Earn What You Spend

CNBC outlines how credit card default rates are rising above record levels:

Bank of America—the largest U.S. bank—said its default rate, those loans the company does not expect to be paid back, soared to 12.50 percent in May from 10.47 percent in April.
In addition, American Express, which accounts for nearly a quarter of credit and charge card [...]

I know I’m late to this news, but we’re almost there:
The American economy shed 345,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate spiked to 9.4 percent, but the losses were far smaller than anticipated, amplifying hopes of recovery.  Economists described the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, released Friday, as an unambiguous sign of improvement, yet also clear [...]

Only a few short months ago the media was raising the alarm about the impending threat of deflation.  Deflation is the phenomenon of things getting cheaper.  While that may superficially sound great, it is actually quite devastating to the economy.  This segment from NPR’s Planet Money outlines the potentially troubling effects.  The crux is this: we get [...]

The House passed the new credit card legislation, joining the Senate in legislation that will now go to Barack Obama to be signed into law.  
This is certainly the most ambitious credit card legislation we have seen in years.  I think it’s a good thing.  I’m still shocked by stories like this one -  you realize any [...]

A head’s up to my readers: this upcoming Monday I’m hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance - the blog carnival that brings you the best the personal finance world has to offer.  It makes for great reading, so stay tuned! 
If you’re interested in participating, you can submit your best finance blog post here before 5pm EST this [...]

I’ve written before about the challenges facing the credit card industry - and it looks like these challenges are now showing up in the balance sheets of these companies. Clusterstock summarizes what the rating agency Fitch had to say about the industry today: 
Rising unemployment will push up the losses on credit card portfolios while shrinking [...]