Credit Card News News and Advice

You may not think that the verge of a global recession is a time big credit card banks would be hungrily shopping for new customers, but you’d be wrong.

The Wall Street Journal reports this week that Citi credit cards mailed 346 million credit card offers to U.S. consumers in the third quarter of 2011. That’s a lot of junk mail.

As banks have been cutting Americans’ credit lines on credit cards and refusing to issue cards to new applicants, more and more Americans have turned to another source of short-term emergency cash: Payday loans. Although the payday lending industry is experiencing a boom now, all of that may change when President-Elect Obama takes office.

There’s a new ultra-exclusive credit card in town, and it’s not from American Express. The Visa Black Card, made of carbon instead of plastic and issued by Barclay’s Bank, provides big spenders with 24/7 concierge service, access to airport lounges worldwide, luxury gifts, and typical credit card cash rewards, all for the pittance of a fee: $495 a year. It’s a pittance, of course, compared to the American Express Black Card fees: $5,000 for initiation and $2,500 every year!

Still interested? Learn more about the Visa Black Card here »

A lot of Americans (including myself) are planning on working on our financial discipline in 2009 to ensure we can weather this rough economy. As the submissions to this carnival show, for many that means making getting out of debt a priority and making efforts to limit or eliminate our use of credit. If you have goals surrounding getting out of debt or managing your use of credit better in the New Year, I’m sure you’ll find something useful in this month’s Carnival of Consumer Credit.

Good news for U.S. consumers struggling with credit card debt: The Federal Reserve has enacted a new set of rules governing how banks assess interest rates and fees that could save credit card customers a bundle. Now for the bad news: The changes won’t go into effect until June 2010.

The fourth edition of the Carnival of Consumer Credit is now live over at American Consumer News thanks to Debbie Dragon. Thanks, Debbie!

Be sure to check out the dozens of timely blog posts included in the carnival commenting on everything from what credit cards are doing to customer during these weird economic times to digging out of debt.

Managing your credit cards wisely is one part of being smart financially, but saving money every month is perhaps even more important. Today, a number of online accounts offer high yield savings with rates up to 3.30% and no minimum deposit to open an account.

It’s getting harder and harder to get a credit card these days; card issuers only want to extend credit cards to consumers they are confident will repay the card. That said; there are still cards available to consumers with a variety of credit scores, you just need to know where to look.

Do you have credit cards with $0 balances that you rarely use to make purchases? If so, your credit card issuer may simply cancel your account for inactivity. And even if you don’t use the card, that could hurt you. Here’s why, and what to do to keep your credit cards open.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Welcome to the third Carnival of Consumer Credit. There are a lot of great posts in here to help you navigate the tight credit market, holiday shopping, and even debts from holidays past. Thanks to everybody who submitted, and have a happy and safe holiday!

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