The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

Last year’s Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act was put into law to improve transparency between credit card companies and consumers, making card issuers not only provide their customers with more notice about increases in their interest rates, but also limiting below-board billing practices that inevitably left many in deep debt. But just months after this historic legislation was enacted to protect Americans, card companies have come up with all-new ways to con their customers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, major card providers from Discover to Citigroup to Chase are working to limit their lost income by working around the new rules—in ways that, in some cases, violate the new Credit Card Act directly—by replacing old, outmoded fees with new ones.…

Just when the credit card industry thought it was safe in Washington, Uncle Sam has decided to keep them over his knee for a few last good swats of discipline in the form of tighter regulations on late fees.

For many who struggle with credit cards, the problem is not always uncontrollable spending—it’s the fees. Late fees, annual fees and over the limit fees can pile up faster than Feburary snow in Minnesota, pushing customers over the edge into an avalanche of additional credit problems.

However, earlier this week the Federal Reserve proposed new limits on how credit card companies apply penalty fees for things like missing a deadline or going over the limit.…

With the government’s new credit card legislation possibly reaching its stride two months early on December 1, a lot of frustrated credit card users may be breathing a collective sigh of relief. Given the tighter restrictions on credit card issuers, you might want to take the opportunity to be a little more choosy in selecting your new card, as industry players are going to push hard to win customers from competitors, using reward plans and low introductory rates as incentives. However, unknown to many credit card users is how reward plans are handled when payments are missed.

What far too few consumers understand is that not only do credit reports get the news when a payment is missed, so do the third party companies that handle the reward plans.…

It has been a number of months since new laws were passed to address the aggressive marketing tactics of credit card companies and their downright crooked methods of making money through penalty fees and interest rate hikes. To date, even with some facets of the law intact, few consumers are realizing a positive impact. This is because credit card companies have used the government intervention as an excuse to increase rates and invent new fees before the real teeth of the law come into effect in February of 2010.

Thankfully, it sounds like lawmakers behind the effort have caught wind of the ongoing tactics and are now pushing to enact the laws sooner than expected, as early as December of this year.…

A successful bankruptcy is as much about post-bankruptcy decision making as it is about making the initial decision to file. A lot needs to go into each spending choice, every credit consideration and your personal financial management goals.

Multiple bankruptcies are common. However, if you feel you may be getting close to having to file again and the reason is not the direct result of an uncontrollable emergency, there may be some broader, underlying personal issues that were not addressed the first time around. At the Law Offices of John T. Orcutt, we take pride in preparing our clients for a life outside of bankruptcy as well.…

Back in May, President Obama pushed for new legislation to prohibit some of the business tactics of credit card companies. Namely, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 will require lenders to notify card holders of rate and fee increases 45 days before they take affect. Until August 20, they only need 15 days of notification.

The small timelines credit card companies use to alert consumers of rate hikes is considered a primary driver of high personal debt because they are timed with a person’s spending habits. In other words, if a new television or other large expense was put on a card, a consumer would have about two weeks to pay it before the rate jumped, substantially increasing the overall cost of the item.…

How can you be certain that considering bankruptcy is the right course of action for you? Are you concerned that you might still be able to work your way out of your cycle of borrowing, paying interest-only on loans, and then borrowing again? Ask yourself if you’ve experienced some of the following situations to help you determine whether there is a problem you need to address.

High Interest Loans:

Are you taking short term, high interest loans to try to give you enough cash to pay the minimum on other loans? Once you’ve maxed out your existing sources of credit, are the new ones you’re trying to get coming at a higher and higher interest rate?…

It’s important to remember that credit card issuers are businesses. While they may not necessarily sell a tangible product (other than a sleek piece of plastic) they are very much in the business of making money. Interest, clearly, is the primary profit generator. In the last several years, however, more marketing incentives and added services have come online to generate fee-based revenue for those how don’t spend much and therefore, don’t provide a great deal of interest income to the company. One of those services is the credit protection plan. And like most add-ons to a credit card, they aren’t worth it.…