February 21, 2008

Reminder to Watch for Credit Card Skimming

We ran across this video that discusses the dangers of eating out. Though this happened in April of 2007, you could still potentially be a victim of this scam. The scam involves credit card skimming, which is where someone who uses your credit card runs it through a device, which records your personal information from the card. They can then make a duplicate card, which appears to be and works just like your card. When used, the charges show up on your account.

The only real way to prevent this is to regularly check your credit and bank card statements and balances. If anything looks out of line, contact your bank immediately to report it.

If you have been the victim of identity theft and have difficulty correcting it revew these articles, Identity Theft Credit Issues and Steps for Reporting Credit Errors on some steps you can take to begin repairing your credit.

May 27, 2007

Credit Cards - Love/Hate Relationship In America

CL&P has a nice post with commentary on the fact that we as Americans love our credit cards but we don't like the results of missing payments or trying to correct errors. Read the whole post here which also includes the link to the Washington Post story it is based upon.

April 6, 2007

U.S. Senate Holds Hearing on Abusive Credit Card Industry Practices

If you have gotten in over your head with credit card debt, you are not alone. There has been a lot of discussion in the media in the last few weeks about the predatory lending habits of the credit card industry and its willingness to prey on those who can least afford to pay. This has largely been fueled by the on-going hearings before a U.S. Senate subcommittee looking into the abusive and predatory practices of the credit card industry.

At the forefront of this issue are the good folks at the National Consumer Law Center, which is a non-profit legal resource center working to protect vulnerable consumers and to promote marketplace justice. They are working hard to protect the rights of consumers in this country.

At a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing last week on the credit card industry, NCLC staff attorney Alys Cohen, testifying on behalf of a coalition of consumer organizations, blamed today's crisis in consumer debt on the predatory practices of the credit card industry. Calling for a standard of fairness from credit card companies, she charged that their tremendous profits came off the backs of our most vulnerable and financially distressed consumers. To read her testimony and learn more about the credit card industry’s practices, go to the NCLC website at http://www.nclc.org/ or directly to Ms. Cohen’s testimony on the site at http://www.nclc.org/action_agenda/credit_cards/content/CC_testimonyMarch07_.pdf .