Credit Card Debt

As we enter the last week in January, it is important to take the time to be sure that you are staying true to your New Year’s resolutions, especially if they had anything to do with credit cards, credit card debt, or reforming the way that you use your credit cards.

If you fee yourself slipping away from the promises that you made earlier in the year to get your finances in track, correct the progression of those bad habits before it is too late. With the way that the economy is going these days, it is the survival of the fittest in the financial world and those with the best credit are  going to be those that do the best. It is up to you to get your credit card debt and credit card spending under control.

A refresher on some ways to get your credit card debt under control:

Pay off old credit cards

Make arrangements with credit cards that you plan to keep

Keep your oldest credit cards

Don’t open up new accounts just for the discount at department stores. It hurts your score.

Pull a copy of your credit report. You get a free one every year.

Peruse your credit report and dispute anything that isn’t yours.

Make timely payments.

Set accounts up on auto-draft out of your account that you often forget to pay.

These are just a few tips to help you get your credit back in order, and some of these we have already discussed. Just because the New Year’s cocktails are becoming hazy in your mind doesn’t mean that the resolutions you made regarding your credit should get hazy, also.

Although we hear a lot about credit card scams and other scams involving credit cards these days, it is not too often that the news has stories about people who are involved in organized crime having to do with credit cards.

According to the Tri City Herald in the state of Washington, a man was tried and convicted for directing three or more people in acts of credit card fraud, also referred to as criminal profiteering. The defendant’s name is Roger Paul Drott, and although he denies any involvement in the crime he was convicted by a jury of the Benton County Washington Superior Court.

The charges were that he lead a ring of organized crime along with two counts of possession of stolen property in the second degree.

This is a rare type of case for Benton County. There were several victims and the Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor says that the crimes took a great deal of thought and planning and were not carried out on a whim.

How was he caught? He initially called attention to himself around Christmas of 2007 when there were many local merchants complaining that a great deal of non-working gift cards were being presented by customers to make purchases.

It is said that Drott had access to more than 400 stolen credit cards and credit card numbers. In addition, he also had access to a telephone number that allowed him to find out whether or not the card was valid before it was used. The numbers were then laminated onto the top of gift cards that had been stolen after the strips were demagnetized. Clerks were forced to enter the numbers, causing the cards to work; otherwise the magnetic strips would have returned the cards as non-working.

Two people who were busted blamed it all on Drott, who supposedly shared the proceeds with them after they purchased items for him. These people were then asked to purchase phony gift cards from Drott by the police who then busted him and searched his home. This is wherethey found the equipment and credit card numbers used in the scam.

The defendant faces anywhere from five months to about 17 years for this crime. Given his record, his sentence will likely be twelve years or longer.

Australia’s government Scam Watch Site defines Credit Card Skimming as:

Card skimming’ is the illegal copying of information from the magnetic strip of a credit or ATM card. It is a more direct version of a phishing scam.

The scammers try to steal your details so they can access your accounts. Once scammers have skimmed your card, they can create a fake or ‘cloned’ card with your details on it. The scammer is then able to run up charges on your account.

Just last week, January 16 yet another person was busted for this crime. This particular person was the owner of a tobacco shop in Redmond called Smoker’s Choice, having abused his customers’ confidence and using their confidential credit card information to his own advantage.

He was sentenced to 33 months in prison. In addition, he is forced to undergo five years of supervised time out of prison (very little freedom to be spoken of) and nearly $215,000 in restitution.

He is accused of stealing credit card information from over 300 of his shop customers. Although only 35 of the 300 victims were able to identify the defendant as the person who had run their credit card, he did eventually confess and accept his fate.

The machine that performed the credit card skimming was never recovered.

This is a difficult crime to protect yourself against. Both debit and credit cards were compromised and used for a variety of purposes, all for the defendant’s financial gain. He incurred additional credit card debt for many people, and it took a while for the situation to be fully investigated and traced back to the small Redmond shop.

Although he did not do this alone, the defendant refuses to name any other people who might have conspired along with him for this credit card crime.

In a previous post, we talked a little bit about how the government is working to reform legislation so that credit card companies are forced to be a lot more consumer-friendly and make things easier on everyone involved. Too many Americans are in debt, and with the way that the economy is going right now something  has to be done.

But do we really have to wait until 2010? As of right now, it is looking that way. At least for now. President Barack Obama has a lot of other things on his agenda, as do those who work for us up in D.C. as well.

This should make you think; doesn’t it ever feel like the credit card companies make it difficult for us on purpose? If they don’t make things harder on those who hold credit cards on purpose, they sure don’t make it easy to reduce credit card debt. It is credit card debt that makes them rich, after all.

If you have a credit card or an online credit card, you are probably already well aware of how slanted things seem to be. It is like they make the card statements hard to read on purpose, so that you never know what is going on with your account 100 percent.

And then the things they do when you just can’t pay. Let’s face it. It happens.

Sometimes, we just can’t pay!

Closing out credit card accounts when there are still balances can make credit card debt a little ridiculous.

Reducing your credit limit because you aren’t as great a credit card holder as you used to be? Another thing that hurts our finances, and our chances of being able to get credit elsewhere.

Not giving enough time to pay.

Raising rates.

Adding in ridiculous fees.

Sigh.

These things directly affect our credit scores. Would they rather have no card holders than card holders who are doing their best?

Just a thought…hopefully this new credit card legislation will come to pass soon…very soon.

Now is the time when Americans need the help of their government the most.In the shadow of a recession and one of the highest unemployment rates in quite a while, people are being pushed further and further into debt all the time. Credit card debt is at an all-time high, not being made any better by the loss of jobs in all industries. It would seem that the credit card industry would be a bit easier on the consumers, but that is not the case. The credit card companies are pretty cut-throat, perhaps more so now than ever.

It seems that there may be legislation to change all that. The Democrats have posed legislation that would protect consumers against fee and rate increases by their credit card issuers.There would be limits posed on the amount and types of rate increases that could be placed and creditors would be required to give people ample time to pay off their debt.

The credit card companies being targeted are American Express, Citigroup, and Discover. The legislation has been endorsed by the Legislative Financial Services Committee chairman, Barney Frank. This is not the first time such a measure has been proposed; a similar one was introduced last year and it died at the Senate level. It is now being introduced in an effort to protect consumers after the collapse of the housing market. It is being said that more senators are in favor of this legislation this time around.

There is similar legislation set to pass in 2010, and the government is receiving a great deal of criticism from consumers and consumer advocates, saying that Americans need help and protection now. If passed, this legislation is set to take effect within 90 days of receiving the president’s signature.

There is no secret to the fact that we are in the shadow of a recession, and for that reason credit card issuers, banks, and other loan agents are a great deal less lenient than ever. Quite understandably, lenders have less faith than ever in the average person’s ability to make good on any type of loan, especially credit cards. Credit card debt is easy to accrue, especially when jobs are being lost left and right. Nobody knows what to expect, especially lenders and the lending industry is one that relies on certainty.

There are ways to go about making sure that you are still eligible for credit despite the troubles that the economy is going through. Let’s go over a few tips to ensure that you are still eligible for approval on a credit card application, loan application, rental application or anything else that requires spiffy credit.

Keep credit card balances low. Lenders love to see low credit card debt. Although some credit card debt is inevitable and rather expected, high balances send potential lenders running as fast in the other direction as possible these days.

Keep an eye on your credit score. Anything can happen, and it is more important than ever to be sure that you are prepared to handle potential credit issues if the occasion arises. MyFico.com is a great place to maintain close watch on your credit score.

Pull your credit report often. Your credit report should list all of the credit card debt that you have and give you the information that you need to fix it. If you have credit card debt that is out of control, the likelihood of new lenders taking kindly to you is not that great.

Credit is not as bountiful as it used to be. Lenders don’t have the kind of money to lend that they used to, and it is more important than ever to ensure that you are on top of things like paying on your credit cards and other bills.

Something pretty strange has been happening, and unlike anything that most people have ever seen before. A mysterious charge is appearing on credit card statements belonging to cardholders across the country, and while many people may feel silly reporting it, it is an extremely viable issue.

The thing about this charge is that it is only for $0.25, but it is appearing on so many card statements that it is worth bringing up, as the authorities feel that it may be one person’s way of ripping off a whole bunch of people for a small amount. In many cases, such a scam might have gone unnoticed, but not in this case.

How many victims are there to this petty credit card fraud? It appears to be in the millions, and that adds up for the person responsible for the charges. While one theory is that the small charge was supposed to give way to smaller charges, the main theory is that these small charges to the credit cards of all these people were designed to be as far as this scam went.

It was likely that the scam artist hoped that this $.25 charge would pass under the radar of credit card holders who had bigger fish to fry. Apparently this plan worked, as millions of account holders have called and complained that their credit cards have been charged this small amount and that the charge was unauthorized.
The charge is credited to a non-existent company called Adele Services, which is supposed to be located in Melville, New York. The only problem is that no company by the name of Adele Services is registered in Melville.

As a matter of fact, no company is registered under that name in the entire state of New York. Needless to say, these charges are a mystery. There is no telling whether or not this is the result of the use of online credit cards or some computer scam that drew random numbers and charged them, the theft of information, or anything else. If there was ever a real credit card mystery, this is certainly one of them.
If you notice that your credit card has been charged this small amount by the company listed above, don’t let it slide. That is what scam artists like that are counting on you to do. It may only be a quarter, but why should other people get rich off of your efforts and your credit? Call your credit card company today and register a complaint with them, so work can be done to catch this thief.

This is the week when the most credit card offers seem to come via snail mail and email, and some of them are for an alternative to regular credit cards—online credit cards. An online credit card sounds like something of a scam to many, and for that reason many folks don’t go for them. There is such a thing as an online credit card, and that is important to know. Whether or not they are right for you is a whole different story.
Online credit cards are not much different from the traditional credit cards that you carry around in your wallet or purse. The main difference is that the issuers don’t normally issue any plastic to you, as they are used mainly in online catalogs. Another difference is that most online credit cards are not issued by the normal companies like Visa and MasterCard.
If you have been offered an online credit card, you may want to take a close look at the offer itself. If they are only good for a certain catalog or a certain set of catalogs, check them out and make sure there are things that you could actually want and want to buy in them. This may just be one more excuse to get yourself into debt with your credit card, and that is never a good thing.
If you do a lot of catalog shopping or online shopping, online credit cards may be right for you.

Don’t take an online credit card offer as another excuse to buy things you don’t need. Think wisely about the decision as to whether or not this is something that you want and need, and also as to whether or not it is something that your finances (not to mention your credit) can afford.
The decision as to whether or not online credit cards are right for you is a personal one. Take the time to think it out and see if an online credit card can fit neatly into your financial plan this year.

It’s the first week of the New Year, and with that first week everybody is out there making resolutions to make their lives better. If your resolutions have to do with controlling the amount of money that you spend on your credit cards or getting your credit card debt under control, you should congratulate yourself as having taken an important first step toward repairing your financial situation and becoming more financially fit and healthy.

Getting credit card debt under control is a great New Year’s resolution, and one of the most popular ones, at that. The best way to kick this off is to start by getting your free annual credit report. Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, everyone is entitled to a free copy of their credit report on an annual basis. Most people get this done by visiting http://www.freeannualcreditreport.com.

It isn’t hard to get your free annual credit report. First off, make sure that it has been a year since you last got your credit report. Take a few minutes to get your report today; you can print it out or even have it mailed in some instances.

In order to get your report, you will have to answer some questions. The questions that are asked are questions that only you should know the answer to, just to diminish the chances that a person other than yourself will be able to pull your report.

They may be questions referring to the make and model of your first car, the name of a creditor, or even the street you lived on in 2003. These are random questions, and if you don’t answer them correctly you will not be able to pull your report. Needless to say, careful thinking about your answers is critical.

After you pull your report, you should see the information about each and every credit card you ever had. You may even find some about credit cards you have requested but didn’t get. Credit card debt should be spelled out all over the credit report, so you know what you are up against in your fight to rectify your credit and get your finances back on track this year.

What are you still reading for? Head over to http://www.freeannualcreditreport.com now and pull that report so you can get your credit card debt under control starting this year! Your New Year’s resolutions might have a fighting chance, after all.

It’s early January, and there is no time better than the present to start getting your credit card debt under control. Paying off credit cards and repairing credit scores are some of the most popular New Year’s resolutions each and every year; the only trouble with them is that they don’t happen on their own—you have  got to make them happen.

If you are ready to pay off those credit cards and get that debt under control, start off with the basics. Getting a copy of your credit report is the most important step in this, as it can give you a better idea about what you have to do in order to begin to rectify your debt situation. Credit card debt may not be your only debt.

After you have your credit report, you can have everything that you need as far as debt information is concerned. This will give you the information that you need to begin to contact those companies that you owe money to.

Now is the best time than ever to negotiate credit card debt, as the economy is going through a recession. Creditors are more desperate than ever to get what they can from those that are indebted to them, so you may be able to negotiate your debt at a mere fraction of what you owed. This won’t show up on your credit report as negotiated, just paid—and that is what is the most important.

It’s hard to get credit these days, but it is way harder than it has to be for those who have unpaid credit card debt. If you have credit cards that have to be paid off, start making arrangements or settling on something with the credit card companies that you owe money to. You owe it to yourself to make the best of this year, and getting financially fit is the first step in doing so.