Credit Card Listings

The Group of 20 major economies agreed on Saturday to shun competitive currency devaluations but stopped short of setting targets to reduce trade imbalances that are clouding global growth prospects.

At a meeting in South Korea, G20 finance ministers recognized the quickening shift in economic power away from Western industrial nations by striking a surprise deal to give emerging nations a bigger voice in the International Monetary Fund.

A closing communique contained no major policy initiative after a U.S. proposal to limit current account imbalances to 4 percent of gross domestic product, a measure aimed squarely at shrinking China’s surplus, failed to win broad enough backing.

Indeed, the United States itself came under fire from Germany and China for the super-loose monetary policy stance it has adopted to try to breathe life into the sluggish U.S. Read more…

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been six months since BP’s devastating oil rig explosion and subsequent leak took place. Although the oil was contained some time ago, the incident is far from resolved.

According to USA Today, scientists and government officials are still tallying the number of injured and dead wildlife and documenting the damage to shorelines and marshes. They say the work to fully restore the area could take years.

Lingering problems such as the oil spill remind me of credit. It takes hard work and discipline to build and maintain a good credit rating. But what happens when we have an emergency or don’t quite understand how credit works, and we find ourselves with bad credit, debt collection notices or even bankruptcy?

If those things happen, they tarnish our reputation, and not just briefly.

Read more…

When you want to declare bankruptcy, you’re probably going to explore all options, before you do so, and I don’t blame you!  If you’re in the process of declaring, I would highly recommend that you get a bankruptcy attorney to help you with all the needs that you may have.

While there are far more cons than there are pros when it comes down to the bankruptcy process, let’s compare the two, and you can decide in the end on what is going to work the best for you.

The Pros of Declaring

You’re going to get the creditors off your back.  No longer are they going to call you and harass you for your payments.  Keep in mind that some debt will stay with you forever, such as student loans.

Many states will allow you to keep your car, home, as well as other living essentials.  Make sure you know your state laws.

Now, you will be able to start from scratch.  Consider it a clean slate, where you can learn from your past mistakes.

If you file the Chapter 7 route, you may find that the process is relatively quicker than you thought, with an attorney.

The Cons of Declaring

This will significantly hurt your credit score.  You will find that it will be very hard to get any type of loan, whether it’s a car loan, or mortgage.

While it may be on your report for 7+ years, many employers today will run a credit check on you.  If you want to get a potential job, you will find that you could be denied employment.  Yes, it’s unfair, but its the way of life today.

All the credit cards that you have today are going to disappear.

Again, some loans such as student loans will stay with you.  You will find that many bills will stay with you, and bankruptcy will only get rid of credit card bills, etc.

The public will know, as your name will pop in the newspaper.

Should you declare?

I would recommend that you consult with an attorney.  While you can read until you pass out, there’s a lot of false information floating around the Internet.  It’s up to you to do decide on if you should declare, or fight hard to pay off your debts.

The authors of the report, published in America, wrote: “Cash payments are psychologically more painful than card payments, and this pain of payment can curb the impulsive responses to buy unhealthy food items.”

The authors conducted an analysis of actual shopping behaviour of 1,000 households over a period of six months. They found that shopping baskets had a larger proportion of food items rated as impulsive and unhealthy when shoppers used credit or debit cards rather than cash. In follow-up studies they found that people held back from putting unhealthy food in their baskets when paying in cash because of the “pain” of paying in cash, and that the effect is stronger in consumers who are more sensitive to the pain of payment.

“The notion that mode of payment can curb impulsive purchase of unhealthy food products is substantially important,” the authors wrote.

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Australian credit card balances have risen 16 per cent over the last three years, new figures show.

According to Reserve Bank (RBA) data, Aussies now owe a total of $47.7 billion on their credit cards.

The RBA said that $35.1 billion of this is accruing interest, up from $29.4 billion in October 2007.

Speaking to News Limited, CommSec chief economist Craig James argued that the data appears worse than it is by not accounting for the rise in population, rising wages and the growing number of accounts.

In fact, he suggested that consumers have become more astute and are now more likely to compare credit cards and other financial products than they were three years ago.

“People are more conservative and consumers are a lot more savvy now,” said Mr James.

“A trend we are seeing is people are more inclined to make a purchase on their debit card. Read more…

(Reuters) – Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei average tumbling over 2 percent, as investors fretted that China may be embarking on a policy tightening cycle after it surprised with its first interest rate rise since 2007.

The dollar stabilized, holding most of its gains made the previous day on the China news, with analysts saying further gains in the U.S. currency may be limited given expectations the Federal Reserve will ease policy again as early as next month.

Commodity prices also steadied after falling sharply on Tuesday.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan down 0.40 percent at 11:25 p.m.

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Think you know everything there is about credit? Wells Fargo has joined the 8th annual American Bankers Association Education Foundation’s (ABAEF) national Get Smart About Credit Day, taking place Oct. 21, to stress to you the importance of how to responsibly use it. In doing so, Wells Fargo is making available to you its educational video series on credit and an online quiz (https//labs.wellsfargo.com/), where you can determine how much you know about credit. The videos feature Wells Fargo team members providing information ranging from how credit works to what lenders look for when reviewing credit applications. The videos include “Understanding Credit” and are available at the Wells Fargo “Smarter Credit Center” (https//www.wellsfargo.com/smarter_credit/index), “Financial Education Center” (https//www.wellsfargo.com/financial-education/index), and YouTube channel (http//www.youtube.com/user/wellsfargo).

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Since August, much of the world has been captivated with the story of the 33 Chilean miners trapped inside a collapsed mine. From Aug. 5 until this week, the men have lived half a mile below the earth’s surface in an area the size of a small apartment.

Worker Patricio Sepulveda is lowered in the rescue capsule “Fenix” to help retrieve trapped miners from the San Jose mine near Copiapo, Chile on Oct. 13, 2010.
Source: Hugo Infante/Government of ChileAt first, nobody was sure if they even survived the collapse, but they were found, and then it was just a matter of figuring out how to get to them out. In the mean time, a small borehole was drilled that allowed officials to deliver supplies. Read more…

(Reuters) – U.S. banks will be in the limelight next week as several household names report earnings and investors worry a forced halt to foreclosure proceedings could hit the sector and end the recent rally.

Bank shares fell sharply on Friday on very high volume, continuing a slide from the previous day. Although recovering some of their losses, Bank of America (BAC.N) shares hit their lowest in over a year, while the KBW bank index .BKX fell 2.4 percent.

Shares of Bank of America, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, have fallen 9 percent during the week.

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