Credit Cards Articles

Recently a huge arrangement involving selling of names and addresses of students and former students to credit card companies – in exchange for big financial kickbacks – came to light. What surprised everyone is that it is not criminal hackers doing the selling, but it is the prestigious schools themselves.

What it means is that if a child of yours is going to one of the nation’s institutions of higher learning – including some of the most elite colleges and universities in the country – that educational institution may be surreptitiously selling private information about them to credit card companies. The same goes for college alumni, whose names also get traded for cash.

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This card differs from Walmart credit cards in the sense that there is no credit extended with this card. The funds available for purchases are loaded onto the card before use. The current balance represent the spending limit for the card. As the user makes purchases the available balance decreases until he or she adds more money.

Loading Funds

There are a variety of options available for reloading funds onto this card:

• Cash: Visit a local Walmart and give cash to a clerk at the register. He or she will then swipe your card and load the funds.

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Another portion of the Credit CARD Act took effect on Sunday, Aug. 22, improving the rights extended to consumers who own credit cards and purchase gift cards. However, despite the improved rights, a report shows that credit card rates have reached a 9-year high. According to research firm Synovate, a unit of Aegis Group PLC, rates have increased 1.6 percent in a year’s time, which is the highest increase seen since 2001.

Rates Still Rising Despite Credit CARD Act

The Credit CARD Act (also known as the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009) was passed last year to begin cracking down on credit card issuers that were abusing customers with increased interest rates, unfair penalties and more.

With a grace period of months between the time the law was passed and when it was to take effect, many expected credit card companies to increase rates to get their final laughs, and it seemed to happen just that way.

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Listening to a steady stream of advice flowing from my grandmother’s lips during the entirety of my growing up years, you’d have thought she published the world’s largest collections of “Maxims to Live By.” Of course, if the world had listened to and followed her wise counsel contained in such memorable statements as “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” I wouldn’t be writing this blog.

Because I enjoy the convenience of credit and debit cards, or perhaps because avoiding credit wasn’t a “lesson I learned early and harmlessly,” I have to face the fact that having my credit card or my credit card number stolen is a very real possibility as it is for anyone who carries credit cards. I’m not exempt just b

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