Compare Credit Cards Offers

NEW YORK—U.S. stocks declined Friday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its second consecutive week of losses as concerns about economic growth weighed on investor sentiment.

The blue-chip index lost 57.59 points, or 0.56%, to finish at 10213.62, leaving it in negative territory for the week, month and year. The Dow remains down 2.1% for the year.

The Nasdaq Composite rose less than one point to 2179.76 while the Standard & Poor’s 500-share index slipped 3.94 points to 1071.69.

A weaker euro on Friday reminded investors of lingering sovereign-debt concerns and added to the week’s push-and-pull between encouraging corporate news and weaker-than-expected economic data. A

Read more…

By most accounts, the average American household carries more than $8,000 in credit card debt.  At an average interest rate of 14%, a person who pays the monthly minimum would need 27 years to get out of credit card debt at a cost of $10,310.  What happens when that rate jumps to 29.99%?  According to the credit card calculator at the Federal Reserve’s website, making the minimum payments will keep you in debt for life.

While the Federal Reserve’s calculator uses 2% as the monthly minimum payment amount, many credit card companies require minimum payments of 3% to 4%.  Thus, if a person paid 3% of the initial debt ($240 every month) the time to repay an $8000 balance with a 29.99% interest rate shrinks to slightly more than 6 years and will rack up $9520 in interest expenses.

Clearly, paying only the minimum amount due on a credit card with a high interest rate is an uphill battle.  And when that interest rate is 29.99%, it is a near impossibility.  In the past, only consumers who failed to make payments were slapped with 29.99% interest rates.  However, many Citi credit card customers are opening up their most recent credit card statements and finding that, for no apparent reason, their rates are now 29.99%.  These people may never know a debt free life unless they are able to negotiate more reasonable rates with Citibank or enlist the services of a certified credit counselor.

Paying the minimum, however, is not an option unless you know the location of the fountain of youth.

To accept credit cards at your place of business, you must agree not just to pay standard transaction fees, but to also maintain standards consistent with all other merchants in your processing network. That means covering some of the risk against fraudulent transactions, plus paying interchange fees as high as 4%. As a result, some merchants have introduced policies designed to push some transactions away from credit, or to force credit card users to cover higher overhead costs. All three of these prohibited “checkout rules” pop up from time to time:

Minimum/Maximum Credit Card Charge Amounts

It’s not uncommon to see signs at small stores and cafes proclaiming a “minimum charge card purchase” of $5, $10, or even $20. Likewise,

Read more…