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Credit card debt: Applying CARD Act principles to personal debt

The newly formed government agency, U.S. Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, reports that the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD)Act has caused the U.S. credit card industry to revise policies while reducing and eliminating some penalty fees. Highlights of the report include:

• Over-limit fees have all but disappeared.
• Prior to the CARD Act, 15 percent of credit card issuers reset credit card interest rates annually, but now approximately 2 percent of issuers are resetting interest rates each year.
• Assessed late payment fees fell to $427 million in December 2010. This represents a decrease of more than half of the January 2010 amount of $901 million.
• Since the inception of the CARD Act, credit card late fees have fallen from an average of $35.00 to $23.00.

These developments are a step in the right direction toward helping consumers with debt management.

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Tags: Act, Credit Card

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Where to Get the Best Personal Loans

Knowing where to get the best personal loans can save you a lot of money in interest. There are loan companies that are happy to oblige you with a loan, but some have sky-high interest rates. If that is the only way you can get a personal loan, try to pay it off as soon as possible to save money on the finance charges. Make sure the company does not have a prepayment penalty before you even take out the loan.

Finding personal loans is no proble m. There are companies everywhere that want to lend you money. However, the trick is to find the best loan, not necessarily the fastest or easiest one. Knowing where to look helps a lot. Here is a tip for you: The best one might not be the company that mailed you an offer for a guaranteed loan.

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Tags: Best Personal, Best Personal Loans, Loans, Personal Loans

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Credit card debt consolidation: Is debt consolidation good?

Although “good” is a subjective term, we can clarify positives and negatives related to using debt consolidation as a method for debt management. Debt consolidation functions in a manner similar to refinancing a home mortgage; you’re trading one or more debts for a single new debt, typically one offering lower finance charges. Potential benefits associated with debt consolidation include:

• Streamlining debt management: Dealing with a stack of credit card bills and loan payments each month increases your chances of missing a payment. Credit card debt consolidation can help by rolling several balances into one.
• Cleaning house, and your head: If you’re stressing due to debt, using debt consolidation can help you regain some feeling of control. Paying o

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Tags: Debt Consolidation, Good

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Leaving Your 401K To Charity

An important part of putting together an IRA, 401 or other qualified plan is appointing a beneficiary. On a positive note, this helps ensure that upon your death, any remaining account balance will transfer directly to your heirs without going through probate. On the negative side, your heirs might lose up to 80% of the account’s balance to income and estate taxes, both federal and state.

On other assets, heirs pay less or even no tax. Stocks the owner holds outside a qualified account and passes to his heirs receive a step-up in cost basis to the value on the date of death, so heirs pay no capital gains tax on the stocks’ appreciation during the original owner’s lifetime.

By leaving qualified plan balances to nonprofits and more tax-advantaged assets to your heirs, you have the potential to get more of your wealth where you intended. Nonprofits, being tax exempt, pay no income tax on the money they receive. Read full article…

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Debt Reduction Solutions

With so many families living from paycheck to paycheck, it is easy to fall into the cycle of debts. If any other expenses arise, such as medical, car repairs, home repairs, etc, it can cause anyone to fall behind on their other bills. After this happens, it becomes a vicious cycle trying to catch up. Eventually they find themselves, spiraling into a debt pit. There are solutions for families that are finding that they are struggling with debt. Debt reduction solutions are available to help in getting the debt under control and eventually eliminating it all together.

Debt consolidation is one solution that has helped hundreds and thousands of families to get on top of their crisis. Basically, it involves, taking the existing debts and combining all of it into single payment. With only having one lower monthly payment, it frees up extra money for families to live more easily.

Debt settlement is another solution that involves negotiation with the debtor’s creditors. W

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Tags: Debt, Debt Reduction

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