Credit Cards Plus

shopkick has announced that, with Citi sponsorship, it will install its small shopkick Signal box for FREE at the first 1,000 selected stores to enable its beneficial walk-in rewards program.

“Our work with shopkick demonstrates one of the ways we are working to drive growth for our clients and for our company,” said Christopher Kay, Head of Ventures, Citi Ventures. “We invest in cutting-edge companies and work with them to deliver new experiences for clients designed around their increasingly digital and mobile lives. shopkick is the leading mobile shopping app and drives measurable foot traffic to its retail partners.

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According to industry researchers including those at the Pew Foundation, the credit card laws passed by the federal government within the past few years are doing a good job to protect consumers. Under the CARD Act, for example, credit card companies have to be more clear and transparent about the fees and charges they impose, and they also have to follow stricter guidelines about billing and interest rates. But many experts agree that still more can and should be done to help ensure safeguards for consumers.

On an NPR radio show devoted to personal finance, one researcher suggested that although banks warned that if the CARD Act passed we would see a dramatic increase in annual fees on credit cards, that didn’t happen. A

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Moody’s Investors Service says the U.S. risks losing its top AAA credit rating if it defaults on its debts–even for a short period of time. The service states Congress needs to find a way to raise the nation’s debt limit soon to stop the worst from happening.

In an interview with Bloomberg News on June 21, Moody’s senior credit officer, Steven Hess, explained that a missed debt payment could result in a fundamental change in the U.S. credit ra

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New research from the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) found that the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act of 2009 resulted in increasing transparency for consumers without the negative consequences that some worried would occur.

Among the findings of the CRL report was that the implementation of the CARD Act has resulted in credit card offers that are more clear and transparent without resulting in higher credit card rates or increased difficulty obtaining credit.

“People mistake higher rates on mail solicitations and other offers in the last year as a price hike,” CRL senior researcher Josh Frank said in a statement. “Bu

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Dear New Frugal You, Emergency fund, emergency fund, emergency fund. Everybody says it’s important, but I’m not so sure. First, it can be hard to have several thousand dollars in an account and not spend it. And second, there are ways around having a pile of cash sitting around. Many loans, such as student and auto loans, let you pay more than the minimum now and then let you pay less later. This can be viewed as an extra buffer in your emergency fund. For example, let’s say that you owe $300 a month for a car. If you pay $400, then after one year you will have paid for four extra months. If you lose your job, then you have four months where you don’t have to pay your auto loan.

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