.7.14
It can be so tempting — You’re about to make a big purchase at a retail store when the cashier says you can save all sorts of money by applying for a store credit card. But what they rarely make clear to you is that the card you’re applying for often comes with a sky-high interest rate — and those rates are going higher. [More]
Study: Credit Card Applications Becoming More User Friendly, But Still Lack Valuable Informaton
By 8.5.14
Credit card companies love to advertise all the perks of being a cardholder — rewards points, cash back, airline miles, etc. — but card issuers have historically hidden the not-as-good stuff in the fine print of card applications. A new study finds that banks are doing a better job of making things more transparent — but not about everything. [More]
P.F. Chang’s Security Breach Involved 33 Locations, Goes Back To As Early As October 2013
By 8.4.14
Consumers’ worried their credit card information was compromised during a security breach at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro earlier this summer now have more details. Investigators have determined that the breach affected customers’ credit card information at 33 restaurants and began as early as October 2013. [More]
Can ATM Operators Beat Skimmers By Simply Rotating Card Readers 90 Degrees?
By 8.1.14
For decades, we’ve been sliding our credit and debit cards into ATMs with the shorter side of the card entering the reader. All this while, ID thieves have been improving their card-skimming devices to fit this well-established mold. The skimmers have gotten smaller, sleeker, and smarter, to the point where even a trained eye might be fooled. So what’s the best way to upend all those years of hard work by the bad guys? According to ATM biggie Diebold, it’s just as simple as turning the reader 90 degrees. [More]
Capital One Sends Customer A New Orange-Juiceless Keyboard So He Can Pay His Bill
By 7.30.14
We are living in a digital world, which means many things we used to do offline, like paying bills, are now handled online. But what’s a good customer to do when he can’t pay his credit card bill due to a keyboard infiltrated with orange juice? Speak up — and maybe get a free keyboard out of it. [More]
10 Answers To Credit Card Questions We Get Asked All The Time
By 7.19.14
Credit cards come with a lot of fine print. But the scene isn’t just complicated for cardholders; it’s complicated for the retailers that accept them, too. What needs signing, and what doesn’t? When can a store ask for ID? Are they allowed to charge different prices for cash and credit? [More]
Your New Credit Card Is Already Waiting Inside This Secret Facility
By 6.23.14
Sure, credit card issuers, including Target, aim to get us all using chip-and-PIN (EMV) credit and debit cards sometime next year. They will make our transactions more secure, and maybe we’ll be less likely to get our digits stolen in a catastrophic data breach. Here’s one question that you may not have thought to ask, though: where do these cards actually come from? [More]
GE Capital To Give Back $225 Million To Consumers For Bad Credit Card Practices
By 6.19.14
One of the nation’s largest credit card companies, GE Capital (which changed its name to Synchrony Bank a couple weeks back) has agreed to the largest credit card discrimination settlement in U.S. history and will fork over a total of $225 million in relief to around 750,000 consumers for illegal and discriminatory credit card practices. [More]
P.F. Chang’s Credit Card Breach May Have Started In September 2013
By 6.18.14
Chain fusion bistro P.F. Chang’s confirmed last week that its payment system had been breached, and the company’s official statement is that they’re investigating when and how the breach started. Unofficially, we may have an answer to the first half of that question: the breach may have started in September of 2013. [More]
P.F. Chang’s Confirms Some Customer Credit Card Info Was Compromised In A Security Breach
By 6.13.14
Seems P.F. Chang’s is ready to pipe up, after banks reported earlier this week that the restaurant chain had possibly been hit by a breach that compromised customers’ credit card information. The company confirmed last night that while it’s not sure how many customers were affected, its data has been compromised. [More]
Banks Report Possible Credit Card Breach At P.F. Chang’s
By 6.11.14
There’s a fresh new batch of stolen credit card numbers on the market! The same online store that offered numbers pilfered in recent national breaches, including the massive one at Target, has a fresh batch of thousands of numbers available. Banks report that what these cards have in common is that they were recently used at P.F. Chang’s restaurants. [More]
MasterCard Extends Zero-Liability Policy To ATM & PIN Transactions
By 5.28.14
While both MasterCard and Visa have zero-liability policies for fraudulent transactions made by swiping a card or using the card number online or over the phone, that same level of protection has not been afforded to all cardholders for bogus ATM withdrawals or PIN-based purchases. However, MasterCard announced today that it is extending the zero-liability policy in the U.S. to include these two types of transactions. [More]
Proposed Bills Aim To Protect Students From Shady Deals Between Colleges, Banks
By 5.23.14
In recent years, the financial industry and higher education institutions have become increasingly comfortable bedfellows. From offering student IDs that act as debit cards to receiving payments for introducing credit cards to students, banks companies have crept their way onto college campuses. Now, a pair of bills introduced in the House and Senate aim to provide transparency over campus-sponsored financial products and put a stop to conflicts of interest and kickbacks between colleges and banks. [More]
Walmart Policy Requires Customers To Fork Over Their Credit Card’s 3-Digit Security Code
By 5.20.14
In light of recent, high-profile data breaches, consumers are constantly on guard when it comes to their credit card information. So it might come as a surprise that the country’s largest retailer is asking customer to fork over the sacred three-digit security code on the back of cards in order to make purchases. [More]
Study Confirms That Most Of Us Carry Less Than $50 Cash
By 5.12.14
Sometimes the effort needed to fumble inside my wallet for cash and change just seems too much of a burden. So I rarely use the tender and instead go straight for the debit card. And it appears I’m not alone in my preference for not carrying cash. [More]
Which Credit Cards Have The Most Restrictions On Rewards?
By 5.1.14
While many banks have nixed rewards programs for debit cards, credit card issuers still push these extras — things like cash-back, airline miles, and points that can be redeemed for purchases — as a way to attract new customers and retain existing cardholders. But when it comes time to earn or use those rewards, some cards are more friendly than others. [More]
Target Tries Making Up For Data Breach By Issuing Secure Chip-And-Pin Cards Next Year
By 4.29.14
In the wake of the massive theft of customer data, Target is revamping its store-branded credit and debit cards with chip-and-pin technology that will make them more secure for in-person transactions, but still leave the door open to some fraudulent use. [More]
