Finance Space

Federal law enforcement agencies have begun a criminal investigation of the use of credit cards issued by the Republican Party of Florida to elected officials and staff members, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Tallahassee, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are involved in the probe. It grew out of a state investigation of former Florida House speaker Ray Sansom, who was indicted on criminal charges that he stashed $6 million in the state budget for an airplane hangar for a friend and campaign donor.

Many Americans are searching for an Obama credit card debt relief program. Unfortunately there is no true Obama credit card debt relief program but the FTC and Federal Government have created many free resources available online to help you lower your high interest debts through education and research.

By simply accessing the FTC website at FTC.gov you will find many free articles that will help to explain your rights when it comes to credit debts and it will also give you strategies to get out of debt as quickly as possible. The best way to get out of debt is to educate yourself on the issues and take the necessary steps to adjust your budget.

This week Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) unveiled a financial regulation overhaul bill that omits an important issue to convenience and petroleum retailers, consumers and small businesses in general: credit and debit card interchange (or “swipe”) fee reform.

Last year, Dodd announced his intention to draft legislation addressing the country’s outrageous interchange fees. It seemed to many that the broad financial overhaul bill would be a natural home for the swipe fee fix.

Retail groups in Washington, while disappointed that this issue was left out of the legislation, expressed a strong desire to work with Dodd and members of the Senate Banking Committee to address swipe fee reform.

One million desperate consumers shunned by High Street banks have turned to a sub-prime credit card – charging rates as high as 60 per cent. Credit firm Provident Financial today revealed it was receiving more than 2,700 applications a day for its Vanquis credit card. This card is aimed at borrowers who have a bad credit history and have been turned down by more well-known firms.

For the first time in three years, credit-card issuers are ramping up their mailbox solicitations, but don’t expect to see your father’s credit-card appeals. Variable interest rates, higher annual fees and a host of new charges will be hidden in the fine print of these offers.

With new consumer protections in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act set to take effect Monday, the nation’s largest credit-card issuers upped their direct-mail solicitations to consumers by more than 45% in the fourth quarter from the prior quarter, according to two leading market-research firms.

Most credit card companies today offer low or 0% interest rates for the first 6 months and sometimes longer. While this can be a great way to save it can also be dangerous. The motive of the company is to start you out with no interest so that you will build a high balance on the card without the ability to pay it off, and then when the introductory rate is up interest will begin building on that balance and they will begin making money.

Credit card charge-offs – or loans deemed uncollectible and written off – edged mostly upward in January as reported by the major card issuers, although there is some optimism in the stabilizing of delinquency rates.

Delinquencies – accounts running 30 days late – is generally a harbinger of bad loans to come. Most of the major card issuers either reported modest decreases or little change in the delinquency rates for January compared with December.

But for now, the credit card issuers are mired in write-offs as they face the prospects of reduced revenues from landmark restrictions on interest rate hikes and some fees taking effect on Monday.

Depending on the source, Americans carry an average of $5,000-$9,000 on their credit cards.

Linda Pichler with Consumer Credit Counseling Services says, “That’s where most people get into trouble,” adding that the new law will keep credit card companies from burying consumers in penalties, fees and surprise rate hikes. “The new law is definitely going to help the consumer and will regulate rate increases.”

Kevin Jackson with HCCP says the companies will be forced to give 45 days notice if they are going to raise your rates, and he agrees the law will benefit millions of card holders. The new rules also mean simpler, clearer statements.

Credit card users: Mark Feb. 22 on your calendar. That’s when the next phase of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 will take effect.

As part of the first changes, made last August, card issuers were required to give consumers 45 days’ notice before making major changes to their account and mail statements 21 days before payment is due. Next August, statements will be streamlined and language simplified to make the daunting fine print more user-friendly.

Here, meanwhile, is a rundown of the major changes coming in February this month:.

People will start seeing important changes on their credit card statements that could result in better debt management skills in the long term for many of them.

Under the terms of the federal Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, lenders must now provide people with information on their monthly statements about how long it would take to pay down their total balance by just making minimum payments. Related information on the statements will show consumers how much their monthly payments would have to be in order to pay down a balance in three years.