Posted by admin on November 13, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Candidate Obama promised to make changes to the financial structure of the country, and mostly as a pro-consumer advocate and financial analysts are saying that he may in fact institute a credit card bill of rights. What this basically means is that the industry has been ripping off people for years and they haven’t made us aware of any of the loopholes that they keep catching consumers in.
Obama, the candidate, put forth a pro-consumer platform that includes:
- Creating a credit card rating system similar to the five-star rating system used for other consumer products to assess card features. Issuers would be required to display the rating on all credit card applications and solicitation materials.
- Establishing a credit card bill of rights to ban universal default, prohibit unilateral changes to contracts and prohibit charging interest on fees.
- Reforming bankruptcy laws to allow families with huge medical bills to have their medical debts forgiven and allow homeowners filing for bankruptcy to adjust the terms of their mortgage so they can keep their homes.
- Capping interest rates on payday loans at 36 percent and requiring clear disclosure of loan terms.
Financial analysts, however, warn that these changes need to be made swiftly and in the beginning, as that is the platform that he ran on and that is what American’s are looking for. If he waits too long, the excitement for change may be gone, and then it will be too late. Many people believe that since this is what the people want Congress will probably try to get a consumer friendly bill signed by Bush before he leaves office, however there are others that think this is doubtful at best.
Honestly, we need something to help out the people in this country and although many people oppose Obama’s thoughts, especially those on finance, I think that overall we must do something to help the unemployed and the people who are losing their homes to foreclosure. Something must be done to stop the madness, and the truth is doing something is better than doing nothing, so I guess we will see how this all pans out. Things can’t get any worse than they are…or can they?
Filed under Financial Changes · Tagged with advocate, bankruptcy, bankruptcy laws, bill, bush, candidate, card, changes, charging interest, consumer friendly bill, consumer products, consumers, credit card, credit card applications, credit card bill of rights, default, disclosure, fees, financial, financial analysts, financial structure, foreclosure, loan terms, loans, loopholes, losing their homes, medical bills, mortgage, Obama, payday loans, platform, pro-consumer, rating, reforming bankruptcy laws, terms
Posted by admin on September 27, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Our government is in high panic mode trying to fix the current financial crunch that we are in. I am just wondering why no one saw this coming. It only makes sense that we have been pouring out Trillions of dollars on fighting terrorism and the war and we have been doing this for the past 7 years. It only stands to reason that over time we are slowly but surely going broke. Honestly, if you look at things however, this really was coming to this point before September 11, 2001. If you look at the trends in banking and in the economy, you can honestly see that interest on bank accounts took a nose dive around the mid 90′s. Back in 1989, your interest on an average checking account was 5.14% and an average savings account was 5.5%. Money markets and CD’s went up to on the average about 8-9% depending of course on the term. Now you are lucky if you are getting about 1% interest on your savings. This decline started before all this terrorism stuff came to a head. Didn’t they see this was happening? Didn’t we? I guess I just think that better financial planning could have gone into this. It is like our government has bounced a million checks in the past week and they are scrambling to figure out where they are going to get the money from quickly. I just would like to think that our government had a better handle on their finances than this. It really just seems to me that they could have planned ahead and seen this coming. I guess with credit card companies charging exorbitant fees and banks charging equally exorbitant fees and interest rates, it seems to me that they would be doing well, but I guess not, which in essence means that the money that we think we have in the banks is really gone. I am sure in this financial whirlwind that we are in, if we all went to the banks and tried to get our money out, our government would be in quite a pickle. In any case, I really think that someone ought to be held accountable as this problem didn’t just happen over night, and it probably won’t be fixed over night either.
Filed under Debt · Tagged with 2001, 7 years, bank accounts, better financial planning, CDs, charging exorbitant fees, checking account, credit card, credit card companies, current financial crunch, economy, fighting terrorism, financial crunch, high panic mode, interest, interest on bank accounts, interest rates, money markets, savings, savings account, September 11, the war, trends in banking, trillions of dollars, war
Posted by admin on August 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
When financial worries start to take over, and your income no longer meets your expenses, the first things that wind up sitting unpaid are those credit card bills. Many people mean well and really want to pay their debts, but the money is just running out and their survival unfortunately is relying upon them not paying those bills. Well, most people do eventually begin to catch up, find a new source of income, or a way to cut expenses, but unfortunately by that point it may already be too late. You see damage to your credit score can sneak up on you really quickly, with just a few payments behind, you can quickly send your credit score plummeting and the thing that you have worked so hard to maintain your whole life, goes down the drain and you find yourself back at square one. The best thing that you can do to bring your credit score back up is to keep paying those bills, on time. Paying your bills on time will help you start to bring that credit score back up, but at the same time you need to be finding new ways to cut back and make more money simultaneously. The best way to make sure that you get on track and stay on track is to start paying your bills and keep putting money into savings at the same time. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, then you are in fact setting yourself up for failure. If you don’t have a back up plan then you are just a bump in the road away from the next crisis. There is potential to be injured, use a job, get ill, something that may prevent you from working, and if you are already banking on the paycheck that is coming on Friday, then this is risky business. The suggested savings plan means that you have enough money set aside for your family to live for an entire year, I have heard some people say at least 6 months, but the time to start saving is not when things are better, it is right now. Please don’t wait any longer to start making a good and secure financial future for you and your family. The economy may not be in good shape but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be. Start bringing down your expenses today and you will begin to create not only a savings plan, but a feeling of peace of mind and security that your whole family can enjoy for years to come.
Filed under Debt · Tagged with bills, bringing down your expenses, credit card, credit card bills, credit score, cut back, expenses, financial worries, make more money, money, more money, paying your bills, saving, savings, savings plan, start saving