Consumers won. Banks lost. That summarizes the consumer piece of the financial reform bill.
On the other part of the bill that affects individuals, my verdict flips. Investors lost, Wall Street won.
Taking the consumer side first, color me thrilled that Congress created a potentially strong Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. When President Obama proposed it last [...]
What Jane Says: Credit Cards
- More Strapped Consumers Are Protecting Their Credit Cards and Letting Their Houses Go
- POSTED 06.2.10
If unemployment hits, which bills do you cover first? Traditionally, that would be food, utilities, transportation and housing. If you couldn’t stretch your income to cover credit card payments, you let them go.
Such thinking is so pre-2008. Since the real estate meltdown, growing numbers of straitened borrowers are changing their priorities. They’re protecting their credit [...]
- Nuts to credit card over-limit fees
- POSTED 02.20.10
New credit card rules take effect Monday, to block some of the banks’ most abusive practices. If you’re not careful, however, you might find yourself agreeing to be abused again. There will be campaigns to get you, voluntarily, to take one of the nastier fees back onto your account.
I’m talking about the over-limit fees that [...]
- Truth breaks out. Subprime cards charge 79.9%!
- POSTED 12.20.09
You’re finally hearing the truth about the incredible interest rates that banks charge for subprime credit cards. First Premier Bank, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is pilot-testing a card with a rate of 79.9 percent! You might be shocked, shocked, to hear that a bank could charge that much. But to me, the bank [...]
- All about credit cards
- POSTED 10.29.09
Credit cards can be the cheapest way to shop. I use them to save money all the time. They’re cheap, that is, IF you choose a no-fee card, pay the monthly bills in full and on time, and collect “reward” points toward plane tickets that you actually use. When you pay no fees or interest [...]
