When creditors last fall asked the U.S. Government to expand the time limits for the repayment of debt through their partial debt forgiveness plans, as well as extend the time for writing off debt forgiven through the plan, I wondered if the federal government would opt to clarify the options for debtors unable to pay [...]

Well, it looks like today is the day that a few senators have finally said that bailout nation has gone too far with its proposal to bailout the United States automakers.  In my opinion, it’s unfortunate that the government was negotiating among themselves how quickly they could lower the salary of well paid American workers.  [...]

Back in May when Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve proposed changes to rules related to credit cards, they did so under the theory that “improved disclosures alone cannot solve all of the problems consumers face in trying to manage their credit card accounts.”  Others in favor of credit card reform argued in support that [...]

Debt collectors in the United States are pretty annoying - but at least they are governed by a set of rules and regulations that put some restraint on their actions (and hopefully their conscience).  If you are in the unfortunate position of receiving phone calls from your creditors, things could be worse.
You could be in [...]

The United States isn’t the only country where consumers are having difficulty with credit card debt and rising expenses.  I previously discussed the problem with credit card debt in Great Britain.  And numerous news stories have focused on the growing problems with credit card debt in other countries in the world.
Australians owe a national record [...]

I recently stumbled across an article about a South Africa company introducing a cell phone based payment system to Cape Town, South Africa.
It’s got me wondering whether this type of mobile payment system will catch on in the United States.  While it would be nice to simply carry my cell phone rather than my wallet, [...]

The United States isn’t the only country where consumers are having difficulty with credit card debt and rising expenses.  I previously wrote about the problems with credit card debt in Great Britain.  And several new news articles have focused on the spreading consumer debt crisis around the world:
Australians owe a national record $44.2 billion in [...]

The Cleveland Plain Dealer noted in a recent article that consumers using their credit cards in Europe may need their four digit pin number in order to complete the transaction.  And because of the different standards between the United States and Europe, it is possible that the use of a pin will cause the transaction [...]

It was a chaotic time on the stock market last week with rumors that Lehman Brothers would be the next investment bank to succumb to the credit crisis a la Bear Stearns, the closing of IndyMac, and the collapse of the stocks of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac after the announcement that they [...]

Malaysia must have felt left out of the Ultimate Credit Card party because Citibank is now issuing the Giant Credit Card for Malaysian consumers.