Leadpile’s Blog

Changes to fees and terms may be positive for many consumers struggling to pay their bills! New rules obtaining to overdraft protection requires consumers to specifically request it, rather than being automatically enrolled in it. According to the Credit CARD Act, should the consumer enroll for overdraft protection, fees can only be applied once during a billing cycle and the card company must notify the consumer of the amount. These new overdraft rules only apply to debit cards, not checks or electronic transfers.
Consumers now are given 21 days to send credit card payments in, rather than only 14, and if changes are made to terms, 45 days notice must be given instead of 15. This change does not apply to reducing your credit limit, the credit card company can do this at any time without any warning!
One new change might be scary for many consumers to see, but after the initial shock sets in, the overall perspective will hopefully ultimately help consumers in the long run. Effective starting February 22, credit card bills must make it clear how long it will take the consumers to pay off the balance, and how much interest will be paid if the minimum amount is all that is paid each month.
While there is no current cap placed on increasing interest rates, credit card companies are required to give customers 45 days notice on changes and may not raise the current interest rate on customers existing debt unless payment is more than 60 days late on payment. Additional help to consumers trying to pay off debt, additional fees for paying over the phone, electronic transfer, or mail are no longer allowed and universal default for existing credit card balances may no longer be practiced. The Credit CARD Act has now made is more difficult for college students to obtain credit cards, someone under 21 may not be offered a credit card without a co-signer or proof of proper income.
LeadPile matches consumers in debt with Debt Consolidation, Debt Settlement and Bankruptcy companies daily. Debt is a huge source of stress for many people, hopefully the new Credit CARD Act will help get people back on track and become more aware of their own debt, and make plans to get things paid off!

Opening a checking account with no required balance or no monthly service fees may be something that is soon going to be history. With the suffering economy, there has recently been lots of discussion and controversy surrounding overdraft transaction fees, as a new federal regulation is expected to eliminate them. To make up for these losses in revenue the banks are looking into adding additional fees to checking accounts to help fill the gap.
According to Bankrate.com effective July 1st overdraft coverage will be an opt-in service. “Banks that offer overdraft, or bounce, protection will send opt-in notices to customers explaining the service. Banks will not be allowed to charge a fee for paying an overdraft that occurs because of an ATM transaction or a one-time debit card transaction unless the customer agrees. The rule does not apply to overdrafts that occur through the use of checks or ACH transactions such as bill pay.”
Overdraft fees have affected millions of people during this hard time and often times can be looked at as making a hard situation harder. Here at LeadPile we connect consumers possibly needing help to avoid banking overdraft fees or late payments with payday loan lenders who can loan money for a period of time to get them through. We will keep an eye on any new developments with this and let you know when changes occur!

The federal reserve has officially implemented new rules that governs the overdraft fees our nation’s banks can charge. Thursday, a ruling was imposed to make it harder for banks to add overdraft fees to customer’s accounts. Banks will now be required to have a consumer opt in for overdraft protection programs, therefore if you do not opt in for this service you will not have a transaction processed if the funds are not available. Many consumers depend on the fact that their bank will let a charge be processed on their debit card, with the assumption that they will just get charged a fee for that. Well starting in July 2010, that will not be happening. Banks will have to say bye bye to the 25 billion dollars a year in fees they collect on these sorts of transactions. No more spending money you don’t have people…. Let’s see where the banks try and make up for this cash cow loss.

Many conversations recently have involved payday loans and how they are just not right for consumers, yet articles like this one today make you think that maybe a payday loan is not really a “bad” option for a consumer. With this recent news that banks are under fire for the insane overdraft fees they charge consumers, payday loans are looking pretty good right now. Banks are projected to be generating up to $38.5 billion dollars in fees being charged to our nation’s bank customers. Congress is not liking this, and is looking at cracking down on all the banks that are charging these fees. What appears to be happening is consumers are using their debit cards and not having enough funds to make the purchase, yet the banks allow the transaction to take place and then charge the large overdraft fee. Maybe banks should not allow these sorts of transaction to take place, which in turn are getting the consumers more and more in debt?