Credit cards Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Bankruptcy Attorney in Brooklyn, New York

U.S. Supreme Court Holds New York Credit-Card Surcharges Are Free Speech

New Yorkers traveling out of state may have experienced retailers offering higher prices for transactions paid by credit cards rather than cash or checks. New York bans the practice, so it’s much more common to see merchants declining credit-card transactions for purchases under $10. However, credit-card surcharges may be coming to New York thanks in …

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CFPB Studies Debtor Education That Isn’t a Waste of Debtors’ Time

Bankruptcy, Credit Counseling, Debt / By Matt Leichter

Observing the tenth anniversary of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, I discussed one of its less consequential impacts on New York bankruptcy: whether debtor-education requirements were a waste of time. The Government Accountability Office found that debtors thought the courses were somewhat helpful, but they would not have prevented their bankruptcies. In …

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Study: People Stay Away From Credit Cards When Unemployed

Bankruptcy, Credit cards, Debt / By Matt Leichter

At about the same time the Federal Reserve Bank of New York discussed a study about how debtors prioritize debts when money is tight, another Federal Reserve branch, in Boston, published a paper asking whether unemployment leads to increased credit-card use. The short answer is a surprising no. It turns out that rather than run …

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How Do Debtors Prioritize Their Debts?

Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Credit cards, Debt, Mortgage / By Matt Leichter

When debtors have too few funds to pay too many debts, they don’t try to distribute their money among all their debts. Rather, they prioritize some debts over others. The insight, courtesy of a blog post at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Web site, can help debtors and New York bankruptcy lawyers determine …

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Identity Theft Through Cell Phone Numbers?

Bankruptcy, Credit cards / By Matt Leichter

A couple years ago, I wrote about four ways identity theft could lead to New York bankruptcy. The notable candidates were theft of Social Security and credit card information. Now The New York Times has thought of a new type of identity theft: cell phone numbers. According to the article, landlines are rapidly going the …

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Use Secure Passwords to Protect Personal Information

Bankruptcy, Credit cards / By Matt Leichter

Stolen passwords and PINs can easily result in unauthorized purchases or fraudulent credit accounts. Debtors unable to undo the damage might face serious consequences, including New York bankruptcy. The issue of password security is also salient because stories of Democratic Party officials’ hacked emails made the news before the November election. It’s a good opportunity …

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CFPB Issues New Rules Regulating Prepaid Cards

Credit cards, Creditors / By Matt Leichter

At the beginning of the year, I wrote about the merits of stored-value cards, and the role they can play in a New York bankruptcy. Stored-value cards are increasingly referred to as “prepaid cards” or “prepaid accounts.” They’re back in the news this month because the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) just issued new regulations …

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What Are E-Scores and Are They Bad for Debtors?

Credit cards / By Matt Leichter

Digital information is playing an increasingly important role in debtors’ lives and therefore in New York bankruptcy. For example, everyone knows about credit scores, but few know the relationship between credit scores and romance. Data analytics has even produced “bankruptcy risk scores” to help lenders estimate the likelihood that debtors will file bankruptcy. Even less …

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NYT Slams Bank Overdraft Fees

Bankruptcy, Credit cards, Creditors, Debt / By Matt Leichter

Last month, I wrote about research into the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act that discussed how the law benefited consumers. One area it fell short was overdraft fees. Consumers could pay up to $25 per over-limit transaction or $35 if up to six previous charges were also over the line. Despite this …

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Researchers Disagree Over Debt-Management Strategies

Bankruptcy, Credit cards, Debt / By Matt Leichter

It’s unusual for august publications like Scientific American to discuss why people might not manage debts as well as they should, particularly those who are otherwise good with numbers. Nevertheless, that’s exactly the question a guest blog post tackled recently: Debtors with multiple debts tend to focus on paying down the ones with the smallest …

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