Bernanke: Speeding up credit card rules could hurt consumers

Mr. Bernanke's comments may pose difficulties to the House Financial Services Committee as it anticipates marking up a bill this week that would move up enactment of credit card protection regulations to Dec. 1 - weeks earlier than scheduled.
While the new deadline could benefit consumers by providing protections earlier than scheduled, it also would force the Federal Reserve to implement the new rules without giving the public and the credit card industry time for comment, "which could lead to unintended consequences."
Mr. Bernanke's comments were included in a letter dated Tuesday to the House Financial Services Committee's top Republican, Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, who had written to the chairman earlier this month asking for his input on moving up the enforcement date of the credit card rules.

Fed Chairman Opposes Change in Effective Date of Credit Card Law

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Wednesday that moving up the effective date of a new credit card law could benefit consumers but would strain small credit providers and cause other problems.
The House Financial Services Committee is expected to take up legislation this week or next to move up to Dec. 1, from late February next year, implementation of a law enacted in May to curb abusive credit card billing practices.
In response to a query from Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the committee’s ranking Republican, Bernanke said, “Moving the act’s effective date to December 1, 2009, could benefit consumers by providing important protections earlier than scheduled (including protections against applying increased rates to existing credit card balances).”

Here's how — make your payment on time every month.

Last week, Bank of America notified a limited group of cardholders that it will start charging an annual fee on their credit cards beginning in February 2010. The fee will range from $29 to $99 and will be applied to the selected accounts based on risk and profitability.

This action came only one week after Bank of America received attention and praise for promising to put a freeze on credit card rates.

Citibank Invents "Pretend Rate" For Credit Card

Here's how — make your payment on time every month.

Each month you do, you will receive a credit on your billing statement equal to 10% of your total interest charge on purchase balances. This can help offset the increase in your purchase APR. Start earning interest back in December and January, and you will see the full credit on your statement no later than February 2010 and monthly after that.
If in any month you do not pay on time, you may not be eligible to continue to participate in this program.

Consumer Confidential: Credit cards, muscle carts and car seats

Fedmeister Ben Bernanke says the Federal Reserve may speed up new credit card regulations -- or maybe not. Amid efforts by lawmakers to get tough new laws on the books, Bernanke said it's possible that the Fed's own efforts could arrive sooner than their current arrival date of Feb. 22. But he's concerned that banks need sufficient time "to allow for an orderly transition and to avoid unintended consequences, compliance difficulties and potential liabilities." I say: Get some darned safeguards in place and worry about consequences and difficulties later.

U.S. Publishes Rules on Credit Card Marketing to Students

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday proposed new regulations to govern the marketing of credit cards to college students. The rules, which were published in the Federal Register, would carry out changes to the Truth in Lending Act that Congress made as part of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, which was designed to give consumers more protections from the practices of credit card companies. Among the provisions aimed at helping young people is a requirement that credit card issuers and colleges and universities disclose agreements they make to market or distribute credit cards to students, including so-called affinity cards.

Personal Debt Consolidation Loans

1. Transfer your credit card debt to a 0% balance transfer credit card

If you currently have a lot of high interest credit card debt, you may be able to transfer some or all of it to a 0% balance transfer credit card, which will significantly reduce the amount of interest you are paying and make it faster and easier to repay your debt. Keep in mind that most balance transfer cards charge a fee to transfer the balance to the card. Even so, a 3-5% fee is substantially lower than the interest rates on many credit cards, which often exceed 20%. Here are a few of the top options if you want to do a 0% balance transfer:

Home Equity Loan vs. Home Equity Line Of Credit

A home equity loan is a second mortgage. Second mortgages typically have a higher interest rate than a first mortgage because their position is riskier than that of the first lender. The interest rate will also be affected by the loan to value ratio. The more maxed out the house's value, the more risk for the lender and the higher interest rate the lender will want in return.

Home Equity loans- The Three Main Types of Home Improvement Refinancing

When considering home improvement plans, the first thing we usually notice is how much the project will cost to complete it.

When coming up with the cost, you must factor in charges, fees, taxes assessed, and the monthly payment amount. There are many home improvement loans available from lenders today.

Most companies now offer customization of home improvement loans to help be more competitive in the hopes of you choosing them for your financing needs. There are various ways in which you can finance your home for improvements to be made.

Equity vs. Credit Card Debt

I have a mortgage balance left of only $18k at 5.75%. Problem is I really need to get some cash equity out of this house to eliminate 30-40K of credit card debt.My fiancee, (now wife) has worked for my company receiving annual 1099’s for around 30-35k with little to no debt. Both of our names are on the deed to this property. Is it possible to do a cash out refi in one or both of our names? Or prehaps a debt consolidation loan or HELOC?The first thing in the continual tightening of the guidelines is for self-employed individuals. Lenders and underwriters are required to calculate two full years of tax returns and profit and loss statements. We use the adjusted gross income, but can add back in depreciation. Also, on a cash out refinance, you will pay a premium to the interest rate and/or points if your credit score is under 720. We would be happy to evaluate your loan if contact our office as our job is to say yes on every loan. With the current lending environment, a lender almost needs to take a blood sample in addition to receiving all of your documentation.