Credit Card News

There’s a new kind of plastic in town. Prepaid debit cards are becoming increasingly more common on college campuses and elsewhere as credit card companies look for ways to add new customers without extending credit to risky consumers with no credit history or past credit problems. Prepaid debit cards solve that problem for card issuers, but they give consumers few benefits at all. Continued

Credit card companies love it when you pay them late. They can charge you fees of up to $39 and even double your interest rate for up to a year. But paying your credit card late isn’t just expensive, it will hurt your credit score and influence your future ability to get credit. Fortunately, however, your credit score may not go down every time you pay late. Here’s why. Continued

The new Delta Reserve Credit Card by American Express gives Delta SkyMiles frequent flyers a whole new world of credit card benefits. Continued

CNN reports that consumer borrower fell in August for the first time since 1998. Continued

Congress voted last month to pass the so-called Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. The law would change some arguably deceptive credit card industry tactics in favor of consumers. For example, credit cards could no longer raise interest rates just because you make a late payment on another loan or credit card, and they would have to stop applying payments to balances with the lowest APR first. We think this bill is great–although this Wall Street Journal article raises an interesting argument against the Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. Continued