5 ways your bank spies on you

Today I received an e-mail message from a fan of this blog, informing me that I was mentioned in an MSN Money article.  I had no idea.  (It didn’t show up in my Google alerts.)  Naturally, I searched and found the mention. The article, entitled “5 ways your bank spies on you”, is a great read, so check it out.

How credit cards with no spending limits can hurt your credit score

A great article recently published by The New York Times investigates how credit cards with no limits can hurt your credit score.  I highly recommend that you read it.

Also, be sure to read this article: “There is no such thing as a credit card with no limit”. It will help you better understand how some of these cards actually work.

Think twice before you ‘Like’: Social media are credit card companies’ newest weapon

Better risk management: That was the biggest and hardest lesson learned by credit card companies during the credit crunch, which started in fall of 2008.  Ever since that frightening period—some call it 'The Great Recession’—consumers and businesses alike have experienced tighter risk management through closed accounts, reduced credit lines, higher interest rates, and more stringent guidelines for credit applicants. 

In an unprecedented effort to minimize their risk, credit card companies and banks have sought every possible resource at their disposal to capture and to store more information about customers—and that includes using social media. While many consumers understand that companies have access to their transaction histories and credit reports, most overlook the tremendous metadata available via social media companies like Facebook.  With the help of such new media, credit card companies have almost a 360 degree look at their customers. 

Credit Card Max-and-Walk: Consumers Learn How to Game the Banks

I am mentioned today in an article published by the Huffington Post.  Possibly, my campaign, NewCreditRules.com, has empowered not only honorable consumers, but also the less scrupulous ones.

Read the article at HuffingtonPost.com.

Loopholes of the Credit CARD Act

ABC News takes a look at some of the loopholes of the Credit CARD Act. Read more details in the written article.

New tricks, same credit card companies

The Wall Street Journal, in an article published today entitled ”The New Credit-Card Tricks”,  confirms my 2009 premonition: If the Credit CARD Act is passed, credit card companies immediately will find ways to recoup their loses with new fees and tricks.

Read about some of these new fees and tricks that have consumers and advocates ruffled. 

Capital One the latest to report business debt to personal credit bureaus

Some people dread going to the dentist.  Others dread speaking in public. I dread getting my credit report. 

This fear exists not because I have bad credit, but because I know that as a business owner, I am vulnerable to the reprisals of credit card companies which, in response to the passage of the Credit CARD Act, have begun to take out their frustrations on small businesses.  Because credit cards issued to businesses are not covered under the new act, business owners are sitting ducks.

I checked my credit report a few days ago.  Everything was prefect except one thing:  One of my business creditors, Capital One, began reporting my business credit to all three personal credit bureaus in October 2009.  In other words, no longer are my personal debt and business debt separate.  My worst nightmare came true.

Customers accuse companies of lying about reasons for adverse account changes

More and more often, I receive detailed e-mails from customers upset about credit card companies that cite bogus reasons for adverse changes to accounts. In fact, I received one an hour ago.  This common story has reached a point of frequency that leads me to believe this deception is widespread. 

In the most recent e-mail, a woman (let’s call her Tracy) from Chicago claims that after her credit line was reduced from $18,000 to $500 two days ago, American Express told her that it did so because she has too many delinquent accounts.  Tracy obtained her credit report and everything was perfect as she believed–no delinquent accounts.  Furthermore, American Express told her that her credit score was good –in the mid 700s--but she continued to get the same story about too many delinquencies.