Student Credit Card Debt Strongly Affected by Parental Involvement

Posted On: June 28, 2005

A Penn State University study shows that parents are by far the fundamental source of information and advice for traditional college students concerning credit card usage.    Also, the more information supplied by parents, the lower the credit card debt acquired by their college age children.
According to Dr. Mary Beth Pinto, associate professor of [...]

Paying Your Rent with a Credit Card

Posted On: June 27, 2005

American Express recently announced the results of an independent research study concerning consumers’ attitudes towards automatic rent payments on credit cards.  The research shows that just as Americans have welcomed a cashless society, America’s renters are just as eager for a checkless society.
With the strength of its outstanding Membership Rewards program, American Express has [...]

Credit Card Security Breach

Posted On: June 21, 2005

According to Julie Creswell and Eric Dash of The New York Times, the nation’s largest credit card companies are still unsure which customer accounts were affected by a computer security breach at a processing company recently reported by MasterCard.
Data from approximately 200,000 MasterCard and Visa accounts, along with other credit card issuers, are known to [...]

Consumer Credit Index Rises

Posted On: June 20, 2005

The latest Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index shows that consumers’ confidence in their personal credit is growing.    However, four in ten have no emergency fund in case their income is halted, and another 18 percent could not last beyond three months.
The Personal Credit Index is now at 94, close to the March (2005) introduction [...]

Credit Card Debt in the African-American and Latino Communities

Posted On: June 19, 2005

According to a recent report released by the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, African-American and Hispanic households are at greater financial risk and more likely to be in credit card debt than their white counterparts.  The report, Costly Credit: African Americans and Latinos in Debt, analyzed and compared credit card debt and the forces driving [...]

Providian Credit Card Accounts Acquired by Washington Mutual

Posted On: June 6, 2005

Two of the nation’s leading financial service companies have come together as Washington Mutual, Inc. acquired Providian Financial in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $6.45 billion.
According to Kerry Killinger, chairman and CEO of Washington Mutual:

“Today’s transaction enhances Washington Mutual’s consumer banking growth while strengthening our leadership position in the middle-market customer segment.”
“Providian [...]

Teen Credit Card Use on the Rise

Posted On: June 3, 2005

The Junior Achievement (JA) organization and The Allstate Foundation recently conducted a poll of 1,065 teenagers and found that teens are establishing credit at an early age.
Eleven percent of teens have credit cards in their names.  The percentage increases with age, with 6.2 percent owning credit cards at ages 13-14 and 21 percent at age [...]