News & information for the smart consumer
Question by The Coach: Where can I find out what the amount of the total consumer debt (credit cards ect.) is in the USA?
I want to know how much America owes credit card companies.
Best answer:
Answer by Haley
google it.
Add your own answer in the comments!
The Treasury Department announced this morning a pilot program that will provide tax refunds on prepaid cards for low- to moderate-income filers — some of whom don’t have a bank account.
Uncle Sam will be sending letters next week to 600,000 taxpayers, inviting them to sign up for the MyAccountCard Visa Prepaid Debit Card. The program is expected to get refunds into the hands of taxpayers faster than the traditional paper check.
“It enables taxpayers to get their tax refunds fast without paying steep fees for refund anticipation loans or refund anticipation checks," says Jean Ann Fox, with the Consumer Federation of America in a prepared statement.
Lauren Saunders, with the National Consumer Law Center adds: “The MyAccountNow card is a well-designed prepaid card that can be a good alternative to bank accounts. It has low fees, free access to customer service, and can be used year round for routine financial transactions.”
The cards will be able to be used at more than 15,000 ATMs without triggering a fee. If taxpayers use a machine out of the network, the fee will be .50, plus any charged assessed by the ATM owner.
DEMO Spring 2010 Tuesday March 23 Consumer and Enterprise Technologies
Image by The DEMO Conference
DEMO Spring 2010 Tuesday March 23 Consumer and Enterprise Technologies
DEMO is the Launch Pad for Emerging Technology!
Visit: www.demo.com
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/demotweets
#democonf #demospring10
#startup
#entrepreneur
DEMO is the Launch Pad for Emerging Technology!
Visit: www.demo.com
DEMO Spring 2010 Tuesday March 23 Consumer and Enterprise Technologies
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/demotweets
#democonf #demospring10
#startup
#entrepreneur
Debit cards get absolutely no respect.
Talk with enough personal finance experts and you can collect a laundry list of reasons why credit cards are better than debit cards. For some consumers, a credit card is better than a debit card, but if average credit card debt statistics are any indication, many consumers would be better off using debit.
You can’t fall into the debt spiral with a debit card. Credit cards offer all sorts of great perks and rewards, some of which are matched by debit cards, but they are also a gateway into a world of debt. If you can’t pay off a credit card bill in full each month, you’re paying double digit interest rates. Those double digit interest rates are liable to keep you in debt for a very long time and it is too high a price to pay for those perks and rewards. Getting 1% cashback on your purchases and paying 18.99% in interest charges is not a good deal.
Some debit cards offer cashback. If you look hard enough, some debit cards are offering cashback just like credit cards. PerkStreet Financial offers 2-5% and ING Direct, for a limited time, offers cashback on their Electric Orange debit card. If cashback is the only reason you’re using a credit card, consider looking around for alternatives.
You are always approved. Since a debit card is merely another way to access your own money, no credit is involved. Your credit score takes a hit with every new credit card application, whether or not you’re approved. You don’t build any credit with a debit card though, as it’s off the credit radar.
When it comes to the things that matter, such as fraud protection, debit and credit cards are more similar than they are different. The crucial difference is that with a credit card, you can spend money you don’t have (which is exactly what they want) and pay for it for quite a long time.
Jim writes about personal finance at Bargaineering.com.
Canal and Consumer’s Quarry
Image by Tom Gill (lapstrake)
The Illinois and Michigan Canal runs through several limestone quarries in Lemont, Illinois. The Consumer’s Quarry, shown here in the distance behind the towpath, has long since filled with water.
Lowe’s is proposing to settle in the tainted drywall class action lawsuit with gift cards. The gift cards will be , 0, or 00. Never mind those who entire homes, way of life, and most of their possessions and electronics ruined or contaminated by the sulfur-emitting drywall. Here, how about a discount on a new showerhead?
Proposed Lowe’s Drywall Settlement Offers Small Payouts to Victims, Big Fees for Attorneys [ProPublica]
the consumer society is happy now (for a while)
Image by *MarS
Here’s a task that new parents should tackle after the baby shower but before the thank you notes: Filling out product registration cards.
Once an opportunity for companies to glean marketing information from consumers, product registration cards now a means for manufacturers to promptly and directly notify families and caregivers about recalls. Under new federal law, the registration cards must be included with many infant and toddler nursery items constructed after June 2010.
“Product registration cards will not be effective if they remain in the box,” said Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety and senior counsel for the public watchdog group Consumer Federation of America. “This only asks for the minimum information necessary to contact you.”
The new requirement is part of the 2008 Consumer Products Safety Improvement law, which also requires the creation of mandatory standards for many durable infant and toddler products. Updated standards for cribs have just been proposed and are expected to be adopted by the end of the year, for example.
Every week at least two juvenile or infant products are recalled, and 80 children are killed each year by juvenile products, said Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger, a nonprofit dedicated to improving children’s product safety.
“These are deaths involving the very products that are intended to keep their children safe,” she said.
Notifying consumers directly about a recall of a product they purchased or received will help improve their effectiveness, said Inez Tenenbaum, chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Recall announcements are posted on the CPSC’s website as well as some manufacturers and retailers, and also e-mailed to those who sign up for the CPSC’s mailing list, but those are indirect ways to inform customers of hazards.
“Take the time to fill it out,” she said last week when federal officials announced the initiative. “It is so important for you and your child’s safety. It will be successful as long as the consumer participates.”
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