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Consumers can gain more insight into the credit card industry from a recent op-ed piece published in the Washington Post by author Robert D. Manning, who explores some of the myths that have built up around it in past years.
For example, Manning notes that credit card debt as most people know it only began to emerge in the early 1980s as banks aggressively pushed for an end to federal and state usury laws. Read more…
A study on the situation of Caribbean youth has revealed that youth’s risky behaviors are wreaking serious havoc on the economies of the Caribbean.
This is according to a study conducted by the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development (CCYD) in keeping with its mandate from Caricom heads of government to analyze the situation of Caribbean youth and recommend policy intervention to improve their well being.
The study conducted by former World Bank Economist, Jad Channban, found that murder rates in the Caribbean – at 30 per 100,000 annually – were higher than any other region in the world and that youth were the primary perpetrators, as well as the victims, of crime and violence.
The report revealed that the economic costs of youth crime had two components: the first being direct financial costs related to public expenditure on security, policing, arrest, judicial processing, and incarceration.
The second component was indirect costs linked to the foreign earnings of the criminal while s/he was in prison and to the losses in tourism revenues linked to youth crimes. L
If you’re in that twenty to thirty-something age range, odds are that you have friends and family who are getting married. If you are close with any of them, there’s a good chance you will be asked to be in the wedding party at some point.
This post was put together with the help of the wife, an expert in this topic area. She has been in six wedding parties, three of which as the Maid of Honor (I’m lucky I scored a likable wife!).
It’s really tough to say “no” to that question, but if you’ve never been through it before, it’s important to know what saying “yes” means, especially if you’re in a tough spot financially. I’m sure a lot of us
Iris writes in:
I was wondering if you could comment on the debt reduction/elimination ads I keep seeing on tv. Are these companies reputable? Are they doing anything that I can’t do myself? I would hate to pay a huge fee for something I could do myself. I would really like to reduce our debt load so I can free up more funds in our budget every month for, say, groceries. Advice?
The first and most important thing to note is that not all debt reduction and elimination programs are the same. Although they’re often collected under the same grouping, these programs tend to provide an array of services.
Unfortunately, all of the services provided are either dangerous or easily replaced by free materials.
One common service provided is education inhow to pay off debt. They explain, in great detail, how to create your own debt repayment plan and stick to it. The
Thousands of shareholders included on ‘sucker list’
With confidence slowly creeping back into the financial sector – seen by a rise in house prices, growth in profits reported by businesses, and the continuation of much-maligned bonuses- it might seem now is a good time for UK shareholders to take a few risks.
Yet thousands of people have been warned they are on a fraud “sucker list”, which highlights unknowing investors who could be conned into buying worthless or non-existent shares.
City of London Police detectives think the list of 10,000 identities was being passed on by fraudsters running ‘boiler room’ scams, which involve persistent cold-calling to gain an investor’s trust before disappearing with their money.
Hapless victims are persuaded to buy shares that are highly inflated, restricted from further trade or completely bogus.
They can rarely get help from the police or Financial Services Authority because unauthorised ‘boiler room’ companies are usually based abroad and cannot be regulated, although they may give a fake UK address and route a UK phone number overseas.
About 6,500 people received a letter from the FSA and City of London Police about their potential vulnerability, as their personal contact details could have been found on public shareholder lists.