To Avoid Poverty, Share a Home with Family

Posted on November 4, 2011 by admin1

p>Moving in with family members might provide fodder for Hollywood comedies, but it turns out that for many Americans, it serves a pretty serious purpose: protection against poverty. A recent report from the Pew Research Center likens the phenomenon to an “anti-poverty program” that Americans are enacting to insulate themselves from the dark side of the Great Recession.

[In Pictures: 10 Ways to Start Earning Extra Money Now]
In fact, Pew found that that there are more multigenerational households today than ever before in modern history, with a total of about 51.4 million Americans living with [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

USA Technologies Maintains Credit Card and Visa Branded Debit Card Rate Structure for Small-Ticket, Self-Service Markets – BusinessWeek

Posted on November 4, 2011 by admin1

p>USA Technologies Maintains Credit Card and Visa Branded Debit Card Rate Structure for Small-Ticket, Self-Service Markets
MALVERN, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 4, 2011– USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAT), a leader of wireless, cashless payment and M2M telemetry solutions for self-serve small-ticket retail industries, today announced that there will be no increase in its credit and debit processing rates to its customers. The Company will continue to accept Visa- branded debit and pre-paid cards in addition to all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express at its current processing rates.
“As a leading provider of cashless payments [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Making Sound Balance Transfer Credit Card Choices

Posted on November 4, 2011 by admin1

A report from Business Insider

Image: Jo Jakeman via Flickr

Chase recently unveiled a new version of its primary value card, Slate from Chase.
This limited time promotion offers a unique benefit that sets it apart from all other 0% balance transfer credit cards: It waives the typical 3% balance transfer fee most major credit card companies charge consumers when they transfer debt.
The obvious benefit of a no fee balance transfer is the upfront savings on transaction fees which, at 3%, would cost a consumer $ 30 for every $ 1,000 transferred or a not [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

Best credit cards for holiday shopping

Posted on November 3, 2011 by admin1

A report from Fox BusinessIf you think you’ll need some help from your credit cards this holiday season, you’re not alone. FedEx predicts a 10 percent increase in year-over-year shipments this holiday season, signaling a boom in online bargain hunting.
But you probably won’t give up shopping at your favorite retail stores, either. American retailers will hire nearly half a million seasonal workers to help with this year’s gift-giving crush, according to the National Retail Federation. In all, the NRF estimates that we’ll spend 2.8 percent more on our holiday gifts, travel, and meals this [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

What’s Your Relationship with “George”?

Posted on November 2, 2011 by admin1

p>As I interviewed creativity experts for my story this week on right-brain ways to manage money, I realized that I’m far from being the only person who prefers sketching with colored pencils to typing numbers into a spreadsheet. And it turns out there are a lot of money management strategies that incorporate an artistic element, which can make it easier to get organized and ultimately to make better financial choices. Some of my favorite ideas highlighted in the article include creating a video of money goals, drawing progress on piece of paper, and making [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Credit cards with chips: Are the urban legends true?

Posted on November 2, 2011 by admin1

A report from Fox BusinessNew technology usually comes with its share of consumer concerns. It’s no surprise that urban legends and myths have proliferated about the new EMV chip credit cards. Here are a few of the most common, along with our expert opinion as to their veracity:
PINs don’t matter.
True.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge discovered that a fraudster with access to the right equipment could fool a merchant terminal into thinking that any PIN is valid. In the United States, merchants won’t be required to collect PINs. Overseas travelers will still have to [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

Crook Swallows Stolen Credit Cards – FOXBusiness

Posted on November 1, 2011 by admin1

p>There are plenty of unusual stories in our latest look at strange and unique credit card crimes, and so we’ll get right to it, starting off with some…well, bathroom humor.
This, too, shall pass
AGI.it, an Italian news site, reported on Oct. 27 that in Turin, a man had tried to pay for purchases in a leather store with stolen credit cards. When the police arrived, the suspect, John Larry Jay, 32, was in the midst of swallowing the credit cards and his identification card in order to evade arrest.
It didn’t work. He was arrested.
No word [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

Credit cards and Halloween. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted on October 31, 2011 by admin1

A report from Fox BusinessAh, Halloween. Which is your favorite bit? Is it the excitement of planning your little goblin’s trick-or-treat route, and the frequent references to your local sex offender database that such an operation nowadays requires? Or is it the reattachment of your finger tip, necessitated by the excavation of a particularly paunchy pumpkin?
Or perhaps it’s the goodnight kiss in your kid’s bedroom when it’s all over, made only slightly less sweet by the knowledge that a candy-induced sugar rush on top of a monster-induced adrenaline rush is likely to mean that [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

The Recession’s Impact on Baby Boomer Retirement

Posted on October 31, 2011 by admin1

p>The recession has severely limited the retirement prospects of the oldest baby boomers. Some older adults will have to work longer to try to recoup their stock market losses and falling home values, but others have already been forced into retirement earlier than planned and are struggling to adapt to a lower standard of living.

[See The 10 Best Places to Retire in 2012.]
A recent Government Accountability Office report chronicled how the recession from December 2007 to June 2009 altered the personal finances of those 55 and older. “While the recession has affected all age [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Credit cards offer plenty of advantages to the responsible – AZCentral.com

Posted on October 29, 2011 by admin1

p> by Russ Wiles, columnist – Oct. 29, 2011 02:02 PMThe Arizona Republic
Debit cards have attracted plenty of negative attention lately from consumers wary about any added bank fees.
So maybe it’s time to focus more on the benefits of credit cards.
Credit cards offer a number of advantages over their debit cousins and can be pretty good deals for people who regularly pay off their balances.

The credit edge includes generally better rewards than debit, free short-term loans or grace periods, equal if not better fraud protection, few if any “holds” placed by rental-car companies and [...] Continue Reading…

Posted in Credit | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off