Capital One, once considered the leader in low-interest rate credit cards, is now battling several ongoing class action lawsuits for excessively increasing customers interest rates.
One high-profile case involves a man who had emergency open heart surgery. Due to his illness, Capital One received his payment one day late. Capital One subsequently increases his interest rate from about 7% to 21%.
Has Capital One recently increased your interest rates? How much has your interest rate increased?
Showing posts with label debt reduction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label debt reduction. Show all posts
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Being Proactive About Debt Reduction
Are you pro-active or passive about reducing your personal debt? If you fall into the latter category, here are a couple of suggestions for aggressively taking steps to debt elimination.
1. Pay off any credit cards that you can and cancel these accounts.
If you have any credit cards with small balances, get rid of them and pay off these debts as soon as possible. For example, I had a small Macy's account that was lingering for years. I made the decision last week to get rid of it once and for all and check one more debt off my list. Even though the debt was small in comparison to some of my other debts, it was a mental relief to get one more debt out of the way.
2. Contact your credit card companies and try to negotiate lower interest rates.
In today's dismal economy, you'll be surprised at how many creditors are willing to re-negotiate your credit terms.
3. Start a savings account.
Even if you can only manage $20 bucks a month, taking the proactive step to start saving your money will make you feel better and will get you in the habit of putting money aside every month. And eventually, even small amounts of money begin to accumulate into a sizable savings fund.
4. Figure out what excess expenses you can cut out of you life.
If you buy lunch every day, start taking your lunch a few days out of the week and save this money. If you live close enough to your local grocery or pharmacy, start walking instead of driving and save gas. If you find yourself at home with every light and television on, turn things off and try to reduce your energy bills. If you really start analyzing how you spend money, you'll find countless small ways to save and reduce your debt.
5. Look for coupons and bargains before you shop.
You would be amazed at how many coupon offers there are available at any given time, both online and from traditional brick and mortar retailers. Whenever I shop online, I first go to Google, type in the vendor's name and then "coupon codes" to see if there are any discounts available. I have found amazing coupons for everything from pizza to digital cameras in the past week. There are also numerous discount sites like Retailmenot.com and Couponboutique.com which feature discounts and specials on a daily basis.
1. Pay off any credit cards that you can and cancel these accounts.
If you have any credit cards with small balances, get rid of them and pay off these debts as soon as possible. For example, I had a small Macy's account that was lingering for years. I made the decision last week to get rid of it once and for all and check one more debt off my list. Even though the debt was small in comparison to some of my other debts, it was a mental relief to get one more debt out of the way.
2. Contact your credit card companies and try to negotiate lower interest rates.
In today's dismal economy, you'll be surprised at how many creditors are willing to re-negotiate your credit terms.
3. Start a savings account.
Even if you can only manage $20 bucks a month, taking the proactive step to start saving your money will make you feel better and will get you in the habit of putting money aside every month. And eventually, even small amounts of money begin to accumulate into a sizable savings fund.
4. Figure out what excess expenses you can cut out of you life.
If you buy lunch every day, start taking your lunch a few days out of the week and save this money. If you live close enough to your local grocery or pharmacy, start walking instead of driving and save gas. If you find yourself at home with every light and television on, turn things off and try to reduce your energy bills. If you really start analyzing how you spend money, you'll find countless small ways to save and reduce your debt.
5. Look for coupons and bargains before you shop.
You would be amazed at how many coupon offers there are available at any given time, both online and from traditional brick and mortar retailers. Whenever I shop online, I first go to Google, type in the vendor's name and then "coupon codes" to see if there are any discounts available. I have found amazing coupons for everything from pizza to digital cameras in the past week. There are also numerous discount sites like Retailmenot.com and Couponboutique.com which feature discounts and specials on a daily basis.
Labels:
Credit Card Debt,
debt reduction
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Daydreams about Being Debt-Free
This is a inspiring post from No Credit Needed, entitled "20 Things That Rock About Being Debt Free". Read the article here --->
Labels:
debt reduction
Friday, December 5, 2008
$399 Compaq Laptops
In spite of the fact that if you're reading this blog you are likely in a serious heap of debt and do not need to be spending money, the reality is that life goes on and we still have to buy stuff. Debt Square is going to start scouring the web for coupons on practical consumer purchases that we all need, with or without debt.
For the next 24 hours, Office Depot has a cool deal on Compaq laptops - $579, with a $179 mail in rebate. The total price is $399, with free shipping. This offer ends on 12/6/08. Here are the specs:
AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 2.0GHz Processor 2GB DDR2 Memory 160GB Hard Drive nVidia GeForce 8200M Graphics DVD Burner Windows Vista Home Premium
For the next 24 hours, Office Depot has a cool deal on Compaq laptops - $579, with a $179 mail in rebate. The total price is $399, with free shipping. This offer ends on 12/6/08. Here are the specs:
Labels:
consumer purchases,
coupons,
debt reduction
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