CREDIT CARD RATES » Credit Card Rates

The CEO of HSBC, Stuart Gulliver, announced recently that while he’s pleased with the state of the U.S. economy, he feels keeping the card business in the country does not make strategic sense. As a result, he is hinting at the possibility of phasing out the company’s credit card business in the United States.

HSBC Looking for a Buyer

Citigroup announced on Thursday that it has discovered a hacker accessed personal information from its customers. The bank said the security breach occurred last month during which time the hacker stole the information belonging to roughly 200,000 customers.

Routine Monitoring Revealed the Breach

Google announced in a news conference on Thursday its release of a new application that will allow Android smartphones to act as credit cards. The application is called Google Wallet and will integrate credit or debit cards, loyalty cards, gift cards and others into a single application.

How Google Wallet Will Work

This is a guest post from Ask Mr. Credit Card. We get lots of great questions from our readers and wanted to share a recent one with you:

Mr. Credit Card,

I lost my job six months ago and I haven’t been able to find another one. I have a lot of credit card debt (about $15,000 as well as a $20,000 car loan that is half paid off.)

Anisha Sekar is a credit card analyst and staff writer at NerdWallet.com.

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.

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

A study released on Tuesday from the Pew Charitable Trusts says that credit card late payment fees have declined and interest rates have stabilized thanks to the credit card legislation. While the study notes that the changes occurred two years after the legislation was signed, this could mean the law has truly made an impact.

Credit Card Act Has Made a Difference

Customers of Bank of America Corp. may experience a massive increase in credit card penalties, according to an announcement made by a company spokeswoman on Tuesday. The spokesperson said the major card issuer plans to hike penalty interest rates to as much as 30 percent for customers who miss payments in the coming months.

Bank Increases Penalty Rate to Compensate for Lost Revenue

What was it Jack Nicholson said? “You can’t handle the truth!”

No, the truth about student credit cards isn’t all that drastic, I promise! Credit is a fact of life; everyone needs it if they want to get what they need. Yes, that even includes a job. So, having a student credit card is not a bad thing because it is a necessity.

Wrong Reasons for Opening a Student Credit Card

Photo courtesy of Andres Rueda via Flickr

A few weeks back, the Federal Reserve issued a series of clarifications regarding the Credit CARD Act of 2009. While the last of the regulations were implemented about a year ago, issuers have tried to sidestep the intent of the regulation.