China Embraces Credit Cards

Credit card firm looks to limit exposure

(NEWSER) - American Express is offering some of its customers $300 to pay their balance and close their accounts, Reuters reports. The firm has been hit with staggering losses, exacerbated by their expansion in recent years to less well-heeled customers. American Express declined to say how many customers had received the buyout offer or what their card balances were. More»

Soaring defaults could fell normally resilient industry

(NEWSER) - Credit cards may be the next industry to be pummeled by the financial crisis, Time reports. The charge-off rate—money that lenders don't think they'll collect—is set to hit 10% in 2009. That's double the rate of the last decade and amounts to $96 billion in unpaid debt. Typically credit card firms do well in downturns because late fees and higher rates raise revenue. But that equation breaks down if customers start defaulting en masse. More»

Feds have fined debt collector for deceptive practices

(NEWSER) - Americans burdened with old debt and low credit ratings are getting an unlikely offer in the mail: a new credit card. But the fine print explains that accepting the card means reviving debts that had expired by law, the Wall Street Journal reports. For one New York deli owner, the debt transfer was "totally worth it" because he felt "like dirt" without a credit card, particularly on dates. To get his new plastic, he paid $400 on a seven-year-old debt that, yes, was expired. Others say the practice is deceptive and illegal. More»

(NEWSER) - Credit card companies know more about you than you think—and if they think you're financially stressed, you're in trouble. American Public Media lists 10 "red-flag" purchases that you shouldn't make with plastic unless you want to give your credit card company the jitters.

• Traffic tickets: These make you look reckless, and, statistically, more likely to default on your credit cards.

Balances surge on bank credit-cards as Americans struggle to pay bills

(NEWSER) - Delinquencies on consumer and home-equity loans rose in the first quarter as unemployed Americans struggled to pay their bills, the Wall Street Journal reports. The number of borrowers at least 30 days late on their consumer loans, which include auto loans, rose slightly to 3.23% from the previous quarter. Delinquencies on home-equity loans rose about half a point to a record 3.52%. More»