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Dear Creditnet: I’m currently receiving collection notices from American Express for an unpaid balance on an old corporate credit card. I left the company where I had this card in late 2011.

I have combed through all my Amex bills, corporate expense reports and reimbursements, but I’ve been unable to find any unpaid charges on the card.

In addition, because the card was in my name and I incurred all the charges, my former employer takes no responsibility for the unpaid balance even though the charges were made solely for work purposes.

Will this affect my personal credit? What should I do now?

Answer: This is a difficult situation, but it’s not one that American Express is unaccustomed to handling.

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Tags: Card, Corporate Credit, Corporate Credit Card, Credit Card

Though the Durbin Amendment is hardly dead in the water, opposition has mounted since the Federal Reserve delayed announcing the regulations. Democratic senator Jon Tester of Montana introduced a bill to delay interchange regulation by two years, while on the other side of the aisle and in the other legislative chamber, Representative Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia sponsored a similar version with a one-year delay. Banks from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to 50-employee credit unions loudly and frequently voice their displeasure.

In the face of growing resistance, coalitions of merchants, retailers and consumer groups closed ranks around Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate and the amendment’s sponsor, strongest advocate.

Interchange fee regulation was dealt another blow on Thursday, as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair testified before the Senate Banking Committee.

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Tags: Durbin, Durbin May

Remember-direct deposit saves you time and protects Mother Earth. That’s why NACHA has designated the month of May to highlight the many benefits and resources available to individuals and companies of using Direct Deposit as a means of streamlining processes and saving money. With it, NACHA is promoting all things Direct Deposit and Direct Payment including What it is, how it works, the benefits; implementation and marketing tools and resources; calculation tools to estimate how much you can save by switching your organizations payroll from paper checks to Direct Deposit; how to communicate the benefits of Direct Deposit and Direct Payment; and how to increase employee benefits by adding split deposit to your payroll program. Learn more today at www.electronicpayments.org today!

Tags: Direct Deposit, May

It’s not looking good.

As of this past Friday, 123 banks have failed through the first twenty weeks of the year (they release data on Mondays, so I counted weeks by the number of Mondays in 2011). We’re on pace for around 319-320 bank failures this year.

The number of failures isn’t everything though. Fortunately, despite the frequency, the size of these failures is much smaller. Most of the banks had less than or around $300 million assets with just a few in excess of a few billion (two – United Western Bank in Colorado and Superior Bank in Alabama). It’s the smaller guys going under, which doesn’t make for interesting news on a national scale, but they’re still going.

That said, don’t be concerned that your bank is going to fail. The FDIC has your back.

Tags: Banks, Banks Failing

Consumers have managed to lower their credit card defaults and late payments with the top six card companies in April, says a new report from The Associated Press. The report revealed that more card users are in control of their spending than they have been in some time.

Card Issuers See Improvement in Customer Payments

According to the report, card issuers saw major drops in defaults (balances considered uncollectible, or charge offs) and late payments in April:

• Capital One Financial Corp.: Cap One reported a drop in defaults to 4.97 percent annualized, which is the biggest drop among the card issuers and is a level not seen since late 2007.
• American Express Co.: Amex celebrated the lowest default rate, which was 3.5 percent.

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Tags: Card Companies, Companies, Credit Card Defaults, Late Payments