Entries by Debtmerica

Mobile banking catching on with consumers

How people keep an eye on their bank accounts and credit card debt is changing as rapidly as technology will allow. Many consumers have, in the past year or two, discovered the convenience offered to them by mobile banking, according to a new report from Seeking Alpha, a consumer news website. Much like the online […]

Lower swipe fees could cost banks billions

Part of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act mandated that credit card companies had to rein in the fees they charged merchants to process debit transactions. That change could cost lenders billions. According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, Visa and MasterCard – the two largest credit networks in the world […]

Final credit card rules have taken effect

For several months, various portions of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act have been slowly going into effect. Sometimes the new rules set up restrictions for how consumers can handle their credit card debt, others prevented lenders from raising rates without notice. Now, the latest and final provision, which limits fees lenders can […]

Credit card rates reach nine-year high

Many consumers may have had trouble paying off their credit card debt in recent months, and a new study has found that lenders are likely contributing to the problem with interest rates not seen since 2001. According to new statistics published by market research firm Synovate, interest rates on credit card debt have climbed considerably […]

Bank of America and Visa to test new smartphone payment plan

Many consumers have expressed a desire to use their smartphone to make credit card payments instead of traditional card swiping, and now two financial giants are going to offer them that service. Bank of America and Visa are going to begin trying out a new system that will allow users to simply tap their phones […]

Delinquency drops a good sign for the economy

Over the past several months, consumers made a more concerted effort to pay off their credit card debt with greater regularity, and now experts say that this trend is likely to continue. According to a reportfrom consumer economic news website The Street, the latest improvements in both delinquency – credit card balances that have gone […]

Survey finds consumers are more satisfied with credit cards

More Americans are satisfied with the relationship they share with their credit card lender for the first time in three years, after consumer sentiment toward these companies bottomed out last year. Overall satisfaction with credit cards was up after hitting a three-year low in 2009, but more consumers said they were less loyal to just […]

More credit card spending helps Target meet profit projections

Consumer spending declined in the second quarter of the year, but that didn’t stop a major retailer from seeing its profits increase significantly. Target, the second-biggest discount retailer in the U.S., posted a 14 percent profit in the second quarter of the year to meet analyst estimates, according to a report from Bloomberg. While the […]

Credit card lenders step up marketing to small business

The provisions of the new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act offered a number of protections for consumers who were trying to cope with credit card debt, and were designed to help them avoid lenders’ predatory practices. The same was not true of cards for small businesses. Because of this "loophole," credit cards are […]

More Americans closed accounts after paying off credit card debt

As Americans successfully paid off their credit card debt in greater numbers, it seems that they simply closed their accounts to keep themselves from accruing even more. According to the latest quarterly report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, American consumers were able to reduce their total nationwide debt to $11.7 trillion in […]