65% of College Students Have Credit Card Debt According to Survey

Posted On: August 31, 2005

College students are using their credit cards to purchase clothing, personal items and other living expenses, according to a survey recently conducted by Smith College and funded by Oppenheimer Funds, Inc.    The survey showed that 65% of college students have credit card debt and half of those charge their cards to the limit. [...]

Survey Finds that 65% of College Students Have Credit Card Debt

Posted On:

College students are using their credit cards to purchase clothing, personal items and other living expenses, according to a survey recently conducted by Smith College and funded by Oppenheimer Funds, Inc.   The survey showed that 65% of college students have credit card debt and half of those charge their cards to the limit. Many [...]

Discover Card Offers New Online Auto Bill Payment Service

Posted On: August 29, 2005

Discover Financial Services, Inc. announced in early August a new free bill paying service is now available to cardholders. Whether the recurring bill comes yearly, quarterly, monthly or weekly members can securely pay multiple bills automatically online as well as earn a Cashback Bonus.  Charges appear on regular Discover Card Account statements, and each bill’s [...]

Company Offering “Free Credit Report” Fined $950,000 by the FTC

Posted On: August 26, 2005

A recent settlement was made between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and ConsumerInfo.com, Inc., doing business as Experian Consumer Direct. The FTC charged that ConsumerInfo.com was in violation of federal law by deceptively marketing “free credit reports” and not effectively disclosing that consumers would automatically be signed up for and billed $79.95 [...]

Recent Study Suggests Credit Card Debt Leads to a Higher College Drop-Out Rate Than Academic Failure

Posted On: August 24, 2005

Operation Hope (OHI), a national non-profit self-help organization, and Citigroup are helping high school and college students avoid common financial mistakes and credit card debt through the Banking on our Future program. Operation Hope recently released a study indicating that many university administrators believe that credit card debt leads to a higher [...]

CompuCredit Corp., a Major Subprime Credit Card Issuer, Reports a 346% Increase in Profits

Posted On: August 18, 2005

CompuCredit Corporation, which has seen a 138% increase in its stock price over the past year,recently reported a record net income with a 346% increase in profits.    According to Jay Putnam of CompuCredit, David G. Hannah, Chairman and CEO of CompuCredit said:

“We were very pleased with our record earnings this quarter.    The [...]

Metris Credit Card Accounts to be Acquired by HSBC Finance Corporation

Posted On: August 15, 2005

Metris Companies, Inc. is set to be acquired by HSBC Finance Corporation in a cash transaction that values Metris at $1.594 billion.
HSBC is the nation’s sixth largest issuer of MasterCard and Visa credit cards.  In addition, HSBC and its subsidiaries provide middle market consumers with real estate secured loans, private label credit cards, auto finance [...]

Visa Launches Nationwide Credit Card Data Security Campaign

Posted On: August 4, 2005

Visa USA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently launched a data security campaign to protect customer data and reduce fraud by encouraging the payments industry and merchants to work together.
Dan Caprio, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Chief Privacy Officer at the Department of Commerce, said:
“In today’s world, we must face the challenges [...]

Steep Credit Card Universal Default and Penalty Rates Can Happen to Anyone According to New Study

Posted On: August 3, 2005

Consumer Action, a non-profit education and advocacy organization, recently released its 2005 credit card industry study containing the top reasons banks might impose high universal default and penalty rates.
According to Linda Sherry of Consumer Action:
“The factors cited by card issuers are very broad.    It appears that anyone - not just people in financial difficulties [...]