Finance Globe

If you find an erroneous charge on your credit card or bank statement, you have the right to dispute it with your credit or debit card issuer, as long as you do it within 60 days. There’s no charge for you to dispute and you can even avoid paying interest on disputed credit card charges while the issue is being investigated. Banks, however, have to spend time investigating the dispute, contacting the merchant, deciding if the...

American Tax Relief, a company who purported to reduce consumer’s tax debt, has been ordered to pay more than $15 million to the FTC for deceiving consumers. As their name implies, American Tax Relief sold tax debt relief services to consumers. The FTC filed charges against the company for making false claims about significant reductions in previous customers’ tax debts and also for falsely telling consumers they qualified for programs that would lower their tax debt....

We know that paying bills on time is one of the most important aspects of being financially responsible. If you pay late, you’ll get charged a late fee, you risk having your services terminated (no one wants to be in the dark!), and your credit could be impacted. While payment history is generally the most important factor influencing your credit score, it’s not the only thing that matters. In fact, you could pay on time every...

It’s widely known that the FICO score is the score most used by creditors and lenders to approve your credit card, loan, or application. There are possibly hundreds of credit scores out there, so when you check your credit score, especially if you get a free credit score, chances are you’re not getting the FICO score. While, you want to see a credit score nearest to the one a lender’s going to see, it’s not the...

People who expect to get a tax refund this year have probably already started daydreaming and planning on what they’ll do with the extra money. Last year, the average tax refund was around $3,000. While you may be tempted to use the money on a vacation, shopping spree, new furniture, or electronics, there may be a better way to spend your tax refund – on your credit card debt. The average credit card debt per borrower...

Young people may never pay off their credit card debt. That’s the hypothesis that experts and reporters have made based on a recent study by an Ohio State economics professor. The study found that the younger generation of borrowers, those born between 1980 and 1984, has $5,500 more in credit card debt than their parents’ generation and $8,000 more in credit card debt than their grandparents’ generation. And worse, this particular generation of borrowers is taking...

In the past few years, prepaid cards, sometimes called prepaid debit cards, has risen in popularity. These cards are often advertised as a credit or checking account alternative for people with bad credit or no credit. However, these cards aren’t necessarily what they seem to be. Prepaid cards aren’t credit cards. While prepaid cards look almost just like credit cards and you swipe them the same way you’d swipe a credit card, the cards aren’t credit...

At the beginning of every year, millions of Americans get ready to file their income tax return. Some do it because they know they’re legally required to file (whether you’re required to file depends on your age, income, and filing status). Others are eager to receive a refund of taxes that were overpaid throughout the year. You have several options for filing your taxes. You want to choose the one that will maximum your refund and...

Imagine walking to the cash register of a convenience store with a bag of chips and a soda, intending to pay with your credit card, and seeing a sign that requires a minimum $10 purchase for credit card use. If you don’t have cash or an alternate method of payment, what are you going to do? Put the snacks back on the shelf, or pick up a few more items, enough to meet the $10 requirement....

You probably wouldn’t imagine something as simple as an unreturned library book or movie would hurt your credit. After all, you only kept the books out a few days past the date. But, libraries around the country are turning to collection agencies to handle fines that patrons neglect to pay. You probably already know how the library system works. When you check out something from the library, you agree to return it by the due date....