Welcome to the new normal of $40 for late fees for missing your credit card payment due date. Over the past two years, the nation’s top issuers have been nudging late fees up from $35 to $40. Under current, non-existent credit card regulations, the “sky is the limit.” Indeed, credit card issuers are only limited…
Coronavirus disruptions to everyday life are spreading rapidly as fear and anxiety grip consumers, business-owners and investors. The amplification of misinformation via social media and governments has become a plague unto itself. For Americans the only “silver lining” is mortgage rates dropping to the lowest level since October 2016. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now…
Savings secrets do not exist in Europe and Asia, but in the good ole U.S.A trying to put together a savings jar of $400 or $500 is elusive. With most families today, it is matter of falling back on credit cards for emergency expenses, which easily leads many into the great credit card trap. Senior…
Coronavirus claims for travel disruption takes off, as thousands of Americans fall victim to love fraud, beating robocallers at their game, and the economy looks good for now, but wit till the debt collectors start calling in 2021 and beyond. Travel insurance typically costs between 5% and 10% of the total cost of a trip,…
Smart savings begins with cultivating daily behavior like cutting back on the morning lattes, skipping happy hours, and savings with friends. Savings is more than just keeping the emergency cookie jar full with $400 or $500 in cash. It’s should include other goals like vacations, an automobile or house downpayment. The new Dobot app users…
The credit card APR spread between the rates charged across all accounts and the prime rate computed to 1012 basis points (bps) in the fourth-quarter (4Q/19). The average credit card rate charged by the nation’s Top 100 banks hit 14.87% in 4Q/19, down 23 bps from the prior quarter, but up 65 bps compared to…
Multi-billionaire Robert McKinley was shocked head-to-toe when he discovered $9.9 billion in his personal bank account exactly two years ago today. His first move was to make a bid for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers which owner Jerry Richardson put on the market just north of $2.0 billion. The bids were running about $2.2 billion. Robert…
Professor Cardworthy, the “Money Explainer” of all things financial, was resurrected by Senior Payments Analyst Robert McKinley, reprising his role first developed in 2007 as the actor in a series of 50 “Cardworthy” YouTube consumer instructional videos. The 2007 project was shelved while Mr. McKinley was in a cancer battle and later placed on hold…
Free tax filings were not widely known among low-to-medium income taxpayers as some commercial tax preparation services did their level best to hide them until the IRS got pissed. Trump’s trade war has made every American a loser to some degree, small to big, but nonetheless, losers. Despite demand for housing and low rate mortgages,…
CIBC & Tangerine ranked first and second, respectively, as providing the highest overall satisfaction among Canada credit card mobile apps. In the same study, Desjardins ranked highest in overall satisfaction for Canada online credit cards, followed by RBC Royal Bank. J.D. Power conducted four Canadian surveys to track overall customer satisfaction with banking and credit…
