Showing posts with label Credit card. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Credit card. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Suze Orman Calls For Debit Card Transactions To Be Considered Same As Credit


The following was sent to us through Change.org's website.  Suze Orman, Financial Advisor.  Before we make our comments, let's look at what she has to report.



As a world-renowned financial advisor, I know that building good credit is one of the most important things you can do to secure your financial future. But did you know that none of the purchases you make with your debit card count toward building your credit?

This puts debit card users at a serious disadvantage when it comes to making big purchases like a car or a home, or even applying for jobs and rental agreements. No credit = bad credit, and because the credit bureaus don't track debit card transactions, debit card users get no reward for being financially responsible.

This is a deeply unfair system, especially for lower income people, and I am determined to see it change.

That's why I started a petition on Change.org calling on the Senate Banking Committee to mandate that the major credit bureaus track debit card transactions as well as credit cards. Please click here to sign.

This change could make a big difference for a lot of people, from young people applying for student loans, to new families who want to own their own homes, to people who've fallen on hard times and need to refinance their mortgages.

You could be the most loan-worthy person in the world, but simply because you choose to use a debit card rather than a credit card, you run a high risk that your credit score will be negatively impacted -- and you might not be able to get the loan you need.

The good news is that the Senate Banking Committee is led by folks like Senator Elizabeth Warren who want to promote financial fairness. I know that by using a petition to draw attention to this important issue, we can give the Senate Banking Committee the leverage it needs to help make the credit ranking process more fair for everyone.


Our Notes:

Sorry Suze Q, we just can't support stupidity.  A debit card is not a credit card and we do not need more intrusions into our financial affairs watching everything we purchase, we need less intrusions.

The concept is the same as saying that we need to track cash transactions to determine credit scores.  It makes no sense.  How would anyone track cash transactions?  Should the local drug dealer get credit for paying for his drugs from his supplier in cash?  Give that drug dealer bonus points for paying cash?  Hey I just paid my bookie off, now give me bonus credits for being caught up with the bookie?

A debit card is the same as a cash transaction.  It's not a credit card and should not be considered the same as one.  For a world class Financial Adviser, this sure is a pretty bad move.  What were you thinking? 
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Monday, January 20, 2014

Citibank: Make the Citi Health credit card terms fair

English: First 4 digits of a credit card
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Citi Health Card -- a medical credit card from Citibank -- is one of the sneakiest credit products on the market today. The product includes "deferred interest" and a 30% interest rate. What this means is that after an introductory rate of 18 months, even after paying the minimum payment (or more) for the entire 18-mo period, the debtor incurs a finance charge for the 30% against the original balance.

I had an original debt of $4,000 that I had paid down to $2,881 over the 18 month introductory term of the Citi Health credit card. On the 19th month, after making payments every month, I was saddled with an additional $1954 debt due to the sneaky "deferred interest" clause.

Consumers are often signing up for this card when they have no other way to pay for out-of-pocket medical and dental costs. Worse still is that these products are exempt from federal truth-in-lending requirements, meaning that the medical professional doesn't even have to understand or explain the terms of the credit card to the consumer.

People trust their doctors and dentists and when they're told they need to buy a service (for example, corrective braces to prevent teeth from striking together which would ultimately cause teeth to fall out). When their medical professional tells them there's a debt product that can help them afford the procedure/product, they trust that their doctor wouldn't lead them into a trap.

A 30% interest rate is absurd for someone who pays their minimum payment on time and the whole idea of retroactive, deferred interest is sneaky at best. Citbank needs to stop tricking customers; they should:

- reduce the interest rate to a standard calculation (Prime + a rate based on user's credit score or debt-to-income ratio);

- adhere to the Truth in Lending Act (including use of Schumer box to make clear the interest rates being charged); and

- remove deferred interest features (interest can only be charged on the balance at end of promotional period, not original balance, and can only be charged on a go-forward basis, not retroactively)

Let's send a message to Citibank that consumers have enough to worry about without being tricked into these poisonous debt products.

By Ian Miller

Sent to us through Change.org's website.  

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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Litecoin vs Bitcoin - Interview With IBM Architect Richard G Brown




As we continue to state, Bitcoin is the largest news story of the century to date.  Now of course Bitcoin is not the only game in town or in the world.  Litecoin is also a new contender on the market and there are others already popping up.  Crptocurrency as it is now being called is here to stay.  Based on all present research, what our own opinion is at this time, paper currency will not be going away in any country anytime soon.  Debit cards may disappear, however, credit cards will continue to flourish.

  What we are also looking at will be an entire new series of laws and regulations that will come up around these new currencies that will also invade privacy as well as change the way services are rendered which will mean price increases on many services.  Trying to protect your privacy in the future will become a crime.  This is a given.  What you presently take for granted will be going away.  It's based on the technology.  (Not really, that's just the excuse that will be used).

  There are many areas of the technology that we like, however, there are now many areas of the technology that are really starting to concern us.  The invasion of privacy that will follow is our biggest concern.  How will this new technology invade privacy?  It could and will be used to prevent anyone from remaining anonymous.  Only criminals have something to hide.  Are you a criminal?  Now of course you will be allowed to conduct certain transactions in an anonymous fashion, however, you will go through a great deal of scrutiny, questioning and audits.  You may or may not be found guilty of some form of conspiracy however.  This is how privacy will be invaded then taken away.

  Now it's not to say that it will be fully taken away, it will at first be made a major risk to anyone who wishes to try and remain anonymous for whatever reason.  Cash will become a rare commodity in the next 10 to 15 years if not sooner.  It still has uses, but they will become more and more limited.  Why cash currencies will not go away.  Imagine a major power grid goes out for days on end.  Cryptocurrencies depend on the ability to conduct transactions electronically.  How does anyone continue to conduct any form of trade without some form of payment in exchange?  Battery backups?  That is simply to limited.  Some form of alternative payment systems will always be needed.  Cash is the only means for that.

  Other issues of cryptocurrencies, they devalue cash.  When transaction and conversion fees apply one of the forms of payment must be devalued in order to value another.  If cryptocurrencies become the main form of transacting business, then it's the cash that gets devalued.  Now the cryptocurrency may be tied to the cash, one still has to take a hit.  So a question now comes up.  Is Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies now starting to impact the value of other currencies?  It has to.  All of the cryptocurrencies have transaction and conversion fees.  Those need to be paid for in cash.  Add to it the country where you are conducting business and then take into account that they too want monetary conversion fees.  To reverse the cryptocurrency back to cash?  Yup, more fees.

  So who is going to lose with the new age of cryptocurrencies?  White collar workers as they get phased out of the offices as they will no longer be needed.  That in itself is yet another full post for a later story.
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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Gloucester, VA Officials Improper Use of Credit Cards?

What we are about to cover comes from sources deemed valid, however, proof is not available so it falls into the category of word on the street.  Therefore we report the following information more as a story of fiction based on information obtained.

Our first story is of one Gloucester official who used a county government issued credit card to finance a personal affair he was having with a person out of the area.  County officials found out about the fraud when the guys wife turned him in.  Charges on the card were for tickets and a county vehicle was being used for personal use in the affair.  What did county officials do?  Nothing from what we were informed other than protect him from the charges.  County officials who wanted him charged were backed off from the case.

  In another story, we have a county official who decided to go out and get plastered at one of the local establishments and at the end of the evening decided to pay for her private party with a county issued credit card.  She made the mistake of leaving the credit card at the local establishment who had to trace her down to give her the credit card back.  Lucky for all of us the establishment has such a professional and dedicated staff to perform such a duty as we all could have been stuck with all kinds of credit card fraud charges.

  What happened to this employee?  Well the employee still has her job.  She just has to live with the story and hope that we never get our hands on it.  How much corruption do we have to report here every week?  Our county officials are out of control at every level and having a party on your dime.  That dime used to be a nickle.  That dime is about to become a quarter.  It keeps getting worse the more we dig and it's now coming in from all over these days.

  What's even worse?  County officials are still balancing the books even with this kind of stuff going on.  Can someone please explain that to us?  And you wonder why your taxes are high and going ever higher?  We never read this part of the Virginia Constitution.
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Saturday, November 2, 2013

Gloucester, VA School Board and Credit Cards (Part 3 of 10)

Armand A. Fusco, Ed.D.

About the Yankee Institute for Public Policy

The Yankee Institute for Public Policy, Inc. is a nonpartisan educational and research organization
founded more than two decades ago. Today, the Yankee Institute’s mission is to “promote
economic opportunity through lower taxes and new ideas for better government in Connecticut.”


Question 3: Credit Cards

Who has credit cards? How are charges independently verified to see if they are
proper school expenses?

Background: Credit-card abuse is rampant and is a common source of
school corruption. The reason for this is that most districts do not have an
effective monitoring system in place to verify the expenses for legitimacy.

Proposed Solution: At least two independent sources need to verify
expenses. The school finance officer and town treasurer can provide such
verification. There must also be guidelines developed as to what constitutes
legitimate expenses, and the limits of what can be spent on such items.
However, the best practice is to not have credit cards. Staff can use their
personal credit cards and then seek reimbursement, or purchase orders can
also be used.


Stop corruption in local school administration by making sure these policies get placed and followed.

This is part 3 in our 10 part series.
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