Alaska Has Highest Median Credit Card Debt

It will come as no surprise to most Americans that the country is struggling with debt. The cost of living has risen dramatically in the past couple of years, and the price of gas has managed to make it so that people are finding it difficult to drive their vehicles. These issues are confounding and have reduced a lot of families to a level of financial misery that has them wondering what they can do to handle all the loads of debt that are heaped upon their trembling shoulders. [Read more]

Foreclosures To Continue Despite Presidential Elections

November will see a new American president take office though the change will have very little impact on the housing market. The damage to the housing market has already been done and no amount of optimism surrounding a new president will be enough to lower foreclosures and raise home prices. [Read more]

The Elderly And Rising Bankruptcy

With the down turning economy and subsequent credit crunch a surprising trend has emerged. Bankruptcy claims filed by the elderly has seen a staggering climb. This is a trend that would have been unheard of just a decade ago but with the rising cost of medical bills and prescription medicines along with inflation and falling home prices, the elderly are having a harder time then ever making ends meet.

According to the AARP between the early 1990s and 2007 those over 65 years of age filing for bankruptcy rose over 150 percent. What is even more surprising is the 433% rise of seniors between 75 and 84 who needed to file. [Read more]

Credit Card Debt Is Not Limited To The Middle Class

Credit card debt is primarily thought to be a problem restricted to the lower income bracket. Middle class and lower class are the ones thought to carry the largest and the most credit card debt due in part to their smaller pay checks.

This misconception is coming to an end as all sectors of the economy and all tax brackets are beginning to see rising fuel and food prices. In general, the price of living is going up and for those who make considerably more then the middle class are beginning to accumulate more and more debt unless they curb their spending habits. [Read more]

Higher Incomes Hits By Credit Card Debt

The economy’s been suffering, and in the wake of the credit crisis that began last year, more and more people are in debt, for greater and greater amounts of money. Experian, one of the three big US credit bureaus, reports that the average credit card user owes $6,900 specifically in credit card debt. This average reflects the fact that although many households are still free of debt, a given proportion of the population is in debt by more than $5,000 or even $10,000. [Read more]

New Tax For Texas Businesses

Earlier today, a new tax went into effect in Texas, following a month-long period of waiting. The tax affects businesses in Texas. The tax will have retail and wholesale merchants to give 0.5% of their total profits to the state of Texas. All other types of businesses will have to give 1% of their total profits. However, businesses will still have a variety of deductions that they will be able to make from this tax. [Read more]

US Bonds Doing Well in Wake of Economic Troubles

US Treasury bonds are going up in price, even as high oil prices wreak havoc on the US economy, and even as that economy experiences rising levels of unemployment.

As of earlier this afternoon, the 10-year US Treasury note yields an interest of 3.92% of its value. Yesterday, the 10-year treasury note yielded an interest rate of 4.04%. It has gained 31/32, such that its value is now 99 21/32. [Read more]

Higher Incomes Hits By Credit Card Debt

The economy’s been suffering, and in the wake of the credit crisis that began last year, more and more people are in debt, for greater and greater amounts of money. Experian, one of the three big US credit bureaus, reports that the average credit car user owes $6,900 specifically in credit card debt. This average reflects the fact that although many households are still free of debt, a given proportion of the population is in debt by more than $5,000 or even $10,000. [Read more]

Resist the Urge to Pay Taxes with Credit Cards

This tax season, financial experts are urging consumers not to pay their taxes with credit cards.

Of course, the urge to pay with plastic can be quite intense, given all the things we tend to pay with credit cards—food, drink, clothing, and electronics, for example.

If you find yourself facing a large federal tax bill, you may be tempted to simply charge it. Some observers note that paying your taxes with credit cards does carry some advantages. For one thing, it’s convenient; for another, it will help you avoid costly penalties. In addition, you can gain valuable rewards by using your credit cards. [Read more]

Putting Your Credit Report On Ice

Before you throw your credit card in the icebox, you should take time to understand what, exactly a credit freeze is.

Essentially, a credit freeze is one of the best tools you have against identity thieves. By placing a freeze on your credit reports you are preventing new accounts and new lines of credit from opening in your name. To add to this, during a freeze employers, lenders, and anyone else will be unable to check your credit report. This is of great assurance to anyone who is facing the possibility of identity theft or is undergoing the painful process of recovering from the theft. [Read more]

Economic Problems Understated by the Government

According to an ever-increasing number of financial experts, the multitudinous problems that America is facing — rising gas prices, the cost of food, unemployment, and inflation — are being experienced much more severely than what the government is stating in its reports. These experts believe that the figures being released by the Feds are understated in comparison to other real-world reports. [Read more]

Foreclosure And Your Pets

The past few months have been stressful. The economy has weakened dramatically, not only in the United States but aboard as well. Oil prices are sky rocketing and as a result consumers are feeling the punch at the pump. The fearful whispers of a recession are being traded as food prices rise and jobs disappear. For homeowners, such a market is especially stressful, even frightening. Many are high in debt and defaulting on their mortgage payments forcing properties into foreclosure. [Read more]

The Fair Credit Billing Act And You

It has happened to us all, we open the mail only to see that there is an error on the credit card bill. As luck would have it that error is rarely on the side of the consumer so it stands to reason that action should be taken in an effort to correct the error.

Credit card billing errors happen and can happen for a number of reasons. Human errors, computing mistakes, and merchants who simply fail to report returns can all cause billing errors. The Fair Credit Billing Act was established to give consumers a tool to fight those errors with unfortunately, consumers are either unaware of the law or use it inappropriately. [Read more]

Number of Foreclosures Hit Record Levels in Apri

Only less than half of the year has passed, and the real estate industry has already seen some of the toughest times it has faced in history. A real mortgage crunch has hit the market, causing a significant crisis that has shaken both wall street and the average American citizen. With so many Americans unable to meet their loan payments, more and more individuals are losing their homes to foreclosure, the results of which have risen to record levels. [Read more]

The Grim Reality of Those Tax Rebate Checks

When President Bush approved the economic stimulus check it was hailed as the shot in the arm the economy needed. Unfortunately, the economy is proving to be worse off then first suspected and those stimulus check may prove to be a short term fix rather than the needed jump start.

Now this is not new to nay-sayers who are just being proved right by the continued credit crunch and the increase in gas prices. Experts now expect that nearly half of those stimulus checks will be used at the pump and for necessities like food instead of consumer goods like electronics, apparel, and other items. [Read more]

A Debt Free College

Student loans are seen by many as just “one of those things” which constantly deter lower income students from attending the college of their choice or from attending college at all.

Relief may be on the way as many colleges are recognizing the need for change and are taking appropriate steps to implement it. Many colleges are doing away with student loans and replacing them with grants and scholarships directed at low income families. What is even more surprising are the colleges making this significant change. [Read more]

Consumer Credit Debt Buried Under Delinquency In Payments

With today’s economic landscape looking harsh, tardy debt payments are taking over the loan market in extreme proportions. According to the ABA, or American Bankers Association, the last fiscal quarter of 2007 had payments on credit cards, car loans, and even home equity loans slack off and fall behind farther than at any period of time over the past dozen years, resulting in several credit companies doubling their funds reserved for debts that have gone rotten. [Read more]

Watchdog Groups Concerned about IRS Digital Infastructure

Given the current financial woes of the nation, not to mention the overall slump the economy took this year, taxpayers are more eager than ever to rush out there and file their taxes in hopes that they’ll receive suitable returns in the nick of time to pay their looming mortgage payment bills, among other serious debts. While this issue is a sensible choice from any angle, there is a particular watchdog organization out there that believes the IRS could of done a lot more with their computers to safeguard the potential of unscrupulous behavior. [Read more]

G7 Works To Help Shaky Economy

The G7 meet earlier last month in an effort to solve the growing financial crisis that is spreading world wide The G7 is a group of seven industrial nations which along with the United State includes Germany, the UK, France, Canada, Japan, and Italy. This group regularly meets to discuss financial topics and concerns such as the current credit crunch and sub prime mortgage crisis. [Read more]

Economists Predict Credit Debt as the Next Concern

Economists and financial experts around the country agree: the next big issue that America will face concerning its economy is credit card debt. Trailing right behind the subprime mortgage meltdown, credit card defaults will be the next enormous hit to consumers and the financial institutions of the US.

Several reports have shown that the collective American population owes more than $1 trillion on their credit cards. This figure represents the total of balances that carry forward every month upon which interest is added. Also, almost half of all those accounts are making just the minimum required monthly payments. [Read more]

AMT Tax Might be Abolished

The economy, although not as dreadfully slow as it once was, is still nonetheless dragging itself relentlessly in the mud as the dollar continues to lack substantial value when held against competitive currencies such as the euro. Likewise, the housing market is the worst of it, finding itself in a tough bind considering that the subprime mortages are imploding, leaving loaners and borrowers alike in a sea of late payment troubles.

Democrats have taken note of these issues, and have proclaimed interest in changing taxes in a way that will cause significant relief to the middle class. In fact, the party has brought into existence legislation that aims to eliminate the AMT tax, or Alternative Minimum Tax, a form of taxes that was originally supposed to tackle the wealthy who avoid paying taxes but ended affecting the lawful middle class to a notable extent. [Read more]

Record High Foreclosures

Another piece of devastating news hit the media recently concerning foreclosure rates. In a report released last month the amount of home foreclosures rose to an all time high during the last portion of 2007 between October and December.

This news has fueled the ever growing fears that many consumers have regarding the possibility of a recession while others are using this data to help prove the thought that the U.S economy is already in a recession. [Read more]

Majority of Americans Pessimistic in Regards to Stimulus Package

America has been struggling to cope with the recent downward turn of the economy. A highly volatile market for gas, food, and other consumables has left the nation with a problem of high prices and a weaken dollar. In response, the Federal Government worked aggressively at crafting a Stimulus Package that they hoped would alleviate the financial problems that millions of Americans are dealing with daily. However, almost just as many Americans believe that the tax rebates are ineffective - over 4/5ths of them do, in fact. [Read more]

Sterling Savings Bank Announces New Electronic Payment System

Sterling Savings Bank, part of the Sterling Financial Corporation based in Spokane, Washington, has announced earlier today that it plans to switch its online business banking systems. Starting now, Sterling Savings Bank will completely overhaul its existing online business banking infrastructure, such that it will use the entire complement of online banking services offered by ACI Worldwide’s Enterprise Banker suite. [Read more]

Grim Fed Announcement and High Oil Prices Cause Stocks to Fall

The Federal Reserve bank’s pessimistic announcement to the public today, combined with the unprecedentedly high price of oil, drove down all the major stock indexes on Wall Street. Trade slowed down as investors worried about rising inflation, rising unemployment, and increasing costs. [Read more]

Fed Pessimistic For This Year

The Federal Reserve bank announced today, Wednesday, that the economic situation in America isn’t necessarily going to get better soon. Nonetheless, despite the bad news, the bank says that it is hesitant to lower interest rates any more than it already has. [Read more]

Florida and Michigan Suffer from Highest Job Loss

For the month of March, both the states of Florida and Michigan have lost the highest number of jobs in America, resulting in a significant contribution to the largest decline in overall US payrolls in at least five years.

The Labor Department has recently released a report stating that Florida lost over 17l forms of employment last month while Michigan took the lead by a total of over 21k workers who have lost their jobs. Furthermore, it was shown that over 27 states have suffered a drop in payroll, further confounding the nation’s economic problems. [Read more]

Mortgages Affected By Global Finance Crisis

The IMF, or International Monetary Fund, recently announced that the worldwide financial situation relating to the global credit crisis is worsening. The results of the dangerously high default rates on subprime mortgage in the United States are having more and more far-reaching consequences, far beyond America. [Read more]

American Bankruptcy Outlook

Bankruptcy is often the last recourse for consumers who find themselves buried over their head in debt. With the high use of credit cards, foreclosures, and the possibility of a recession cases of bankruptcy among individuals have seen a sharp rise. [Read more]

End Of The Credit Crunch?

Facing the distribution of those much needed rebate checks, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is optimistic that the end of the credit crunch is near. Paulson admits that the high price of gasoline will prove problematic when it comes to reviving the struggling economy he does sound hopeful that the economy will receive the boost that the stimulus package was intended for. [Read more]

April Brings Better Global Food Prices

April may be “the cruelest month,” but it has been kind this year to the world’s food prices. Although the price of food has risen in the US, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated that the global price of food has decreased.

The FAO measures the price of food across the world with its own food price index, which decreased by 0.3 points during the month of April this year. It went down from March’s statistic 217.0 to the marginally lower number of 216.7 for April. Unfortunately, the past year has not been a good one for the global economy. This is reflected in the fact that the FAO’s food price index rose by a total of 75  points since April of 2007, when the index was at only 141.7 points. [Read more]

Bankruptcies Increase By 38% Last Year

The U.S Courts Administrative Office has announced that, during 2007, the number of bankruptcies filed by both businesses and consumers in the US have went up by 38% to a grand total of 850,912, making for some of the highest numbers in recent years.

Furthermore, a collection of legal gurus have stated that they believe an even higher percentage of bankruptcies should be expected for 2008 on account of the subprime mortgage crisis that is leaving homeowners no choice but to accept foreclosure. [Read more]

Businesses Face Bankruptcy

Many economists are claiming that the credit crunch is slowing and the housing market improving but the number of bankruptcies is not reflecting these claims. Bankruptcies can be filed by individual or businesses as a way to protect them against any further debt, repossession, and foreclosure. While not preferable for many individuals, businesses are known to file for bankruptcy in an effort to restructure and reorganize.

Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a way of staying in business while reorganizing its debt obligations. The business will then pay the creditors back over a determined period of time. Even though the company is still in business share holders are still negatively impacted.

Business bankruptcies are just another symptom of the credit crunch caused by the mortgage crisis. Often times the businesses that file of bankruptcy in times of financial difficulties are the ones depending upon the disposal income of its consumers. Tropicana Entertainment has joined a number of companies who have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the past few months since their customers do not have the cash to spend at the casinos which Tropicana Entertainment owns.

Small businesses were the first to file bankruptcy caused by the current economic crisis followed by the larger institutions. While it is possible to recover from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy many of the mom and pop establishments have to shut down due to the action. With the introduction of the stimulus package checks many financial experts are expecting a surge in consumer buying which may save many businesses facing the possibility of bankruptcy.

Others are more skeptical, however, citing high gas and food prices where they believe many of the checks will go towards.

The fact is that the number of bankruptcies have risen 37% for both businesses and individuals as the economy continues to falter. Bankruptcies for businesses and other commercial ventures rose 56% from a year earlier illustrating the continuing problem.

Recent additions:

• Is Debt Settlement A Solution for You?
• Using Bankruptcy As A Debt Solver - Is It The Right Move?
• What’s The Better Choice To Deal With Debt: Consolidation Or Negotiation
• How You Can Negotiate Lower Debt Payments
• How Much Debt Do You Really Have?

Financial Experts Recommend Lowering Interest Rates

If you are like many Americans, you have thousands of dollars in credit card debt. Such debt is considered “bad debt” because it is unsecured and it can only worsen your financial standing, both in the short-term and the long-term.

One television news operation found that obtaining a lower interest rate can be as simple as asking for it. In fact, more than half of the people who requested a lower rate actually received it. [Read more]

Delinquencies Rise on Credit Card Accounts

The Associated Press is reporting that an increasing number of Americans are delinquent on their credit card bills. The highest number of delinquencies are in those states that are currently reeling from the subprime loan crisis. Subprime loans are loans that are extended to homebuyers with troubled credit histories. [Read more]

Tax Rebates Go Out Monday

President Bush said earlier this morning that the rebates for the 2007 tax year, offered to approximately 130 million American taxpayers and households as part of the federal government’s economic stimulus package, will go out earlier than expected. Specifically, the IRS will begin to give out tax rebates by direct deposit this upcoming Monday, April 28.Approximately 7.7 million families and individuals are expected to receive tax rebates next week. [Read more]

New Database Lets PCI Share Information With Banks and Vendors

Today, the Payment Card Industry Security Vendor Alliance, or PCI SVA, stated that it has developed and launched the PCI Knowledge Base. This searchable database will be accessible by lenders, banks, and merchants who need to access the PCI SVA’s vast store of information about the various payment cards available in the market today. [Read more]

Could The Credit Crisis Be Over Soon?

Although many are concerned about the economic condition of the country, John Mack expressed a particularly rare take on the credit crunch, believing that an end is in sight to the troubles in the US subprime and leveraged loans market and that the crisis could very well be over in as little as six months.

John Mack, chairman and chief executive of the Morgan Stanley corporation, said that, although the market conditions are the worst he had seen in the 40 years that he has operated on Wall Street, the problems in the subprime and leveraged loans market are at the end of their line and coming to a closure. In his words, they’re in the “top of the 9th inning”, making an analogy to the last part of a baseball game. [Read more]

Financial Experts Recommend Boosting Savings

Financial experts say that you should pad your checking and savings accounts so that you have not only enough money to pay your regular bills, but also to pay insurance deductibles and emergency costs.

In 2-income families, it’s a good idea to sock away enough so that you could make ends meet should one of the wage earners become unemployed or physically unable to work. [Read more]

Worries About Recession Loom Large

Concerns that the current housing crisis could propel the nation into recession have deepened.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank AG say that a 20% decline in housing prices could lead to an all-out recession.  That’s because consumer spending could decrease for 6 months or longer - the textbook explanation of a recession.  The Federal Reserve Board has said that the typical American spends 3.5 cents of each dollar his or her house increases in value. [Read more]

Late Credit Card Payments on the Rise

It appears that more American consumers are late in paying their credit card bills. The organization known as CardTrak reports that the percentage of customers who are tardy in making credit card payments is at a 3-year high.

The trend is actually a money-maker for credit card companies. That’s because credit card issuers earned $18.1 billion in penalty fees in 2007, up from $17 billion in 2006. [Read more]

Credit Delinquencies Soar

The Associated Press is reporting that credit card delinquencies are soaring—a situation which could even worsen in the months ahead.

The largest spike appears to be in credit card accounts that are more than three months delinquent.

Financial experts across the country say that the subprime loan debacle could be partly to blame for the mess. If the economy falls into recession, the number of credit card accounts in arrears could rise exponentially. [Read more]

Experts Recommend Identity Theft Guards

Some financial experts are urging consumers to take special precautions to protect themselves against identity theft. This is particularly necessary, given the fact that many store customers will be paying for their packages with plastic.

Credit cards and debit cards can be easily commandeered by identity thieves who can wreak havoc with your credit card and checking account balances. It’s estimated that there will be some 10 million cases of identity theft this year, so it pays to be cautious when turning over your credit card or debit card. [Read more]

Senate Democrats Seek Change in Bankruptcy Law

Democrats in the U.S. Senate are lobbying for legislation designed to prevent home foreclosures from escalating.

The plan is part of legislation called the Foreclosure Prevention Act.  Under the proposal, judges could rewrite the terms of mortgage loans during bankruptcy hearings. [Read more]