As with many recent events that have garnered a lot of news coverage, criminal opportunists have taken advantage of the publicity surrounding the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to trick unsuspecting consumers out of their money, according to Consumer Reports. The primary way in which the scam artists operate is by masquerading as companies participating […]
The rate at which Americans repaid credit card debt during the month of April improved strongly, according to Moody’s, which announced in a recent report that charge-offs declined by 30 basis points to finish well below the March rate. Moody’s analyst Jeff Hibbs said that "April’s improved charge-off rate, combined with our base-case expectation for […]
Legitimate debt consolidation and consumer credit counseling firms can be a huge help to U.S. consumers struggling to deal with mounting debt, but it can take some careful research to find the very best ones, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Journal says that those who are trying to get out from under more […]
Despite a blizzard of recent legislation aimed at curbing recent excesses in the industry and help people consolidate debt, just under 50 percent of American consumers surveyed by research firm GfK say that they want the government to leave the financial services sector alone. GfK financial services managing director Douglas Cottings said that "Americans are […]
While many American families have struggled recently to balance their competing financial priorities, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that a major one – college costs – can be more easily dealt with by working the financial aid system. Wall Street Journal writer Jane Kim says that "if your financial circumstances have changed materially at […]
If debt consolidation options look too good to be true, they probably are, according to a recent report from Consumer Affairs. The consumer advocacy group says that there are several tell-tale signs that a given organization’s offer of debt consolidation could be a rip-off. Any offer that promises to settle debt for much less than […]
A new website run by the Federal Reserve will serve as a clearinghouse for all credit card plan details for companies that serve over 10,000 customers, allowing consumers looking to consolidate debt to have easy access to important information. More than 300 credit card companies have plans listed on the website, which went live on […]
American consumers are beginning to take a rosier view of their economic prospects as the Confidence Board’s consumer confidence index jumped for the third straight month, reaching 85.3 for the month of May. While consumers were still much more likely to describe current economic conditions as bad, rather than good, the differential between the two […]
While most bankers believe that the general public’s view of their industry has lightened considerably since the onset of the financial crisis, the consumers themselves were far less positive, according to the results of a survey from BAI and Finacle. BAI Research managing director Ajay Nagarkatte said that "while consumers across geography, gender and generations […]
The surging markets of recent years created unrealistically high expectations for stock performance, according to U.S. News and World Report columnist Rick Newman, creating an economic climate in which consumers were subject to punishing levels of debt and creating a serious need for credit counseling services. Newman writes that "our instinct during a market drop […]