The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been in the news quite a lot lately.  It was created to police financial products marketed to consumers. It has written a credit card agreement that is simplified and written in plain English. It is designed to be understood by a seventh grader, compared to present agreements that are at an eleventh grade level.  The purpose is to make the credit card agreements easier to understand minus the legalese and clarify credit card costs, risks and terms.

New Agreement

The average credit card agreement contains 5,000 words compared to this new agreement which is approximately 1,000 words and two pages long. It is broken down in three sections – costs, changes, and additional information.  There will be an online glossary to explain terms such as billing disputes, privacy, rights, interest rate calculations and the consequences of late payments. read more »

Wells Fargo hired Harris Interactive Inc. (HPOL) to conduct a nationwide phone survey about retirement. During August and September 2011, they surveyed 1,500 consumers between 25 and 74 years old.  The responders’ household income or assets ranged from $25,000 to $100,000. They planned to work longer to have enough money in retirement.

Highlights

76 percent of responders said it is more important to reach a specific dollar amount before retiring, while 20 percent said it is more important to retire at a certain age regardless of savings. read more »

Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a nationwide survey from July 1 to 10, 2011 of 1,258 adults 18 years and above regarding credit cards. Over one third of responders had at least one problem with their credit card company in a year and saw slight improvements in how they were treated by credit companies this year compared to last.

Credit cards are one of the lowest-rated services that Consumer Reports has analyzed with only 51 percent of responders highly satisfied with their credit cards in 2011 compared to 45 percent in 2010.  Thirty five percent of responders had at least one credit card problem in the last year, such as new annual fees, higher interest rates, lower credit limits, or limits on rewards.  The number of responders that experienced unwelcome news about lower credit limits decreased from 37 percent in 2011 from 47 percent in 2010.   Taking this into account, it is surprising that only 12 percent of responders said their credit card companies had treated them unfairly in 2011.  The proportion decreased from15 percent in 2010 and from 22 percent in 2009. read more »

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), a viable alternative to hiring debt settlement companies, conducted an online poll of 2400 during the month of October, regarding debit card fees. Only three percent of responders would continue to use their debit card as usual if they were charged a fee.

Results

They were asked “If my bank were to impose a fee related to debit card use, I would…” Here is how they responded to the five choices: read more »

It is important to be aware of what is in your credit report and make sure the information is accurate.  This is your right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).   It is another thing to try to remove negative information that you know is correct – that is illegal.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged the operators of a credit repair company in Texas, RMCN Credit Services, of violating the Credit Repair Organizations Act.  The FTC complaint, which can be seen here, alleges the company made false statements to the credit reporting agencies and charged retainer fees of $2,000 to the consumers for services. RMCN advertised a six-month program to improve consumer’s credit reports and, according to the FTC, did not show the consumers the letters sent to the credit reporting agencies disputing all the negative information on the consumers’ credit reports.   Even after the investigation was completed by the credit reporting agencies and information was verified with detailed payment data, RMCN continued to send the dispute letters. read more »

The latest data from the Federal Reserve G-19 Statistical Release indicated that consumer credit dropped in August 2011, which was the most in one year. Total consumer credit was $2.4449 trillion in August 2011; compared to $2.4544 trillion in July. The decrease was $9.5 billion or -4.6% from July 2011, compared to an $11.9 billion increase in July 2011.

Non-revolving debt (credit cards)

Most of the decrease was attributed to non-revolving credit, which decreased by 5.2 percent or $7.23 billion from July 2011; compared to a rise of $15.48 billion in July 2011.  This was the largest decline since August 2008. Non-revolving debt included student loans, auto loans and mobile home loans.  Loans secured by real estate, such as home mortgages and home equity lines of credit, are not tracked for this report. read more »

PriceGrabber, a division of Experian (one of the three credit reporting agencies), conducted their first winter holiday shopping survey.  It was conducted from September 7 to 15, 2011 on 3,070 U.S. online shoppers.  Almost all plan to spend the same or less than last year and are looking for bargains. Approximately 49 percent of those surveyed plan to spend the same amount in 2011 as they did in 2010, 45 percent plan to spend less and 7 percent plan to spend more.  Most (68 percent) attributed the economic climate to their spending. read more »

Equifax, one of three consumer credit reporting agencies that houses over 200 million consumer credit reports and markets and sells consumer credit scores, released their latest National Trends Report the end of September. Equifax used data from their consumer and business databases to provide consumer credit information on the following markets: auto, banking, credit cards, mortgage and student loans. The study showed growth in auto and bankcard. There was more new credit available in the first half of 2011 (January thru June 2011) compared to the last two years.  There was $370 billion in new credit available from January to June 2011, compared to $327 billion in the same period in 2010, and $338 billion in the same period in 2009. read more »

Recording machines across the nation are being clogged with prerecorded phone calls from companies that claim to be able to negotiate significantly lower interest rates with your credit card issuers, if you just pay them a fee first. According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, consumers who get these interest rate reduction robocalls should listen to them with extreme skepticism, and delete them. Many are scams.

The companies behind the sales pitches claim to have special relationships with credit card issuers. They guarantee that the reduced rates they offer will save you thousands of dollars in interest and finance charges, and will allow you to pay off your credit card debt three to five times faster. They claim that the lower interest rates are available for a limited time and that you need to act now. Some even use money-back guarantees as further enticement. (The FTC frowns heavily on guarantees) read more »

Citigroup mailed 346 million pre-approved credit card offers in third quarter 2011, according to Mail Monitor, a unit of research firm Synovate.  This is more than the population of the U.S., which is currently 310.6 million.  According to FICO, 200 million adults have enough credit information to generate a credit score.  Obviously, consumers are receiving more than one offer, since not all 200 million have credit scores that would qualify them for the credit card. In addition, Citigroup is also being more selective credit-wise of who receives the offer, which is usually the segment that doesn’t need any additional credit.

According to Synovate, credit card issuers are beginning to increase their solicitations after hitting their lowest volume in 2009 – the lowest in 17 years.  The proportion of households receiving the mailings has decreased and the credit qualifications have changed drastically, only those with good to excellent credit are receiving the offers. In 2011, 59% of households are receiving at least one credit card solicitation mailing a month, which is below the 10-year high of 75% and decade average of 65%. read more »