Filed under: Budgets, College, Kids and Money, Health
The tough economy is forcing couples to reconsider if they can afford to have another baby, and sending more men to the doctor’s office to consider having a vasectomy, according to a San Diego NBC story.
Filed under: Borrowing, Budgets, Debt, Saving, Recession, Investing
A recent survey by USA Today and Gallup of 1,008 people demonstrates that folks are increasingly pessimistic about the economy. No big surprises there, but some groups are feeling a lot worse than others. Five different types were identified in the study:
Filed under: Banks, Credit, Debt
Business as usual for credit-card holders means, of course, more bad news today. The banks are raising cardholders’ late and over-limit fees and interest rates; USA Today delivers the sordid details. The lenders couch their rising interest rates as a means to offset unprecedented delinquency (when customers make payments more than 30 days late) and charge-card charge-offs (when they don’t pay the full balance, as the terms demand). American Express, a charge card, is raising its 45-day late fee to $39 from $29.
Don’t get them wrong. Banks and card issuers love late payments — at least when customers aren’t too late. Last year U.S. cardholders ponied up $19 billion in the twin windfalls of late and over-limit fees. That figure is expected to swell by nearly 8% this year, reaping banks $20.5 billion in essentially free money. (Continue the story…)
How much is a pet’s life worth?
For anyone with a pet, the figure can go as high as your credit card limit when a veterinarian’s bill arrives. But if you’re unemployed, it could be lower.
Filed under: College
The very funny people at CollegeHumor.com put together a YouTube video that presents college in a more accurate way — very different from the world you’ll find in guidebooks.
At the end of the parody though, there’s a very important line that you should remember when you consider schools: “If we were a good university, we wouldn’t have a commercial.”
Filed under: Banks
If I asked you to tell me what the Federal Reserve Bank is, what would you say? Like most consumers, would you say that it’s the big bank our Federal government runs for us? Would you be shocked to hear that it’s a private corporation that runs our money?
That’s right. The Federal Reserve is a private entity that has been given its power by our federal government. And really, it has too much power. It issues currency and it oversees the banks around the country, supposedly ensuring that they’re following the banking laws.
Filed under: Banks, Extracurriculars, Consumer Complaints
Las Vegas, where “What happens here stays here,” is trying to market itself as a serious destination as more companies — such as banks receiving federal bailouts — have canceled meetings and conventions.
Filed under: College
As Amherst College watches its application pool decline, borrows $100 million to fund its expenses, and watches its enrollment tank in value, it’s nice to see that its students are taking steps to shore up financial aid for their classmates — and prevent low-wage employees from having their positions cut.
Bloomerg reports that Amherst College students are donating $70,000 in campus activity fees to the school: $50,000 will be used for financial aid with the remaining $20,000 going to help prevent the need for job or pay cuts for low-income workers. Some 60% of the school’s 1,683 students voted to devote the funds to those causes, and that money will come at the expense of some of the activities and student services that are normally funded by the student government, like free transportation to sporting events.
Filed under: Debt, Consumer Complaints
A German mathematician who died 450 years ago was sent a letter demanding he pay long-overdue TV license fees, according to a Reuters story.
The bill from Germany’s GEZ broadcast fee collection office went to the last home address of Adam Ries, an algebra expert who bought the house in 1525. A club in his honor was set up at the home 400 years later.
Credit card delinquencies in the Fitch’s Prime Credit Delinquency Index set a new record for the index in March, up to a rate of 4.04 more than 60 days late through January, an increase from the previous month’s record of 3.75%. Since record keeping started in 1991 the index is 30% above historical averages. But since that history doesn’t include recessions in the early 1970s and 1980s, the records probably aren’t as dramatic as that sounds.
Some credit card companies are now reporting delinquencies as high as 7%, according to LowCards.com. “Since credit card delinquencies are indirectly tied to unemployment, and unemployment numbers continue to rise, analysts are predicting that the charge-off rate could increase to as much as 9%-10%. Charge-offs are bad for both the issuer and the cardholder,” said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com. Based on data he compiled, here’s some of the hardest hit credit card companies: