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The number of Americans paying credit card bills late has declined, report shows
It appears that consumers are putting themselves in a slightly better financial position, according to a new report that reveals credit card late – stage delinquency rates have declined for the fifth consecutive month. Delinquency rates are utilized by financial experts to measure future losses. The current declines recorded suggest that charge off rates may also decrease in the coming months.

“Seasonal factors are influencing the improvement in delinquencies and could benefit charge offs in the coming months,” Fitch Ratings managing director Michael Dean said. However, “Employment trends remain vital to any meaningful and sustained improvement taking hold.”

The Credit Card Index – published by Fitch – shows that the delinquency rate for payments 60 or more days overdue has dropped 17 basis points, falling to 4.01 percent in May. Full Post…

Tags: Bills, Card Bills, Credit Card, Credit Card Bills

Last week, Robert Brokamp lamented about his not-ready-for-prime-time bikini body, asking GRS readers “whether it might make sense occasionally to engage in some extreme fiscal or physical fitness in order to see bigger results sooner, which could serve as encouragement to keep going.”

Brokamp’s post was highly entertaining to be sure, but I immediately fired off an e-mail to J.D. asking if I could answer his question in a follow-up post. At GRS, we recognize the importance of getting rich slowly, doing the boring stuff day-in and day-out to achieve financial success. I believe weight loss is no different.

Crash diets don’t work
Research published by UCLA in 2007 concluded that diets don’t work. Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study, writes:

You can initially lose 5 to 10% of your weight on any number of diets, but then the weight comes back.

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Tags: Physical, Physical Financial

In a rocky economy, high interest rates are the holy grail of conservative investors, especially those who don’t want to to invest in bonds. But in this rocky economy, “high interest” hasn’t really meant much: High-interest savings accounts are returning below two percent!

Get Rich Slowly readers are just like everybody else. A couple of times a week, I get e-mail from somebody looking for higher interest rates, but puzzled about where to find them. So, inspired by a recent article in Consumer Reports Money Adviser, I’m going to run down the top choices for finding high interest rates.

First, I want to remind you all of one thing: Interest rates aren’t likely to rise until the economy improves. ING Direct doesn’t hate you. Ally Bank isn’t trying to rip you off. We’re just not in a high-interest rate environment right now.

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Tags: High Interest, Interest

This is a guest post from Adam Jusko, founder of IndexCreditCards.com, an information and comparison site for credit card offers that maintains a list of over 1200 cards. I’ve mentioned Index Credit Cards many times before, most notably in my post from 2006 called “The Only Credit Card Guide You’ll Ever Need”. This is an update to Adam’s guest post in January that explored what the Credit Card Act means to average Americans.

The final set of regulations from the sweeping Credit Card Act (signed into law last year) will take effect on August 22nd. Last Tuesday, the Federal Reserve nailed down the exact details of this latest round of regulations.

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Tags: Credit, End Credit

By YOUNG MONEY Staff
16 June 2010

The U.S. Department of Education recently proposed a number of rules regarding college recruitment and student aid and is now taking comments on them.

According to the proposed regulations, the department will be more empowered to enforce actions against institutions that misrepresent the programs they offer to students. During recent hearings, officials heard from students who said they were mislead on a number of issues, including how their education would be paid for and what was actually being provided in terms of learning.

Students also said they felt as though certain institutions weren’t clear on what their prospects were for upon the completion of the programs offered.

“We share a goal of ensuring that all Americans get the education and training needed to find meaningful and rewarding work,” Education Secretary Arnie Duncan said. Full Post…

Tags: College, Rules College