Credit card companies have no doubt spent billions of dollars on advertising in order to get their credit card in a consumer’s wallet or purse. As a result, they have collected billions of dollars in payments from consumers on credit card balances and debt. Surprisingly, one credit card company decided to return some of that money to its cardholders this week. Only this time, rather than cash back rebates, frequent flier miles, or a no interest balance transfer to increase their use of plastic, they did so to get them to stop reaching for their credit card of choice.

Select American Express credit card holders will receive $300 to pay off the remaining balance on their American Express card by April 30th and close their account.

This week is America Saves Week. Since 2007, organizations have dedicated the last week in February to ending the near zero personal savings rate in the United States. Amid the concerns that America’s banks will have to be nationalized because they didn’t lend wisely, it is probably also a great week to celebrate the FDIC protection of personal bank accounts. The week is rolling already, as the economic crisis has jumpstarted savings in a way that the first two annual America Saves Weeks could not: the savings rate in the last three months of 2008 was the highest since 2001.

The timing of America Saves Week is interesting, to say the least. Two weeks ago, CNN Money ran on article on why saving is killing the economy. The federal government has just passed a massive economic stimulus package in order to make up for cutbacks in business spending. The national debt is growing at an enormous rate. And last year, the government sent out stimulus checks so that Americans could spend that money on goods and services.

Discover has apparently removed the cap on its balance transfer fee.  According to a Los Angeles Times article on how credit card issuers are tightening credit standards and cutting credit limits, Discover Financial Services removed the cap on the maximum fee that it would charge for balance transfers on November 1st.
For those that aren’t familiar [...]

A recent research report by Innovest predicts that charge-offs on the bad credit card debt of consumers by financial institutions will be around $100 billion in 2009, up from an expected $40 billion in credit card debt charged off by financial institutions in 2008.  The report places the blame for the increase in bad debt [...]

The New York Times reported that credit card offers sent via the mail in the second quarter of 2008 are down about 14 percent over the second quarter of 2007.  Does this mean that we’ll be free from their junk mail in our mailbox anytime soon?  That seems unlikely.  They still sent out an amazing [...]

Recently released data from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court system showed that personal bankruptcy filings in the United States for the 12 month period ending June 30, 2008, were up 28 percent to 934,009. Tennessee had the highest bankruptcy filing rate per capita, Michigan had the highest per capita rate of Chapter 7 filings (that’s the [...]

Forbes declared Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the city in the United States with the most delinquent credit cards in its recent article, The Debt Capitals of America.  The delinquency rate of 2.28 percent in Pine Bluff is nearly double the national average of credit card delinquencies of 1.19 percent.
One of the sad parts of Forbes’ list [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Pretty much every newspaper article offering tips on using credit cards recommends that you pay off your credit card debt every month.  But two recent surveys have found that some Americans don’t know whether they are following this oft given advice.
A survey of 1,000 Americans sponsored by CreditCards.com found that 5 percent didn’t know whether [...]