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The easy access to credit cards and bank overdrafts in recent years has made the UK public over-reliant on building up debt and not saving enough, an expert has claimed. People have also been using their credit cards to financially support themselves during emergencies and economic downturn, but this can mean unhealthy levels of debt.

Yvonne Goodwin, who is the managing director of professional advice firm Yvonne Goodwin Wealth Management Ltd, also argued that we could have been less inclined to save for future events because of the low interest rates on savings products in the last few months.

She found that people could change this in the coming weeks ahead by trying to improve the way they save. Read more…

Tags: Cards, Credit Cards

Stocks bobbed between positive and negative territory Friday, marking a soft end to a strong October before next week’s Federal Reserve meeting and midterm elections.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 16 points, or 0.1%, to 11098, in recent trading.

Chevron and Merck led to the downside. Chevron fell 2.9% after the oil major’s third-quarter earnings and revenue missed analysts’ expectations. Merck dropped 2.2% as the company’s earnings excluding items topped Wall Street estimates, but revenue fell short of forecasts.

Microsoft was among the Dow’s best performers with a 1.7% rise. The software giant’s fiscal first-quarter profit climbed 51%, benefiting from a continued strong response to the Windows 7 operating system and Office 2010.

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Tags: Dow, Dow Edges

While it may appear to be good news that credit card defaults have dropped, it also means more consumers have been shut out of the loan market.

According to a recent report from Moody’s Investors Services, the number of accounts that were charged off in September dropped to 8.9 percent from 10.03 percent the month before.

Furthermore, the number of defaulted cards has dropped 2.6 percentage points when compared to August of last year.

This is despite the fact the country’s unemployment rate has been near double digits for more than a year. However, this may also be an indication that consumers with stressed credit profiles are no longer clients of credit card issuers.

“Borrowers with relatively weak credit profiles have been charged off over the past couple of years, while issuers have tightened underwriting standards,” said Jeffrey Hibbs, an analyst at Moody’s.

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Tags: Market