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Find out how America's largest credit card issuer rewards their most loyal and responsible cardholders...
Bank of America told thousands of its cardholders in recent weeks — even those with good payment histories — that they faced a rate hike from 9 percent to as high as 28 percent if they didn't pay off their balances at the old rate and stop using their cards. The bank, the largest credit card issuer, since its 2006 acquisition of MBNA, says it's all part of its "periodic" review of customer credit risk. Read more about one of the greediest banks on the planet...
As long as we're on the topic of credit cards, as more homeowners struggle with skyrocketing house payments, several experts expect many of them to start using their credit cards as a means to get by: Once unpaid balances reach five figures and interest rates creep past 20% or even 30%, however, credit card users face trouble. It's gettin' ugly out there folks — read the rest of the story here...
Thank God...no more of those creepy commercials, and a reminder from the  "...if it sounds too good to be true" department: A federal court jury on Friday found the owner of a company that sells "male enhancement" tablets and other herbal supplements guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bank fraud and money laundering. I wonder how much this guy's smiling now? Find out when you read all about it...
More people are tapping their 401(k) for cash and they’re mortgaging their future in order to keep up their lifestyle: Trent Charlton knew the risks when he borrowed $10,000 from his 401(k) and  cut his retirement savings in half. But Charlton, a 40-year-old account executive at an Irvine, Calif., trucking company, said he had little choice because he and his wife could not keep up with monthly expenses after American Express reduced the limits on three credit cards.
As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, more people are doing the same thing: raiding their retirement savings just to get by and spending their nest eggs to gas up SUVs, pay mortgages or put food on the table. The numbers of people flushing their tomorrows to get past today are really starting to spike — read more here...
Need further proof that the credit markets apocalypse is near? Shhhhhhhh! Banks "quietly" borrow $50 billion from Fed:  Banks in the United States have been quietly borrowing "massive amounts" from the U.S. Federal Reserve in recent weeks, using a new measure the Fed introduced two months ago to help ease the credit crunch, according to a report on the web site of The Financial Times. Before you convert all of your holdings to gold, this this first...
Bad news: Foreclosures continue to depress property values.
Worse news: Street people have taken to squatting in those empty houses.
Really bad news: Is when you discover them squatting on your street.
 The nation's foreclosure crisis has led to a painful irony for homeless people: On any given night they are outnumbered in some cities by vacant houses, and some street people are taking advantage of the opportunity by becoming squatters. Foreclosed homes often have an advantage over boarded-up and dilapidated houses abandoned because of rundown conditions: Sometimes the heat, lights and water are still working. (I toldja this problem's going to touch all of us, everywhere, sooner or later.) Read more...
Could she be this century's 'Yoko Ono'? I'm pretty worn out with this kid's media saturation since her father's untimely passing.  Someone needs to talk to Mom and pull back a little a LOT. Watch her recent appearance on Rachel Ray's show and draw your own conclusions. (Pre-dosing with anti-nausea medication is highly recommended.)
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