Is a Reverse Mortgage the Right Route for Your Retirement? Get the Facts

For those approaching retirement, the concept of making ends meet on a fixed income is often the most terrifying and daunting aspect of the decision whether to leap into retirement, or try to hang on for a few more years in the workforce in order to have more money saved up and available to live on. One option that many facing retirement look into as a way to supplement their income is a reverse mortgage.

Reverse mortgages were popular with elderly citizens during the initial effects of the financial crisis. While we as a nation were just beginning to realize our economy was far from stable, people 62-years-old and up who were feeling the strain on their finances but owned their homes outright began setting up reverse mortgages that gave them income to live on. …

What Consumers Should Know About Credit Card Debt Collection

Debt collection consistently ranks extremely high in any survey or study that tracks consumer complaints. Debt collection is an industry with an aggressive reputation, known to sometimes use strong and harassing tactics in an attempt to collect debt that is past due.

In its 2011 report to Congress, the FTC received more than 140,000 consumer complaints regarding unfair, deceptive and abusive debt collectors.

According to American Banker, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is currently investigating JP Morgan Chase for improper credit card collections. The publication cites current and former employees who report that Chase “took procedural shortcuts and used faulty account records in suing tens of thousands of delinquent credit card borrowers for at least two years.” Chase employees report that the Chase card litigation involved unreliable external attorneys as well as …

Another Swipe Fee Battle Unfolding

Another major dispute on interchange fees could take place, and this one may have new, painful consequences on consumers. This time, the battle centers around the swipe fee that retailers pay on credit card transactions.

According to CNBC, there is an antitrust suit between five million retailers and Visa, MasterCard, and 13 large banks, including Citi, Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo. Retailers claim that banks and the payment systems have unfairly worked together to increase the amount of the interchange fee retailers pay on credit card transactions.

The amount that each retailer pays as a swipe fee varies widely but the industry average is approximately 2%. This antitrust suit could cut that figure by three-quarters down to 0.5%. That would be one more devastating revenue blow to the banks …

Suze Orman Introduces Prepaid Card

It didn’t work for the Kardashians. Perhaps it will for Suze Orman.

Orman is the latest celebrity to jump into the prepaid card market. As a well-known financial adviser with a strong following, she just may have the clout to capture a significant portion of the market.

Prepaid cards have historically targeted consumers with poor credit who could not qualify for a standard credit card. These cards were easy to get, but were loaded with exorbitant fees. That began to change last year when American Express introduced its own prepaid card with fewer fees.

There are some nice advantages to Orman’s Approved Card. It has fewer fees than most prepaid cards: there are no loading fees, no fee to transfer money to another card, and no fee to make electronic bill payments. The card comes …

Gift Cards — Use Them Before You Lose Them

The holiday presents have been unwrapped and most of us received at least one gift card. Now is the time to shop with these cards while they are still fresh in our hands.

The National Retail Federation predicts that 80% of people have purchased gift cards this holiday season and shoppers will spend an average of $43.23 per card. Total holiday spending on gift cards in 2011 reached $27.8 billion. That number grows each year because gift cards are the easiest present to give, saving time and shopping stress for the giver.

Surprisingly, it is also a present that goes unused. Last year, 113 million Americans received gift cards during the holidays, but at the start of the 2011 holiday shopping season, a quarter of recipients still had an unused gift card from last year.

“For some reason, …

Top 10 Debit and Credit Card Stories of 2011

This past year was a very eventful one in the debit and credit card industry. Here is a review of the top ten stories of 2011:

Debit Card Interchange Fee

The government regulation of the debit card interchange fee was the most controversial issue of the year. The Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill went into effect on October 1. Before the legislation, the interchange fee averaged 44 cents per transaction. Now, the reduced fee is 21 cents plus an additional amount to cover losses from fraud. This cost the banks billions of dollars in lost revenue. The interchange fee was intended to resolve a bitter issue for merchants but it also ignited unintended consequences for consumers, such as banks dropping rewards for debit card purchases in the spring and proposing to add fees …