Bank article, Finance article, Bank news, Finance news

With the economy going through a major slowdown there are many consumers that are forced to make some tough financial decisions. The amount of interest that people pay in their credit card debts has remained nearly 20% and in some cases more while the central banks have lowered the prime lending rate to historic lows. Since the banks are able to borrow money so cheaply it does not make sense why they are charging their clients so much interest....

When you apply for a credit card, you may have been asked by the provider if you would like to add credit card insurance to your account. If you were not initial asked during account sign up, the question may arise when you activate your new card or by a random phone call from an account representative. Credit card insurance may be portrayed as a must-have service but you should consider whether it is really necessary for you....

If you're like most people, the last thing you want to deal with is credit harassment. Debt collection efforts by collection agencies have hit an all-time high for two reasons. First, many people are struggling to pay their bills since the downturn in the economy, and next, bill collection has become big business. In fact, collection companies in the U.S. now collect billions in overdue debt every year.

But those debt collection efforts can quickly become credit harassment if you're not careful. Here are five tips that will help you stay ahead of debt collection efforts....

The Credit CARD Act of 2009 that went into effect on February 22, 2010 provides the consumer more protection from the credit card companies....

Credit cards (as we know them today) were first introduced in 1958 in the USA by the Bank of America. The first outside the USA was the launch of Barclaycard in 1966 by Barclays bank. In 1967 a rival to the Bank of America System called Mastercharge was created and in the UK the Access credit card was first introduced in 1972 by a consortium of the other major UK banks. The Bank of America and Barclaycard payment systems have evolved into the Visa network, whilst Mastercharge and the Access brand have evolved into MasterCard. Any card issued in the UK today will usually include a Visa or MasterCard logo. The exception being cards issued by American Express which can only be used in establishments that accept their cards. There is a fourth smaller network in the USA called Discover....

Many people receive a poor credit score through no fault of their own. It's not as if they've deliberately or recklessly gone out to get one. The reason could be as simple as a deteriorating economy, job loss and a pile of bills - that's misfortune, not a crime. Most people want to pay their way more than anything else but find themselves in unfortunate circumstances where they just can't do it....