Black communities in Cook County, Chicago, have a higher personal bankruptcy filing rate than white communities. It’s even worse for women. A fascinating and extensive report published this month by the Woodstock Institute finds that in the period studied, 2006 to 2010, the rate of personal bankruptcies filed in predominantly African American communities was 5.2% versus 1.8% in predominantly white communities. Of further interest is that the rate for Chapter 13, or reorganization bankruptcies, was much higher for black communities, 32.8% of personal bankruptcies, than the 24% in white communities. Further, the personal bankruptcy rate for women overall was higher – 2.6% versus 2% for men; the rate for African American women was 5.1%, with the rate for white women at 1.2%. The overall increase in personal bankruptcies in Cook County was over 139% in those years.
Credit card companies are using “shameful practices” to maximise profits from customers on interest-free balance transfer deals, the managing director of a bank has claimed.
Brian Cole, of Capital One in the UK, the bank that first introduced zero-interest balance transfers to Britain in the 90s, says: “There’s a lot of practice in the [banking] marketplace that is shameful, and credit card companies are not immune. [Balance transfer] customers think they’re going to progress in getting out of debt, and get some relief from interest payments. But make a mistake and you will end up making money for your credit card company.”
Cole stopped Capital One making interest-free balance transfers available to mainstream customers in 2008. He says: “When we first introduced the interest-free balance transfer it was a very different product to now.
Tags: Card, Credit Card
Dear To Her Credit, I have been in financial hardship for a couple of years now. It started with divorce, spousal support, child support, lawyer fees and a small-time business that I got myself into, but did not succeed. All these led to credit card debts. Everything was getting charged to my credit cards.
I currently owe about $43,000. The last thing I want is to file for bankruptcy. I have a full-time job and earn a decent amount of money, just not enough to pay all my bills.
As advised, I called Chase, Citi and Macy’s for a temporary reduced payment arrangement. They were all willing to help and put me on a monthly payment plan for a year that is affordable to me. I closed all three accounts, which has helped reduce my monthly bills. I have been living on debit cards and cash for a few months now. It has been a struggle, but I am happy that I was able to survive without charging anything.
Tags: Credit, Credit Card
Are you sick and tired of paying too much interest on your credit card balance? One option that can help you save while you pay down credit card debt is a balance transfer.
That’s because balance transfer credit cards generally offer low introductory interest rates on your transferred balances. But will it save you enough money to be worth the effort?
Let’s see what you might save over the course of a year if you move your balance from a high interest credit card to a balance transfer card.
How Much Can You Save? — An Example Balance Transfer
In this case we’ll assume you owe $5000 on a credit card with a 17% APR. And we’ll assume that you plan to pay off this debt in one year.
We’ll also assume the card you want to transfer your balance to is the St. George Vert
Tags: Balance, Card Balance, Credit Card, Credit Card Balance
You will realize your debt is turning into a problem once you see the indications like finding yourself ignoring bills up until receiving a final notice. Another sign is when you can no longer pay even just the minimum amount due for your credit card usage. You’ll also know it’s becoming a bad debt when your credit card(s) or over draft is already at or maybe almost at their limit.
These are not merely signs, but if they seem proverbial, then your debt is most likely growing to be a problem. They may probably be totally out of control when you stay on the debt track. Also if there is a sudden major occurrence happens like getting fired or getting to the end of your mortgage’s fixed-rate period.
You definitely should not wait for things to go wrong prior to begin sorting out your arrears. Alway
Tags: Problem
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