Category: Consumer Savings

Thousands of complaints have been officially provided by consumers to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which released a report detailing specific credit problems they have had when speaking with issuers.

According to the CFPB's analysis, billing disputes were the most complained about to the agency. The report shows 681 complaints, or 13.1 percent of all complaints, were filed about issues with billing.

Additionally, 556 complaints were directed at annual percentage or interest rates, while 546 grievances were issued regarding identity theft, fraud or embezzlement – both of which accounted for more than 10 percent of the total number of complaints submitted.

"After careful analysis, the bureau will determine how best to address these issues through a variety of means ranging from consumer education and engagement to new regulatory policies," Raj Date, special advisor to the Treasury for the CFPB, said in the report.

Jennifer Howard, a spokesperson for the agency, told MSNBC consumer confusion with credit card companies and the terms these issuers place on their products.

According to the latest projections, it seems as though many Americans are at risk of running out of savings within a decade of retirement.

According to the latest report from the Employment Benefit Research Institute, a nonpartisan group that monitors how financially ready Americans are for retirement, at least 43 percent of people in all three age groups measured could hit financial problems early in retirement. A significant number of Early Baby Boomers (47.2 percent), Late Boomers (43.7 percent) and Generation Xers (44.5 percent) are considered "at risk" for running out of the basic amount of savings required to provide for themselves and cover medical expenses for the uninsured within 10 years, assuming a retirement age of 65.

The report said 70.4 percent of households in the bottom third of pre-retirement income are "at risk" for this eventuality, and 41.6 percent of the middle third are in the same situation. Only 23.3 percent of the highest-income group are "at risk."

Many Americans may have run into money troubles thanks to a number of factors, like high unemployment rates or mounting credit card debt, that caused them to dip into their retirement savings to make ends meet.

Consumer confidence dropped almost 10 points between May and June, reigniting fears that consumer spending would tumble and the economy would be imperiled.

Consumer confidence dropped all the way to 52.9 last month, from 62.7 in May, according to a monthly report from The Conference Board, a New York-based research group. The report said that consumers are most concerned about the current job market and whether the country is really recovering from the recession that has plagued it for two years. This was the first drop in consumer confidence after three months of gains.

"Until the pace of job growth picks up, consumer confidence is not likely to pick up," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

A report in the Milwaukee Business Journal said that consumer confidence is closely tied to spending, as Americans will save more when they are worried the economy is in trouble. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. The massive decline in consumer confidence flew in the face of analyst estimates, which had confidence rising slightly.

Consumers often have a number of bills to worry about, and with debt mounting, they can become confused as to just what they should pay down first.

According to a report on National Public Radio’s website, there are two schools of thought on which debt consumers should attempt to lower first. Mathematically, it probably makes more sense for them to pay off the loan with the highest rate first. Doing so would reduce the amount they’re paying overall interest, and that’s money that can be contributed to paying down that debt or others. On the other hand, consumers can get a psychological boost from tackling the smallest debt balance and eliminating it altogether.

The report says that when a consumer wants to reduce debt, it’s usually wisest to take the first method, which makes more sense from a budgetary sense, especially if the debt that needs to be reduced is of a particularly large amount.

According to a report in the Washington Post, consumer savings – the part of American paychecks that goes unspent – rose to 4 percent in May, indicating that consumers are successfully reducing debt and putting more money away.

Consumers spent more in May than in April, thanks in part to a rise in average income and low prices.

The latest report from the Commerce Department, which tracks consumer spending on a month-to-month basis, found that Americans spent 0.2 percent more than they did last month after holding steady between March and April. Incomes rose 0.4 percent in May, down slightly from the increase in 0.5 percent increase in April.

The national savings rate improved to 4.0 percent last month as well, up from 3.8 percent, as Americans put away $454.3 billion, the report said. The report also said that the country’s gross domestic product increased an annualized 2.7 percent in the first quarter partly as a result of the increased spending.

A report in the Wall Street Journal said that household spending and company investments need to pick up the slack from fading government stimulus money if the U.S. economy will continue to grow. Consumer purchases account for more than two-thirds of demand in the economy, but are being constrained by both a continued high unemployment rate and heavy debt.

The seasonally adjusted rate of change in the price of consumer goods dropped in May by 0.2 percent, bucking its recent trend and making consumer spending easier on the American public, according to figures released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Energy prices led the way among the main categories measured in the Bureau’s consumer price index, falling by 2.9 percent in May. The Bureau said that this marked an acceleration of the 1.4 percent decrease seen the month before, and that gasoline in particular was becoming cheaper, falling in price by 5.2 percent.

Food, on the other hand, stayed at roughly the same price level as before, according to the Bureau’s statistics. While food prices had been rising during March and April, their unchanged levels could spur hope among consumers and analysts alike that this part of the index may be beginning to dip.

Experts say that falling consumer prices could provide the impetus necessary to drive U.S. consumer spending up toward its pre-recession levels, which would be a powerful indicator of the economy’s improvement.

Many small businesses that successfully weathered the recent economic downturn got a nasty surprise when they found out that their subsequent tax bills counted any forgiven debt that they managed to find as income. However, according to a recent article at Business Insider, there are several ways that small business owners can cut their tax demands to more manageable levels.

For example, Business Insider says, small businesses that began their operations within the past year can write off much of their obligation to pay taxes on equipment and machinery, as well as those on other types of capital put into use during the same time frame.

Sales of small business stocks, in many cases, are also eligible for a 75 percent exclusion from applicable taxes, Business Insider says.

Experts say that small businesses, as the primary engines of job creation in the U.S., were particularly hard-hit during the recent recession, shedding workers at an alarming rate and contributing greatly to the historically high unemployment rates that have been seen in recent months.

Unexpectedly mild weather helped to cool off sales of consumer goods in May, with many of the biggest American retailers saying that they missed their sales projections for the month, according to a report from Marketwatch.

Target was among the retail chains that told Marketwatch that their sales had failed to reach the expected levels for last month. That company’s CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, told the publication that "our recent experience reinforces our belief that we will continue to experience volatility in the pace of economic recovery."

While Target’s sales posted a less-than-expected 1.3 percent gain, other retailers fared even worse, according to Marketwatch. Hot Topic reported a nearly 10 percent downturn in May sales, though the chain had expected at least some sales losses during the month. Fellow teen-market retailer Wet Seal dropped 5 percent.

Despite several recent economic indicators pointing to a general brightening of the American economic forecast, conditions in general remain uncertain as unemployment stays fixed around 10 percent and the housing market continues to baffle the most expert predictions. Americans have frequently opted to reduce debt instead of upping their consumer spending.

While many American families have struggled recently to balance their competing financial priorities, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that a major one – college costs – can be more easily dealt with by working the financial aid system.

Wall Street Journal writer Jane Kim says that "if your financial circumstances have changed materially at any time, ask the aid office to review your aid package. Under a ‘professional judgment review,’ financial-aid officers can make adjustments to the aid package if there have been material changes to the family’s income or assets."

Kim lists several other strategies, both short- and long-term, for lessening the financial burden of attending a college or university. Downturns in property value, if properly detailed on a student’s financial aid paperwork, can be worth "several thousand dollars," according to one expert quoted in Kim’s story.

While these tips could help turn a crippling financial burden into a more manageable one, many Americans have been forced to postpone attending college by budgetary issues, sometimes indefinitely.

American consumers are beginning to take a rosier view of their economic prospects as the Confidence Board’s consumer confidence index jumped for the third straight month, reaching 85.3 for the month of May.

While consumers were still much more likely to describe current economic conditions as bad, rather than good, the differential between the two figures shrunk, with 10 percent of respondents saying that conditions were good and 39.3 percent answering more negatively. These figures were 8.9 percent and 40 percent respectively in April. Remedial measures like debt counseling and settlement could be partially responsible for this improvement.

"Consumer confidence posted its third consecutive monthly gain, and although still weak by historical levels, appears to be gaining some traction. Consumers’ apprehension about current business conditions and the job market continues to slowly dissipate. Consumers’ expectations, on the other hand, have increased sharply over the past three months, propelling the Expectations Index to pre-recession levels," said Confidence Board consumer research center director Lynn Franco.

Experts have cited improvements in consumer confidence levels as being key to the resurgence of many important economic sectors, including real estate and job growth.