Written by Jai Borchgrevink on March 27, 2012.
When credit card holders are unable to pay their entire balance in full, they begin to incur interest on all of their purchases. As unsecured loans, credit card interest rates will never be as low as a secured loan such as a mortgage. Nevertheless, there are three things that cardholders can do to lower their interest rates.
Negotiate
Banks do not advertise the fact that, in some cases, they are willing to negotiate lower interest rates with their cardholders. To attempt to receive a lower rate, customers should contact their card issuer and ask to speak to a manager. Once the cardholder has expressed their dissatisfaction with the current interest rate, customers can inform the representative that they are considering moving their balance to a different bank that is offering a 0% promotional balance transfer.
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on March 25, 2012.
Having peaked at 66.0 in April, consumer confidence fell in the two following months, reaching 58.5 in June. The decline was mainly due to lower expectations, as consumers were concerned about the outlook for the economy, employment conditions and also inflation. The University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index declined sharply to 63.8 from 71.5. Moreover, labour market indicators remained soft. We thus forecast that the Conference Board’s consumer confidence will have slipped further. However, the decline could have been moderate compared with that of the UMI index. UMI’s final June consumer sentiment is expected to come in at about the preliminary level.
New home sales have been broadly flat over recent months. However, housing starts jumped nearly 15% mom in June, building permits strengthened in May and June, and the NAHB survey reports improved builder confidence in July. Again
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Written by Jai Borchgrevink on March 21, 2012.
While the rising cost of living continues to stretch household budgets to their limits, many people could be worried about balancing their finances. This is a highly important consideration, as taking steps to ensure outgoings do not exceed income can improve an individuals credit rating. New statistics from the British Bankers Association (BBA) indicate the nations consumers are successfully able to do this by focusing on their debt repayments. In January 2012, spending on credit cards hit £7.1 billion across the country, which is above the six-month average. However, it was noted this is more than offset by repayments, which would appear to suggest Brits are successfully able to maintain control of their finances and pay down debt at the same time as taking on credit. An estimated £118.3 million of purchases were made on plastic in December 2011, which dipped slightly to £115.9 million in the first month of 2012. I Full Post…
Written by Benjamin Woods on March 20, 2012.
This agency plans to ask the big banks how overdraft fees affect consumers, how overdraft fees are marketed and what information consumers receive. The purpose is to determine if consumer laws are being violated; new rules and or law suits could result.
If you have overdraft protection on your checking account and you don’t have enough funds to cover the checks you have written, you are charged a fee per check that the bank covered for you. The average overdraft fee per check is $35.00, which is similar to a short term loan.
In 2010, the banks were prohibited from automatically signing up customers for overdraft programs for debit card and ATM transactions. This didn’t apply to checks, online bill payments or recurring debits and didn’t limit how much the banks could charge. As a r
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on March 12, 2012.
Ever since the beginning of the new year, Ive been sick on and off. Id been feeling poorly for a while, but then I contracted strep throat. Since then, my immune system hasnt really recovered. During my yearly physical, I asked my health care professional about my increase in illness.
After pointing out that my glands were very swollen, an indicator that my immune system was working overtime and compromised, she suggested that I make a few changes in my diet. One of the changes was to add a multivitamin that would help provide me with some of the vitamins and minerals that boost the immune system.
While I generally try to eat healthy and get regular exercise (my efforts have fallen off since Ive been sick so much), and I havent felt a lack from not taking a vitamin, I decided to go ahead and take the multivitamin.
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Written by Jai Borchgrevink on March 12, 2012.
The market for hotel reward credit cards is extremely competitive, with each brand constantly updating their products to try to stay on top. To do so, banks and hotels look for new perks to offer customers in order to distinguish their hotel affiliated credit cards from each other. Chase has recently revised their Hyatt Credit card to make it more attractive than ever.
To start off with, new cardmembers will receive two award nights at any Hyatt property worldwide. This benefit is now received after their first purchase, with no minimum spending requirement. Subsequently, each purchase will earn one Hyatt Gold Passport point for each dollar spent, with three points being earned for charges at Hyatt properties. Cardholders will also receive Platinum status in Hyatt’s Gold Passport program. A
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Written by Benjamin Woods on March 9, 2012.
(Story updated throughout to make clear “clearly erroneous” YMLP trade won’t be busted. Also updated to include trading-volume data.)
A single aberrant trade today in the new MLP ETF launched on Tuesday won’t be canceled, even though the price of the security suddenly shot up 50 percent above the then-prevailing market price.
The trade will stand because the buyer didn’t file a complaint with the New York Stock Exchange—something that has to take place within 30 minutes of the event if a trade is to be reviewed, officials at the New York Stock Exchange told IndexUniverse.
The Yorkville High Income MLP ETF (NYSEArca: YMLP) traded at $30.12 per share at a time when the market was at around $20. A single market order for at least 100 shares was executed erroneously at that elevated price due to a fleeting electronic glitch, officials at Yorkville, the New York-based firm behind the new ETF, said.
NYSE policy dictates that in the event of a nonmarketwide “clearly erroneous trade,” the “harmed party”—in this case the buyer—has 30 minutes to file a trade review request if that trade is to be busted. NYSE officials said they
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