I spent some time listening to the Congressional hearings concerning the auto bailout yesterday and it was interesting to hear the differences in expectations among the automakers for 2009. When asked to disclose the amount of money which each of the Big Three would need in order to bridge the gap to 2010 (although they [...]
Back in July, Citigroup announced that it was reconsidering its policy not to increase interest rates at any time for any reason.
There are reports today that it is increasing interest rates on up to 20 percent of its issued credit cards by an average of 3 percentage points. Here’s the news story. It seems to [...]
The news broke last night that the U.S. Government had rejected the credit card debt forgiveness program proposed by a coalition of the credit card companies and consumer advocates, according to the Associated Press.
As I observed in my recent post on credit card debt forgiveness that responded to credit card industry claims that there was [...]
My post yesterday on the bailout of credit card companies through the use of TARP funds couldn’t have been better timed. Today, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the Treasury and the Federal Reserve are considering a plan to purchase securities backed by, among other things, credit card debt. That’s right.
The government has already forgotten [...]
American Express, yesterday, received approval from the Federal Reserve to transform itself into a bank holding company in order to potentially qualify for billions of dollars from the recently adopted bailout plan. Why not? If the automakers can get money under the bailout, let’s just toss in a few credit card companies as well!
The money [...]
A number of visitors to Credit Card Debt Law recently have been looking for additional information on the Credit Card Debt Forgiveness Program that has been discussed in various newspapers recently after the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Services Roundtable sent a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in [...]
One would think that your credit score would be helped by paying off old debts. After all, if you were penalized for failing to pay the debt, then paying the debt in full - even if your payment was not on time - should boost your credit score. Sounds logical, but alas, it does not [...]
I’ve generally been skeptical of the many “solutions” that newspaper reporters offer to individuals struggling with credit card debt. Some of these solutions offer advice that those deep in credit card debt can’t possibly follow - such as the suggestion to pay off your credit card debt every month so that you don’t have to [...]
The debate over proposed credit card reforms by the Federal Reserve and the United States Congress may have paused in September to handle the financial crisis, but it has received a big push into the spotlight at the end of October. Undoubtedly, the numerous articles in mainstream media warning of the coming credit card debt [...]
Irrational exuberance is back. That’s my best explanation for the ten percent plus gains in the stock market today following the historic cascading collapse (as it was called on CNBC’s Fast Money) of the stock market last week. There are other explanations, of course. You can say that a bottom was established. You can blame [...]
