Bank of America just announced that 38.7 million of its customers will soon receive a $5 fee for swiping their debit cards. The Credit Union National Association is responding with a call to consumers, saying there is another option where fees are lower and service is better. “We want consumers to know they can fight back against big banks by saying no to more fees. They should give credit unions a close look and take advantage of credit unions’ emphasis on service over profits, typically with fewer and lower fees overall,” said Credit Union National Association CEO Bill Cheney. “When free checking at banks seems to be disappearing, our surveys show 8 out of 10 credit unions still offer at least one free checking account with no minimum balance requirement and no maintenance or activity fees,” Cheney added.
Consumers can go to asmarterchoice.org which provides information about credit unions and helps consumers find one they are eligible to join. “Almost ever
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American attitudes towards personal finance are pretty bleak, according to a Gallup poll conducted this year. Apparently, one in four Americans view their own situation as poor. 22% of Americans were polled, and its the highest percentage of negative financial views since the annual poll began back in 2001.
As far as positive thoughts, 7% find their situation as excellent, and 37% see theirs as good. Almost half (48%) say their situation is steadily getting worse, while a measly 29% think theirs is getting better.
A variety of financial problems plague Americans, ranging from low wages as the most reported cause (14%), and too much accrued personal debt coming in a close second (13%). Other reasons such as college tuition (7%), healthcare expenses (12%), and taxes (3%) have varying effects on the population.
Savings Accounts and Money Market Rates provided by 24 October 2011 Despite early optimism, European leaders failed to come to an agreement over the weekend on an approach to the growing debt crisis in the region, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A draft proposal for the expansion of the was presented last Thursday, October 20, leading some to believe that there might be a resolution at meeting on Sunday between many of the region’s leading finance figures.
The 10-hour session left many issues to be resolved, however, prime among them was the purpose of the EFSF. Given the fund’s broad array of existing purposes, some policymakers have been skeptical of turning its sights on the current debt crisis. Some have instead supported the creation of a new fund with an extremely limited focus on protecting banks from the fallout of the situation in Greece.
Nevertheless, The Telegraph reports that British Prime Minister David Cameron saw the beginnings of a plan at the meeting and expects the next session on Wednesday to prove productive. Read more…
Whether you have been forced to use up your savings because you are unemployed or haven’t built up an emergency savings fund, when a financial crisis occurs you need immediate access to money. While the best-case scenario would be to have a savings account with available cash, many Americans don’t have one. When a car repair is needed for you to get to work or your child needs an expensive prescription to get over an illness, the money has to come from someplace.
Zywicki says one of the consequences of the 2009 CARD (Credit Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act) is that credit card companies have reduced credit limits, declined to offer credit to more consumers and have started charging higher interest rates and fees to new customers. Consumers with low incomes and bad credit are the hardest hit by these changes and therefore sometimes turn to advance payday loans which have higher interest rates.
More recently, the Durbin Amendment lowered the amount of money banks can earn on debit card transactions.
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The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said a decision had been taken “not to proceed with Logannet“, but instead spend the £1 billion earmarked for Longannet on other CCS demonstration projects. But while re-affirming CCS was a “key technology for the UK’s long term energy strategy,” Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne said, “a billion pounds is enough to demonstrate this vital new technology in the UK”, adding the money needed to be spent in the “most effective way” possible.
Level of future funding unclearBefore its decision to pull out of Longannet, the Government was committed to backing a further three large scale demonstration projects. Whilst a spokesperson for DECC told GreenWise that commitment hadn’t changed, it is unclear if future projects will be in line for additional funding over and above the £1 billion earmarked for Longannet.
“We are still committed to four [CCS projects],” the spokesperson said, adding only that the Coalition had ”only ever announced the specific £1 billion for demo one.”
CCS involves capturing the carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels, transporting it and storing it in a secure geological facility. Once pro Read more…
We all know the economic state of the country in pretty bad, and heres a visual representation of one factor of the economy unemployment.
You can see that despite the rhetoric (and trillions of dollars in spending), the unemployment rate hasnt moved much. This first graph covers the unemployment rate from the start of the recession to August, 2011. The August figure is important because its the first time in over 40 years that the U.S. economy produced a net 0 new jobs.
The second graphic shows major U.S. cities that are losing or gaining the most jobs. Its important to note that this data is NOT seasonally adjusted.
All the data is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and presented as an infographic courtesy of the folks at Visual.ly
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