Entries by Debtmerica

First-time defaulters now receiving more credit card offers

A large number of consumers who had previously been locked out of the lending system entirely because they allowed their credit card debt to become so delinquent that it was written off are now receiving preapproved offers for new accounts, according to a report from Dow Jones Newswires. Major lenders like Capital One, Bank of […]

Company rolls out European-friendly card

Next year, Travelex will soon begin selling prepaid cards with an embedded microchip to store all their payment data, according to a report from the Associated Press. With this new payment option, consumers can load money onto the account, which will be converted to any desired foreign currency at an exchange rate between 3.75 percent […]

Consumers get fewer protections with debit cards

Debit cards may not add to a consumer's credit card debt, but they carry fewer protections from fraud than do the other options, according to a report from Reuters. While the payment option has grown far more popular, some consumer advocates believe they also greatly increase not only the chances for fraud, but the amount […]

Woman sues Capital One over claim of $286 million credit card debt

Patrice Perry, who claims she received harassing phone calls from Capital One for months over a mistaken entry on her credit card debt, is suing the lender, according to a report from the Philadelphia Daily News. The company initiallyclaimed that Perry owed it $4,807 in May 2009, and subsequent bills, which arrived infrequently, saw that […]

Visa smartphone app gives users discounts at major retailers

Visa Mobile, a new smartphone application available for free on both the iPhone and Android smartphones, will allow users to get discounts when making a transaction that results in credit card debt at a wide variety of major national chains, including JC Penney, Zale's and Hertz, according to a report from the company. All users […]

Consumers turning to alternative payment methods for online purchases

The online payment method PayPal will once again increase in popularity this year, according to the consumer advocate site Wallet Pop. This transaction management site allows consumers to link a secure account to either a credit or debit card to make simple payments without having to enter their account numbers on any merchant websites. By […]

Paperwork problems plague credit card debt collectors

Agencies specializing in credit card debt collection found tremendous success suing consumers over defaulted accounts, winning about 90 or 95 percent of their court cases, in the early 2000s, and that has allowed them to more aggressively pursue these balances. However, because these companies have filed so many cases in recent years, it has forced […]

More lenders return to preapproved credit card offers

For the first time in about three years, the nation's credit card lenders have resumed sending preapproved offers to most consumers, including those whose credit rating is so bad that they were denied for a similar account just a few months ago, according to a report from the New York Times. However, banks are now […]

Charge offs and delinquencies declined once again in October

The rate at which the nation's largest credit card lenders had to strike accounts so delinquent they can no longer be considered collectable dropped once again, Fitch Ratings revealed, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Charge offs dropped 0.02 percentage points between September and October, to9.2 percent. That figure marked a 19-month low, and was 9 […]