The Senate has passed a bill that would roll back some banking regulations. Indirectly, the bill addresses Equifax’s historic data breach in which Social Security numbers and other personal data of 150 million people were exposed — a number that comprises well over half the U.S.’s adult population.
Though Sens. Mark Warner (D-Virg.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had put forth a bill in January that would hold credit reporting agencies responsible for breaches, it did not progress and Congress had failed to issue a legislative response to the Equifax breach.
In a move meant to benefit consumers, the new Senate bill, which was introduced ...
Read More...
Credit Card Debt Increases Most Since Prior To Great Recession
According to WalletHub, Americans added $92.2 billion in credit card debt in 2017, the most since 2007 - prior to the Great Recession. When you include all outstanding balances, the Federal Reserve estimates that Americans owe more than $1 trillion in credit card debt.
So what’s the deal? In the fourth quarter of 2017, Americans added $67.6 billion in credit card debt, which was the highest quarterly accumulation in 30 years. Looking back over the past couple of years, you can also see a speedy incline in debt, with debt climbing from $43 billion in 2015 to $87 billion 2016. This growing burden could be attributed to historically low ...
Read More...
Fed Chairman Questions Discharge of Student Loans in Bankruptcy
Market Watch reported today that the new chairman of the Federal Reserve questioned why struggling borrowers can’t discharge their student loans in bankruptcy.
“Alone among all kinds of debt, we don’t allow student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy,” Jerome Powell told members of the Senate Banking Committee Thursday. “I’d be at a loss to explain why that should be the case.”
Powell’s comments came in response to a question from Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, about whether high levels of student debt create a drag on the economy. More than 40 million Americans hold nearly $1.4 trillion in outstanding student ...
Read More...
Massachusetts Opens Door For Possible State Regulation of Student Loan Servicers
An action commenced in Massachusetts could have implications for the U.S. Department of Education’s efforts to shield student loan contractors from state oversight. A Superior Court Judge on Thursday refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed in August by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey against Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, a company that manages student loans and grants on behalf of the government.
Healey has accused FedLoan Servicing, of haphazardly handling two federal programs that encourage college graduates to enter fields serving the public good with the promise of loan forgiveness or financial aid.
The ...
Read More...
Supreme Court To Consider Challenge to Merchant Vendor Fees
Every time a consumer swipes his or her credit card, the credit card company collects a merchant vendor fee. Do most consumers know this? Probably not. This is because American Express policies prohibit retailers from educating consumers about these fees or giving consumers benefits for using lower-cost cards. Although retailers are fighting for the right to disclose these fees, credit card companies are determined to keep consumers in the dark.
Retailers are supporting an action that will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. The case, Ohio et al. v. American Express, began when the Federal Government and 11 states sued ...
Read More...
Job Polarization Forcing More Baby Boomers Out of Job Market
Men in their prime working years have left the labor force at an astonishing rate and they may never return if the state of the U.S. job market holds, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. This does not bode well for those approaching retirement and still carrying debt obligations. This may cause bankruptcy filings to spike in the 55-64 age group.
A decline in demand for middle-skilled work — a phenomenon dubbed “job polarization,” because more positions are concentrated at the higher and lower ends — has played a role in keeping prime-age men out of the job market an economist at the Kansas City Fed, ...
Read More...
Consumer’s Appetite For Debt On the Rise
Interest rates are on the rise, but that hasn’t curbed Americans’ appetite for consumer debt. If anything, consumers are borrowing more on credit cards or through auto loans than they have in years, and lenders seeking growth are happy to oblige them.
Recently, a male millennial said he signed up for more than five credit cards over the past year, from issuers including Capital One Financial Corp. and Discover Financial Services, after he received offers in the mail. He also took out a $36,000 loan to buy a new Jeep Grand Cherokee. This individual, who rents, said the offers have been arriving as his credit score has improved. He ...
Read More...
VantageScore – Credit Scoring Game Changer?
Various sources have reported that lenders are increasingly using VantageScore to determine credit worthiness. You need to know what it is and why it could be a game changer.
VantageScore is a credit scoring model that first emerged in 2006 as a joint venture of the big three credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — and now has the distinction of being one of only two scoring models lenders rely on to make lending decisions (the other being FICO). VantageScore currently claims about 10% of this hard-to-crack market for credit scores used in the lending industry, with the greatest adoption seen among the largest banks and ...
Read More...
Are Guarantees of Student Loans Changing The Retirement Landscape?
If you think student loan debt is a problem for the younger generation, think again. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), about 2.8 million people age 60 and older have outstanding student loans – four times the number in 2005. Most of the current student-loan debts of people 60-plus were incurred paying for college for a child or grandchild, and in the past decade, for the 60 to 64 age group, student-loan debt has increased eight-fold – to $38 billion!
“Americans in their 60s are now the fastest-growing age group facing student loan debt,” says Andrew Anable, a financial planner at Safeguard Investment Advisory ...
Read More...
Have You Been Rejected for a Mortgage? Get a Grip and Fight Back
How many Americans are rejected for a mortgage loan on an annual basis?
Data are scarce on the topic, but a Federal Reserve study shows that one in eight Americans were turned down for a mortgage in 2015 -- and overextended credit was at the top of the list of reasons lenders used to reject mortgage applicants. The Federal Reserve study pointed out that a high debt-to-income ratio -- i.e., the amount of money you borrow against the amount of money you make -- was a top credit-based reason for mortgage rejections.
If you've been turned down on a mortgage loan due to bad credit, get a grip and fight back.
Sure, the bad news is that ...
Read More...
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- …
- 8
- Next Page »
What Makes Me Different From the Others?