What happens when a big bank fails?

It seems like one of the perennial pieces of legislation that comes up in Congress is credit card reform. Last year, the Federal Reserve voted on new rules to go into effect in 2010, meant to protect consumers from such credit card practices as two-cycle billing and raising interest rates for unrelated charges. But some feel that these rules don’t go far enough — or go into effect early enough. However, rarely does anything resembling credit card reform happen in Congress. Representatives concede that it’s just not right. Some member of Congress routinely introduces a credit card reform bill only …read more

I didn’t think of it much when, the other day at Kohl’s, I was asked if I wanted to save 15% on my purchase. It happens so regularly. But I read a post from Bible Money Matters today about the increasing aggressiveness of department store credit card sales attempts, and I started replaying that conversation in my head:
“Would you like to 15% today?”
“Uh, no thanks.”
“It’s 15%!”
“Thanks, that’s okay.”
It was pretty apparent that she was trying. Normally I only have to say “no” once. At any rate, I didn’t bite. Save 15% on an order of $30? That’s $4.50. Besides, I’m …read more