Credit Debt Consolidation Via Credit Counseling

People today continue to struggle with credit card debt, but why? There are many ways to help your financial situation. Credit card debt consolidation without damaging your credit long term, without bankruptcy is one way. Lower your interest rates and maintain your credit card payments on a monthly basis without actually having to call your credit card companies. Consumer credit counselors will work with your creditors and help you obtain an interest rate that's manageable. Sick of paying 24% for a loaf of bread you bought two months ago. Consumer credit counseling helps you lower your rates to where you can see the light at the end of the credit tunnel.

Credit Card Debt Consolidation - Did YOU know?

Did you know that paying your credit card earlier than the due date will help you save money? It's true. Credit Card companies charge interest on a daily basis, so cardholders who carry a balance from month to month will actually pay more over the long run. For Example, if you carry a balance of $10,000 at 18% and make a minimum payment of $350, which is the typical minimum needed by the credit card industry at 3.5%. And you wait until the last day to make the payment you are being charged interest of $9,989, but if you make the payment on the 2nd day of the billing cycle you are paying 18% on $9,661. This will save you around $60 a year, or enough to buy a combo meal a month.

Credit Card Debt Consolidation by Debt Settlement Part 2

If you are like most consumers out there and just want out of the debt without the hassle of dealing with interest rates, you should look into debt settlement. Yes, debt settlement does have a negative feel to your credit, but when you are able to obtain financial freedom, is there really a price behind it? Or like in the commercials…its priceless!! I think debt settlement is one of the most under rated ways to help eliminate consumer debt in the market today. We had a client who owns his own garage business and was paying upwards of 25% on a daily basis to keep it open. He turned his debt over to us and we were able to keep him in business and settle his debt for 24% of what he actually owed the creditor. By the way, we still get our cars serviced at his garage.

Recurring charges follow your cards

If you have ever purchased an Entertainment Book, you need to listen to Trudy Fletcher's story.
Advertisement

The Entertainment Book is a compilation of discount and 2-for-1 coupons that are valid during the year.

The 2010 Entertainment Book for Fort Myers and Naples is now on sale for $35. According to the Web site ad, it contains more than $15,000 in local savings on dining, attractions and shopping.

Fletcher purchased an Entertainment Book in 2007 on an automatic renewal plan. Every year, she would be shipped a new one.

But Fletcher wasn't pleased with the 2009 book.

"This past year I found the book totally unhelpful and decided I would not get one for the upcoming year," Fletcher said.

She received two notices from Entertainment Publishing, telling her the credit card number it had on file was no good, and if she wanted to continue to receive the book, she should contact them.

The credit card account Fletcher used two years earlier was no longer valid. But because she didn't want the Entertainment Book anyway, why bother to contact the company because it didn't have her new account number?

Because, it turns out, Entertainment Publishing would charge her anyway, as Fletcher discovered when she saw a charge on her credit card for the 2010 Entertainment Book.

"I immediately called the company ... and said I didn't want the book and asked how the company got my credit card number since the one they had on file had been cancelled," Fletcher said. "I was told that the ... company will research to find new credit card numbers as long as the customer still has a credit card with the same bank."

OK, did you get that? Is your jaw dropping the way mine did?

How did this happen and who authorized it?

I called Entertainment to see if the company knew, and although in a statement the company apologized for any inconvenience this caused Fletcher, they provided no answers about how the charge got on her account.

"We are currently looking into Trudy Fletcher's specific incident to clarify what might have occurred," the statement read. "We will work with her directly to resolve this matter."

I'm translating that as, "It's none of your business."

It was Bank of America, where Fletcher has her Visa card account, that solved this mystery for me.

"If a transaction is flagged as a recurring charge and an authorization comes in on the old card, the transaction will be approved and then posted to the new card," spokeswoman Christina Beyer wrote.

There's two lessons to be learned from this tale.

First, closing a charge account obviously is not enough when you want to cease doing business with a vendor. You have to contact them and get them to stop billing you and sending the merchandise.

Second, avoid automatic purchase programs and subscription services that allow vendors to charge your credit card or withdraw money from your checking account.

With credit tight, borrowers turn to peers

With banks tightening their lending standards and credit card companies raising interest rates, borrowers are increasingly turning to an unusual source of money: other people.

Despite a recent regulatory hurdle, websites that facilitate peer-to-peer lending, in which people--often strangers -- lend money to each other with no involvement from a bank, are growing in popularity. Borrowers usually get loans with lower rates than they would from banks or credit cards, while investors often get higher returns than they would from traditional bank products such as certificates of deposit.

Analysts expect the industry to grow as customers who face rising credit card rates search for new ways to refinance their debt. Many investors, meanwhile, have lost confidence in the rocky stock market and have sought other places to park their cash. Membership in peer-to-peer lending groups is climbing fast, and so is the money involved. About $282 million US in peer-to-peer loans were made in 2006, according to Celent, a Bostonbased research firm. By 2010, the firm expects such loans to grow to $5.8 billion.

The industry has gained so many followers that the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year ruled that companies engaging in peer-to-peer lending must register with the agency because the loans are considered securities. After temporarily suspending their operations for several months, Prosper and Lending Club completed its registrations. Loanio and IOU Central have filed their papers, an SEC spokesman said. Others are expected to follow.

"With this credit crunch, the timing couldn't have been better for this industry to really gain a foothold and grow," said Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com and co-author of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Person-to-Person Lending. "It offers a viable option for folks who are getting turned down for credit elsewhere. There's a lot of people fed up with banks. From the investment side, that is intriguing. When you can get nine to 10 per cent returns in this market . . . that's pretty amazing." Since registering with the SEC in October, Lending Club has gained 300,000 members. In January, it oversaw$1.8 million in loans. Last month, $3.4 million in loans were made.

Between the time it launched in 2006 and registered with the SEC in July, Prosper has grown to 850,000 members and facilitated $180 million in loans.

Officials at the lending sites said much of their increased traffic has come from borrowers whose interest rates on their credit cards have spiked. Card issuers have been raising rates in anticipation of a new law, set to take effect in February, that could hinder rate increases. During the housing boom, many consumers were able to get out of their card debt through home-equity lines of credit. But home values have plummeted in many areas, leaving borrowers without a source of money they once fell back on. About 50 per cent of Prosper's loans go to borrowers trying to consolidate credit card debt, said Chris Larsen, Prosper's chief executive. Prosper's loans can come with interest rates as low as four per cent. "With their credit card debt, it could take 20 years to pay it off," Larsen said.

Other peer-to-peer lending sites operate differently. Prosper allows lenders to bid on the interest rates for borrowers, which results in low-rate loans. Virgin Money codifies loans between friends and families. Other companies specialize in particular types of loans. TuitionU, for example, helps students get loans to pay for school.

The sites typically vet borrowers by pulling their credit reports and requiring minimum credit scores. But the loans do not come without risk. Lending Club's borrowers have a default rate of about three per cent. Prosper's default rate is about five per cent. If a borrower misses payments, the sites report him to credit bureaus. Officials at the sites point out that credit card default rates are in the double digits.

Still, Mark Schwanhausser, a research analyst at California-based Javelin Strategy and Research who has studied peer-to-peer lending sites, said investors should be vigilant for signs that borrowers are struggling to repay their loans.

"It's not a 'buy it and tuck it away' kind of thing," he said. "I think you want to pay attention."

Victim comes face-to-face with identity thief

Was it fate that brought the thief to her that day? Hubris? Malice perhaps?

It was impossible to know. Yet there was Michelle McCambridge, a 23-year-old J.C. Penney sales clerk, looking at the woman who not long before had stolen thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, video-game consoles and other merchandise by claiming to be Michelle McCambridge.

As their eyes locked, McCambridge felt herself go numb, a mix of adrenaline and anger. The woman in front of her stood impassively.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it's her, I can't believe she's there," McCambridge recalled thinking. "I remember wanting to go and knock her out myself."

The odds of an identity thief trying to pull a scam that involves one of her own victims must be 1 million to 1, federal authorities said. But in this case, McCambridge not only clued into the doppelganger, but her quick response helped topple an identity theft ring that had targeted more than 40 victims around Washington.

"These are some of the most difficult cases to work because they're so ... time-consuming. But when Michelle recognized her and pulled the (store surveillance) video, it gave us a fighting chance," said Joseph Velling, the special agent for the Social Security Administration who led the investigation.

Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing frauds. In 2008, the Federal Trade Commission received 313,982 complaints. But law enforcement authorities said that an estimated 65 percent of identity theft victims, probably mindful of the dismal odds of catching the culprit, never even call police.

McCambridge's difficulty started in January when the sociology student received a call from her mother asking about several credit card bills. McCambridge didn't know what her mother was talking about. The charges came from stores at which McCambridge had never opened an account.

"She said, 'You have a bill from Sears here.' She opened it and it was for several thousand dollars worth of jewelry.

"Then she called me back a few minutes later. 'What about Kohl's?' And then there was J.C. Penney, Toys-R-Us, Babies-R-Us. Those were all on the same day. I didn't get a statement from them. It was like, 'Congratulations, here's your new card.' "

Someone who produced a driver's license with McCambridge's name on it and who knew her Social Security number had taken out lines of credit at all the stores within just a day or two in December.

There were four $500 gift cards purchased at Penney's and others from Home Depot - about $13,000 worth of gift cards and merchandise in all.

McCambridge immediately called the retailers to report the fraud. She asked the Penney's security department to pull the surveillance recordings for the date that the identity thief had come in to apply for credit. She made similar requests to the other stores the next day.

When Velling, a friend of her father's, looked at the videos, he noticed they had one thing in common: a young black woman with distinctive, heavy-framed rectangular eyeglasses, a high forehead, a small waist and large hips.

McCambridge studied the still photographs that Velling had compiled.

Before the advent of digital video, stores routinely taped over their surveillance footage every 30 days. Even now, however, victims rarely call retailers to request the images; neither do police, who often must try to trace a single case of credit fraud that is rooted in a ring operating in several cities.

That task has become even more difficult as identity thieves become more sophisticated.

"The credit card companies have eliminated a lot of the ways that (security) can be compromised," Velling said. "But there's a huge problem now, and that's instant credit. You get in-store credit and you've defeated all the ... security. But it means you've got to move fast, because the credit card's going to get mailed to the victim, and they're going to know about it in three or four days."

The woman standing at McCambridge's cash register a few weeks after the surveillance photos had been obtained was applying for instant credit to purchase several garments under a different name. "She said, 'I want to apply for one of your J.C. Penney cards. How does that work, and what do you need?' " McCambridge recalled.

And that struck her as strange. Most of the time it's the clerk pushing instant credit on the customer, not the other way around.

"I said, 'We just need your ID and for you to fill out the application.' I went to grab it and, at that point, I really looked at her. I was thinking, 'You have exactly the kind of black-frame glasses as the woman in the picture ... the exact same high forehead.'

"I started getting this fishy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then I looked over the counter, and she had the exact same body shape as the woman in the picture."

McCambridge raised her hand to cover her badge so the woman wouldn't see her name, and then excused herself to go to another cash register, where she called security. The woman, appearing antsy, made a phone call, and a manager was sent out to take her credit application while store surveillance cameras zeroed in on her.

The suspect produced a fake driver's license bearing the name of a woman whose purse had been stolen from her car a few days earlier. She also had the woman's checkbook. The Penney's manager kept her talking for a while, but she left before Tukwila police arrived.

While scanning surveillance videos from parking lots of the stores where McCambridge's identity was used, Velling and his partner, Special Agent Matt Lavelle, had noticed many showed the same black Cadillac Escalade - prompting them to suspect the work of a single ring.

They started comparing them to other identity fraud cases working their way through the courts. Lavelle was looking over one of them - a man who had tried to open a fraudulent instant credit account at a Kohl's store in February - when he recognized the name of a woman from a previous case he had been involved in.

Going back to that identity theft, the agents started tracing all the suspects connected to the case.

"Buried within one of those old police reports was the name of a woman, Stephanie Locke, and we requested her booking photo. It matched the video we had from the identity theft of Michelle McCambridge," Velling said.

Finally, the mysterious woman in the rectangular glasses had a name and an address.

In the end, Locke and four others were indicted by a federal grand jury. Locke pleaded guilty in June in U.S. district court in Seattle to bank fraud and Social Security number misuse. She faces up to 35 years in prison when she is sentenced this month.

Two other defendants also have entered guilty pleas.

Federal agents still haven't answered the question of how the ring obtained McCambridge's identity to begin with and who produced the high-quality documents that managed to fool so many retailers. That investigation is ongoing, they said.

Velling said identity theft victims must do more than report the fraud to the banks or department stores and put an alert on their credit report. As McCambridge did, they need to ask stores to hold video surveillance of the transactions for police.

"I'm still trying to figure out how they did it. I mean, I understand how they got the other woman's Social Security number - they stole her purse. But how did they get mine?" McCambridge said.

"And then she walks in the store like that? The whole thing is just completely unbelievable," she said. "I feel like I should go buy a Lotto ticket or something. Really, what are the chances that something like that's going to happen?"

Credit card scammers covet 3-digit security code

Credit card scams are nothing new, but here's a new twist on them. In this case, scammers already have your credit card information, but need the card's security code, the three-digit number located on the back of your credit card a vendor uses to ensure the card's actually in your possession.

Here's how the scam works. Someone calls you claiming to be from your credit card company's security and fraud department. The caller already has your credit card number by some form of identity theft. He or she may provide a badge number and tells you your card's been flagged for unusual purchasing activity.

The caller recites your address and asks you to verify it so a statement can be sent showing your account was credited. He or she also states a fraud investigation will be started, tells you to call the 800 number on the back of your card if you have questions and gives you a six-digit control number to refer to.

Finally, the scammer needs to verify the credit card is in your possession and hasn't been stolen and asks you to recite the three-digit security number on the back. Once read, the caller thanks you, asks if there's anything else he or she can do and hangs up. Sounds harmless, right?

Unfortunately, now the scammer has your verified address and credit card's security code.

The Better Business Bureau advises the best protection against schemes like this is to always verify the legitimacy of requests for personal information. While you may be asked to confirm your identity, your credit card company won't ask you to verify information it has on file, disclose security codes or prove the card is in your possession.

Financial counselors 'overwhelmed'

Val Sherwood has seen it all when it comes to people in financial crisis because of overwhelming credit card debt.

From the college student with $50,000 in credit card bills to the retired senior whose minimum credit card payments exceed his Social Security income, people of all types have come seeking help from Sherwood and the financial counselors at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Central Southern Tier, where Sherwood is branch manager. The office is at the Metrocenter, Binghamton.

"I have two full-time counselors," Sherwood said. "Each does seven to eight appointments a day, and we are booked out for 10 days. It's overwhelming."

But starting Feb. 22, new marketing restrictions and other rules will take effect that aim to result in fewer plastic-driven shopping sprees for consumers below the age of 21.

Under the new rules, credit card companies will no longer be able to give out free gifts in exchange for filled-out credit card applications. Card issuers will be required to disclose any marketing contracts they have with colleges. And Americans under the age of 21 will be required to prove they have a source of income to pay off any charges, or will need to get a co-signer before they can get a card.

Consumer advocates say the rules should help bring down credit card debt among students, who by the time they are seniors in college, on average had balances of $4,100 last year, according to a Sallie Mae survey. That's up from $2,900 in 2004.

Most have four or more cards, and only 17 percent said they always pay off their full balances every month, according to Sallie Mae.

"These new rules are long overdue," Sherwood said. "It's going to protect them in the long run from getting in over their head because it happens really quickly."

And it's not just people who are simply spending too much on "wants" versus "needs," she said.

"We are hearing more and more from people of all ages that it's simply the cost of living is increasing so fast," Sherwood said. "They are not getting raises substantial enough to take up that slack. I have elderly folks who are trying to choose between buying food and buying medicine."

Two tasty balance transfer deals

This means if you took out a 0% transfer deal, then made a purchase which
attracted a rate of 15.9%, any payments you make towards your credit card
debt would pay off the balance transfer first, leaving your purchase to
rack up high ...
<http://www.lovemoney.com/news/credit-cards/two-tasty-balance-transfer-deals-3213.aspx>

VivoTech tacks on $8.6M for wireless credit-card transactions

VivoTech, provider of infrastructure for wireless credit-card transactions,
just added $8.6 million to a now $40 million third round of ...
<http://venturebeat.com/2009/02/18/vivotech-tacks-on-86m-for-wireless-credit-card-transactions/>

How to Apply for a Business Credit Card

The first thing to be taken into account is what kind of business building
business credit card you are looking for. Research your options and read
the fine print. Even within a financial institution, you may find a myriad
of offers for ...
<http://www.squirrelandporcupine.com/artists-studios/1189>

Benefits of Secured Credit Cards

If you've never had a credit card, secured cards are a good first step in
building credit. "A secured card is most useful for the person starting
out on ...
<http://www.cardratings.com/creditcardnews/2009/02/benefits-of-secured-credit-cards.html>

How Identity Theft Occurs

Please use common sense with your credit cards, credit card bills, and
other personal identity information. As you can see from the above article,
Identity Theft is something to take into serious consideration. ...
<http://personalsafetyebook.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/how-identity-theft-occurs/>

The real story about credit card rewards

Here are some more tips, don't over spend just so you get the reward and
select a credit card with rewards that benefit you. For an example, if you
travel a ...
<http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=9578740&nav=HMO6>

Low Rate Credit Card Options To Make Purchases And Save Money

Many credit card issuers allow you to make a balance transfer from another
card to take advantage of your new lower rate on an existing balance. This
way when you decide to make your balance transfer, you can pay off the
other card and ...
<http://www.bisnis-review.com/2008/12/low-rate-credit-card-options-to-make.html>

Woman arraigned over theft, use of credit card, checks

Teairra Boyd, 22, whose last known address was in the 800 block of East
Kerr Avenue, Urbana, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of residential
burglary, misuse of credit card and identity theft.
<http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2008/12/02/woman_arraigned_over_theft_use_of_credit_card_checks>

Illegal Use of a Credit Card - Two Charged

Albertville police were called, and after some investigation, Amanda Brown
and Keshia Nelson were arrested and chaged with illegal use of a credit
card. ...
<http://www.waaytv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9437918>

Credit card fraud hits R420m

Credit card fraud cost South Africa R420-million in the past year and has
increased by 146 percent, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre
...
<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20081124130533934C493734>

Choosing Your Credit Card

As you probably already know, there are many credit cards out there. The one you choose however, should reflect your lifestyle and your ideal spending amounts. If you are looking for the best possible deal and the best company for your credit card, you’ll obviously need to look around at what you have to choose from and what works best for you.

The first thing you’ll need to decide when choosing your credit card, is why you need one in the first place. Some people choose to get a credit card for cash flow purposes. With a credit card, you can make purchases and buy things, leaving your paycheck or other source of income in your bank account to draw interest. This way, your money will continue to grow while you continue to buy the things you need. Then at the end of the month, simply pay your bill.

Others will choose to get a credit card and use it for instant cash purposes. This way, they can use their credit card at an ATM and get instant cash, which is great for travel or going on a long and extended vacation. If this is why you want a credit card, you should look for one that has the lowest rate possible for instant cash transactions.

With a credit card, you’ll also need to think about the payments. You’ll need to decide if you want to pay the balance in full each month, or only the required amount. When you select your credit card, you should look at the introductory rates, balance transfer rates, and other offers that may apply to new credit cards and new holders. Some will offer you truly amazing deals, especially if you have good credit.

Another important area to look at when choosing your credit card is the incentives. There are several cards out there that will give you incentives, such as reward points and even cash back with purchases that you can use towards paying back what you owe. There are several incentives out there with credit cards, all you have to do is look around and compare.

The key area you’ll need to look at and compare is the APR (Annual Percentage Rate). The APR is what you will pay on what you purchase when the incentive period runs out. APR rates will vary among credit cards, so it is always in your best interest to compare and shop around. The lower APR rate you get, the better off you’ll be.

Another concern with choosing your credit card is the minimum payment amount. Most minimum payment balances will start around 3%, although some can be lower while others tend to be quite a bit higher. The interest free period is a concern as well, as you will obviously want to choose the longest period that you can keep the payments down.

When you make that final decision and choose your credit card, you should always make sure that you know exactly what you are getting. Credit cards are great to have, although they can lead to a downfall if you don’t choose them carefully. If you put some time and research into choosing your credit card, you’ll find the best one for you. As long as you take care of your credit card and pay the bill on time, you’ll help raise your credit and eventually be able to purchase even bigger things - such as a car or even a house.

Banks cut credit card limits, even for prime borrowers

About 20 percent of domestic banks, on net, reported having reduced credit
limits on existing credit card accounts to prime borrowers… ...
<http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/running_small_business/archives/2008/11/banks_cut_credi.html>

Credit Card Processing Company Hires Bankcard Security Expert

Mr. David Press is a recognized expert in the field of controlling the
risks associated with credit card processing. He has joined Integrity
Payment Systems ...
<http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/11/prweb1551534.htm>

American Express to cut jobs

Grand Forks Herald American Express to cut jobs: In a stark
acknowledgment of the tough times ahead in the credit card industry,
American Express Co. ...
<http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=91411&section=Business>