banktime.com

The CARD Act is officially in place, effective last Monday. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act was signed into law by President Obama last Memorial Day. The nine month gap between the ratification and enaction of this new legislation was fraught with controversy, as the biggest credit card companies in the nation attempted en masse to change their fee structures to something more favorable for themselves.

Having poor credit can make you feel like a lot of doors have been closed in your face. One of those doors might be the dream of having your own car. Unless you live in a big city where the excellent and expansive public transportation system makes owning a car unnecessary, having your own set of wheels to get around is practically a requirement these days. If you don’t have the cash to buy a car outright, you will need an auto loan.

By now, you have more than likely become familiar with the CARD Act. The Credit Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act is scheduled to take effect this coming Monday (February 22), nine months after it was signed into law by President Obama.

Two Democratic candidates for the post of Florida state Attorney General are calling for a legal investigation into alleged abuses of credit cards issued by the Republican Party to its members. Senators Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber are demanding that currently Sunshine State AG Bill McCollum make a formal investigation into the question of whether Republicans evaded a 2005 ban on gifts made to lawmakers by giving these people credit cards to court favor. This week, Aronberg and Gelber sent a joint letter to McCollum.

Until recently, the tale of American consumers and their plastic was a passionate one. As a nation, we really liked our credit cards. From the time when federal deregulation (in the 1980s) made it easier than ever before for average middle class citizens to obtain credit, the usage of credit cards grew steadily. That was, until the onset of the economic event now being called The Great Recession. Now, it seems that the harsh financial realities of the past three years may be causing something of a revolution with regards to the use-use-use plastic mindset.

If you think there’s a chance that you might want a pillow or blanket to make your trip more comfortable next time you fly, then there’s something you’d better pack in your carry-on luggage alongside your regulation-sized Ziploc bag of tiny toiletries and a change of clothing in case your suitcase gets lost – a credit card. Reflecting the new trend towards a la carte pricing in all facets of domestic air travel, American Airlines announced today that it is planning on taking its signature red blankets out of the coach section on all North American flights.

The New York Times called them “yuppie food stamps.” The seven hundred million credit cards hanging out in Americans’ wallets are definitely fraught with controversy. That plastic is misunderstood, misused, and maligned is generally the only certain thing about them. (That figure, by the way, does not take into account the estimated five hundred million retail store cards in circulation right now.)

The Attorney General of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has issued legal subpoenas to a number of retailers doing business on the World Wide Web. The merchants, including Barnes & Noble, GameStop, Staples, and Ticketmaster, all pass consumer information to marketing firms (third parties) in the process of carrying out online transactions, which may be against the law.

Facing limited funds and the hopeless situation of robbing Peter to pay Paul, many Floridians are electing to pay their monthly credit card bills over their mortgages. Credit bureau TransUnion reported this week that, in a disturbing trend, a growing number of American homeowners are choosing to pay their plastic rather than the bill for the roof over their own heads.

The tragic U.S. economy is about to claim another victim… even if the vast majority of people would have serious trouble feeling badly for the entity about to go under in this case. Advanta, a major issuer of U.S. plastic, has announced that it is planning to shut down its credit card division due to uncontrollable losses. Advanta is the fourteenth largest credit card issuer in the country, and a major name in business lending. Credit cards currently account for nearly all of Advanta’s revenue, but the company claims that it has no choice but to prune back the division.