Credit Cards
« Previous EntriesAre You Ready to Pay $3 (or more) Per Month to Use Your Debit Card?
Friday, September 30th, 2011Front page in today’s WSJ was an article about how Bank of America is planning to start charging their customers $5 per month when they use their debit cards. Other banks are testing such fees. Why the new fee? According to the article, the fee is in response to a part in the Dodd-Frank Financial [...]
9 Reasons to Say “No” to Credit in 2011
Thursday, January 13th, 2011Interesting piece I found on Investopedia this morning: 9 Reasons to Say “No” to Credit. Their nine reasons: 1. Financing your purchases doesn’t teach self control. 2. Financing your purchases means you aren’t sticking to your budget. 3. Credit card interest rates are expensive. 4. Credit card interest rates increase when you can’t pay off [...]
A Look at the New Credit Card Rules That Were Effective August 22, 2010
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010As part of the CARD Act, there were several new rules that went into effect on Sunday. They are: • Reasonable penalty fees. The new fee can’t be more than $25 unless you have been late within the last six payments, in which case it can be up to $35. I fail to see how [...]
Should I Liquidate My 401(k) In Order to Pay Off My Credit Cards?
Monday, March 8th, 2010I was talking with a friend of mine the other day. He asked me whether or not he should liquidate his 401(k) in order to pay off his credit cards. Here are some of the details: • credit card debt around $15,000. Interest rates of 19% and higher. • 401(k) balance of $16,000 from a [...]
GASP! A Credit Card with an APR of Over 700%!
Friday, January 15th, 2010Check this out: Credit Reform and My New 703.8% Card Now before you say, “Damn! That’s a high APR,” read this: Department Stores National Bank, which issues the card, charges a “minimum interest charge.” On my average daily balance of $3.41, that minimum charge worked out to “an actual annual percentage rate” of 703.80%. (Part [...]
How About a Credit Card with a 79.9% APR?!?
Friday, December 18th, 2009Beth sent me a link to this story this morning: Credit Card’s Newest Trick: 79.9 Percent Interest Basically, this bank used to charge $256 per year in fees on a credit card with a $250 credit limit. The new credit card laws limit fees to 25% of the credit limit. So,…the bank is now charging [...]
Ignoring Your FICO Score Can Cost You Dearly
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009Check out this graphic I found on the myFICO website: I took the information found in that chart and made another graphic showing just how much interest a person would pay over a 30-year mortgage depending on their credit score: As you can see, the difference is significant. Just moving from the second highest to [...]
« Previous Entries