The new credit card rules went into effect Monday February 22, 2010. And if you thought that this finally brought the end to banks and credit card companies’ bloodsucking practices, think again. Banks started devising new ways to bite you in the ass before the new rules took effect.

Granted, there is no way to foresee every move and counteract it through legislation. In fact, it is also phenomenal that the bill was not killed at conception. May be there is some change at Washington after all (though we still have miles to go). Corporate America and the legislative bodies became bed partners long ago it is not going to change any time soon. But that’s a different subject. More on New Credit Card Law – Banks Can Still Bite You in the Rear

It is a good thing that new credit card rules and regulations have been enacted to protect consumers from predatory practices. But banks found ways of going around these laws even before they went to effect Monday February 22nd 2010. More on New Credit Card Laws: Good But Not Good Enough

Beware of credit scams. People desperate to clean their credit history have often fallen for these credit and debt scams. Your best armor against these is knowledge plus, of course, a dollop of commonsense. 

There is no quick fix to credit problems. There is no one size fits all either. Anyone who promises these is either lying or peddling an illegal plan.

More on Credit Scams You Should Avoid

Everywhere you look today there’s work at home scams advertising to unsuspecting unemployed workers. Look in newspaper classifieds, street light posts, highways and your email and you’ll find someone proposing to locate or hire you for a work at home job.

These work at home hoaxes and scams are ripe for distressed workers with little hope right now. While these list of work at home scams and advertisements seem appealing, especially if you’re unemployed or disabled and can’t work outside of your home, you must be prudent when selecting a work at home opportunity. Not all work-at-home prospects deliver on their over the top promises.

Many work at home scams will entice you with an amount you can possibly make per week or per month, without telling you how many hours you must work per day. And they omit the fact of just how many non-paid hours you *must* work per day before you get any pay. And most importantly, many of these work at home scams will require you to pay fees up front to find out where the work at home opportunities are located, when consumers really can utilize the internet to locate work at home jobs. It turns out to be a maze of schemes to get your money.

A well-known work at home scam is the stuffing of envelopes, or at least that’s what the classified ads suggest. More often than not, consumers are told to place an ad recruiting new people to send in money to get a list of work at home jobs. So the same ad you responded to, you’re now recruiting new people to get in the game. It’s an on-going saga that really goes no where and no other work at home information is ever provided.

It makes you wonder how work at home scams keep their vitality with the wealth of information online explaining just how to avoid them. Before choosing from a list of work at home opportunities, realize that this could be a list of work at home scams so do choose hastily and check your information thoroughly.

While Nancy Pelosi is blaming our financial meltdown on Republicans, and Republicans are getting even by voting down the $700-billion financial-bailout package — and while panicked investors react to the congressional backstabbing by sending the Dow Jones industrial average down a frightening 778 points — I get an e-mail from my friend Clayton.

Clayton is about to retire. He lives in a small city in the South and figures he could live comfortably the rest of his life on his savings, which are mostly in the stock market. Now Clayton is beside himself that his savings are being set afire by the dithering politicians.

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The stories can drive even the hardest hearted of us to tears. Families that once lived the American dream have been turned into virtual paupers. The pain, dereliction of abandoned homes, many of them vandalized… it’s all there to be seen. We’re talking about the mortgage meltdown

The American dream is now, for many Americans, the American shame: With no resolution in site. And don’t forget Katrina victims are still clinging on to hope that help might come some day. Read this article about this sad shame.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The house on East 24th Street was the worst of the six that David Law and Trey McCallister worked on the other day here. The front door had been kicked in so many times that the dead bolt was exposed and bent. Trash littered the front and back yards. A copper pipe was gone.

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Banks and credit card companies are not happy. They have been having too good, but now there’s trouble in paradise. I’m not complaining. After all, I’ve been a victim of some of the unfair practices that have pushed some otherwise good credit consumers into “sub-prime” status.

Once these new regulations have been enacted, no longer will banks and credit card companies be able to impose penalties for one day lateness in making a payment. They will be required to give you more time (21 days seems to be the proposed time span).

Also, they will not be able to raise interest rates at whim. It is interesting to learn that they have been increasing rates even for accounts in good standing.

Though still too soon to say in certainty, it is interesting that the lobbyists don’t seem to be getting their way for a change. Also to note is that this has come in the midst of the current credit crisis. Did have to take a crisis for those guys in Washington to see that there is really a problem?

The lobbyists have been having it their way for too long now. They even succeeded in having new bankruptcies laws passed (in the name of “bankruptcy abuse prevention act” or something like that) that gave lenders unfair advantage over consumers. Please don’t let them touch this one.

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You’ve probably heard the saying “There’s no free lunch”. May be not some University of Illinois students.  Seeing an ad free a free sandwich at Subway on a certain day, a bunch of them responded (free hoagie, mmm…).

Free hoagie there was, okay. But you had to sign an application for a credit card…

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You’ve seen the ads on TV, print media, and online. They make fantastic promises, such as wipe out your debt and make your credit report as clean as a bleached bone. How true (or realistic) are they?

Well, just read the following news story that was featured recenttly on NBC10 news:

PHILADELPHIA — A local woman said a Philadelphia company promised to resurrect her bad credit, but instead left her buried in even more debt.

So, the NBC 10 Investigators contacted the company that promises a line of credit to anyone, no matter what their circumstances may be.

“But how do you approve a dead man?” asked NBC 10 investigative reporter Harry Hairston.

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Avoid credit repair scams! Most experts agree that the best repair is self repair. Discover tricks and strategies: Get a free self credit repair special report now.