Category: Credit Cards

Protections added for consumers as it relates to their financial accounts have generally led to Americans having better control over their credit card debt and, perhaps as a consequence, filing fewer complaints about their cards.

Data from the Better Business Bureau reveals that the number of complaints lodged over consumer credit card accounts slipped 28 percent in 2011 when compared with the previous year, according to a report from Reuters. Many experts attribute this shift in consumer sentiment to disclosures related to credit card accounts mandated by the federal Dodd-Frank Act, which passed in 2010.

Similar disclosures enforced for other products offered by financial institutions may have led to similar drops in complaints against banks, the report said. In all, those grievances dropped by about one-third in 2011.

Credit card disclosures are viewed as being helpful for consumers because they give a better idea of what the cardholder will have to do to find the kind of debt relief they're looking for, often by spelling out details related to how long it will take to pay off a certain amount of debt.

Consumers who want to have a more convenient way to make payments and even keep better tabs on their credit card debt may soon have a number of options available to them.

As more companies enter the mobile credit card payment system industry, the quality, convenience and ubiquity of these systems is likely to improve considerably, and fortunately for all involved, there is a considerable amount of interest in pushing this new payment method, according to a report from USA Today. Businesses from mobile phone service providers to payment processing giants to smaller startups are jumping into the game, but experts say that they have to do all they can to make adoption as easy as possible right off the bat.

Experts have viewed adoption as the largest hurdle mobile payments will have to clear in the early stages of being widely available, and companies are working to incentivize use, the report said. Some may even make it easier to manage accounts and work toward debt relief by offering in-depth looks at account use through these systems.

Companies also have an incentive for getting involved in the industry, as it is expected to grow to an annual value of $44 billion by 2015.

Consumers are growing more comfortable in dealing with credit card debt these days, and demand for new lines of credit of all kinds has grown substantially.

In the second half of 2011, the number of inquiries for credit accounts, which are viewed as a reasonable gauge for consumer credit demand, increased 2.7 percent, according to new data in the Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition, the average credit limits consumers could carry rose $98 billion nationwide, a 3.6 percent increase over available maximums at the end of the third quarter, as the number of open credit card accounts jumped 3 million to a total of 386 million.

Meanwhile, consumers continued to be more conscientious in their efforts to pay down existing debts on time, the report said. Overall, household debt delinquency fell in the fourth quarter, but still accounted for 9.8 percent of all balances outstanding.

During the recession, consumers who were anxious to find some amount of debt relief shied away from using their credit cards and were more committed to reducing their balances, increasing the value of their monthly contributions.

As many consumers continue to grapple with credit card debt, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is trying to add more ways for Americans to better understand the situation they face when seeking debt relief.

One of those protections seems to be having a positive effect on some of the nation's most troubled borrowers, according to a new study from the Harvard Business School. The disclosure boxes that are required on every credit card bill these days, which spell out how much consumers can save over a period of a few years by increasing the value of their payments above the minimum, seem to entice borrowers to pay more than they have to.

Those who tend to increase the value of their payments are also those who have the largest balances, lowest credit scores and have a history of paying off their debt more slowly, the report said.

The CFPB has had full regulatory power since July 2011 and has worked to improve protections for all types of consumer financial products, including credit cards, mortgages and other lines of credit.

Younger consumers who want to take advantage of the best rewards credit card offers available may not be able to do so because of their limited borrowing history.

While many of the nation's top credit card lenders are now extending consumers more offers for rewards accounts, especiallythose that grant bonus rewards for meeting certain spending thresholds, young adults and other borrowers with limited borrowing histories may not be receiving them, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune. In many cases, those accounts are only being offered to consumers with healthy credit histories.

Consumers who have limited dealings with credit cards may have access to some rewards accounts, but those who do will typically find that these cards grant rewards and bonuses far less generously than normal rewards cards, the report said.

Using rewards accounts may lead to more credit card debt, however, as they typically carry higher interest rates than no-frills cards.

Consequently, these cards can make it difficult for some consumers to find debt relief if they're not responsible in handling the balance month-to-month.

In an effort to get a better handle on outstanding credit card debt and generally improve their financial situations, many consumers across the country are likely to be more careful about what they do with the money from their annual tax returns this year.

This year, the two most popular consumer plans for how to handle their tax returns are putting most of that money into savings or using it to find some debt relief by bringing their outstanding balances down, according to a new survey from the National Retail Federation. In all, 43.8 percent of those who expect to receive a tax refund this year say they will sock some of their money into savings, up from the 42.1 percent who responded similarly in 2011. Further, 39.4 percent of those expecting to receive refunds will use it to pay down debt.

"After a rocky few years, consumers are now more vigilant about how they spend their money and the importance of preparing for future financial stability," said NRF president and chief executive officer Matthew Shay. "Increased consumer savings proves extremely beneficial to shoppers and businesses in the long run, allowing future opportunities to invest in a large household item or even take advantage of a well-deserved family vacation."

But in fact, the number of consumers who plan to use their tax returns as a windfall to fund purchases has fallen, the report said. Only 28.7 percent of respondents will use the cash for spending on everyday expenses, and fewer will use it to make a major purchase of some kind. Only 12.3 percent will put it toward the purchase of a new automobile or television, and 11.3 percent will spend their tax return on a vacation.

Consumers have generally been more conscientious about trying to reduce their outstanding debt since the end of the recession, and that has become particularly true in the last year or so. But some experts also say that recent increases in balances and card use in general may be a sign that consumers, feeling better about the state of the economy, are turning back toward pre-recession spending habits. Meanwhile, others argue that those increases, which also included more charge offs and delinquencies, are the result of seasonal spending shifts observed every year.

Consumers were able to reduce the number of late payments they dealt with in 2011, but at the same time, were not able to reduce debt as they had in previous years.

The number of credit card balances that fell 90 days or more behind on payments slipped to just 0.78 percent of all accounts at the end of last year, according to new data from the credit monitoring bureau TransUnion. However, while consumers had generally been more conscientious in their debt relief efforts, that trend changed in 2011. The average credit card debt carried per borrower rose $239 over the course of the year to a total of $5,204, though that balance is still well below historic averages.

"[Last year] closed out with the lowest year-end card delinquency rate nationwide since 1995," said Ezra Becker, vice president of research and consulting in TransUnion's financial services business unit.

Credit card use ticked up considerably at the end of last year, as the improving economy continued to make consumers feel better about their personal finances, though some experts say those increases were the result of seasonal shifts in consumer shopping habits.

The amount of credit card debt owed to lenders in the metropolitan areas that were hardest hit by high balances in the past has been falling significantly in the last year.

Of the 100 metropolitan areas nationwide that had the largest credit card debt as a percentage of annual income at the end of 2010, nearly 60 of them had seen double-digit drops in those balances at the end of 2011, according to new data from the credit monitoring bureau Equifax. Perhaps not surprisingly, the areas where those falls were most precipitous were in states that were among the most affected by the economic downturn to begin with, including California, Florida, Louisiana and Washington. Five metropolitan areas in Florida saw double-digit drops, the most of any single state.

"It is interesting that [areas] from some of the states hardest hit by the recession showed some of the biggest reductions in credit card debt," said Trey Loughran, president of Equifax's personal solutions business. "This suggests that consumers from these hardest hit areas have been especially cautious in their spending and diligent in paying down their credit card debt."

The metropolitan area that saw the most significant debt relief was Port St. Lucie, Florida, which saw the percentage of income owed to lenders drop 23.59 percent between the fourth quarters of 2010 and 2011, the report said. Ocala, Florida's reduction approached 21 percent, and those in both Bremerton-Silverdale, Washington, and Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana also topped 20 percent.

Equifax data shows that consumers' overall debt – including mortgages, credit card balances, auto loans, student loans and so forth – has fallen close to 11 percent from the all-time high observed in October 2008, but that some $800 billion of that figure is composed entirely of credit card debt, the report said. However, consumers' credit card balances have been steadily falling since the fourth quarter of 2010, when consumers still owed an average of about 17 percent of their income to lenders.

Consumers have been making concerted efforts to reduce debt since the recession, and have largely been successful because they have both reined in spending considerably and also increasing the value of their monthly contributions to their outstanding balances. However, in recent months, some statistics have shown credit card borrowing ticking back up slowly, though some experts say this is merely the result of seasonal increases seen during the holiday season every year.

The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is once again stepping up efforts to help consumers avoid predatory practices related to credit card debt, this time by focusing on debt collections agencies and credit reporting bureaus.

The CFPB recently issued a proposal that would allow it to oversee some of the "larger participants" in the debt collections and credit reporting industries as part of its efforts to expand its regulatory efforts to nonbanks. Under the rule, the CFPB would regulate about 180 debt collections agencies, based on their collecting more than $10 million in receipts per year, and 30 credit reporting agencies, which have $7 million in annual receipts.

However, the CFPB is also required to define exactly what constitutes a "larger participant" by July 21, 2012, with an official rule, the report said. The current proposal will be opened to public comment for 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

Better protection from questionable lending, reporting and collections practices may help consumers to get a better handle on their debt consolidation efforts and get their finances back under control.

One of the best-known payment processors on the internet recently announced plans to expand its footprint into the physical world by partnering with major national chains.

PayPal, the online payment processing service owned by eBay, recently revealed that it was conducting a test run ofbeing a payment option at 51 Home Depot locations across the country but will likely be available in all of the hardware chain's stores by the end of February, according to a report from Reuters. In addition, executives at the company hope PayPal will be an accepted purchase method at as many as 20 major chains by the end of the year.

This process may be ideal for consumers who want to avoid taking on credit card debt, especially as they work to reduce debt across the board. Consumers will be able to select "PayPal" instead of "credit" or "debit" at checkout, then enter either a phone number linked to their account or swipe a specially-issued PayPal card. After entering a PIN to verify the purchase, the transaction will be complete.

Consumers can tie their PayPal account to a credit card or debit card as a debt consolidation tool, or deposit money into it directly.