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Continue reading Hillary’s extraordinary pile of debt reminds us to be careful who we deal with

02 07 2009

Hillary’s astounding pile of debt reminds us to be careful who we deal with

Posted by: in Money General Talk

Filed under: Borrowing, Debt, Wealth, Recession, Stimulate US, Celebs & Money, Recession Diaries

Having trouble paying off your debt? So is Hillary Clinton. As of April 2009, the Secretary of Say has accumulated more than $2 million in campaign debt. All of it is owed to one creditor: Mark Penn, the former senior Clinton strategist who, his critics state, ran a miserly campaign and lost her the presidential nomination.

With a recession in full swing, Clinton is facing increasing difficulties in paying off her debt. President Obama promised to help persuade his contacts to contribute to Clinton’s debt if she endorsed him in the general election. She jumped at the chance, responding with an adoring speech urging everyone to support Obama. Joe Biden then joined in, signing an appeal to more than 3 million Obama donors to help Clinton pay off her campaign debt. President Obama might have thought he had repaid Clinton’s support by making her Secretary of Say, but her position limits her ability to raise money due to the Hatch Act.

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02 07 2009

CP on your iPhone via an Apple-approved app? You betcha!

Posted by: in Social Informant

Filed under: Blogging, Apple, Social Software, iPhone

Yes, we’ve been over the App Store approval thing a hundred times already, but never quite like this.

Apple’s got a pretty strong policy when it comes to nudity, right? Right?

So Beauty Meter - an application that grants, hypothetically, a fifteen year old girl to share a nude photo to be rated would be totally out of the question right?

You’d at least anticipate there to be a nudity warning if you installed an app like this. I mean, it could be a non-nude hot-or-not app, there’s certainly a precedent for that. In the case of Beauty Meter, however, you’ll just get a warning that it might contain mature content and it’s not for use by anyone under the age of 17.

Heck, in some countries 17 isn’t even old enough to look at naughty things.

Now, clearly neither Apple nor the devs behind Beauty Meter can totally control who uploads what (the app even says as much when you launch it), but it makes me wonder: if an app like this can be approved, why not Drivetrain?

It’s remote control for Transmission. It doesn’t actually do any torrent downloading. There’s no way anything it does is remotely illegal. It’s pretty similar to a single-app MochaVNC, which has been in the store for ages, and I can certainly use to control Transmission from my iPod. But I digress.

Three things for certain: Beauty Meter will soon suffer the same fate as Hottest Girls, the approval process needs an overhaul, and the screenshot at Krapps is going to live in Internet infamy for a long time.

[via Krapps - thanks, @thmonline!]

CP on your iPhone via an Apple-approved app? You betcha! originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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02 07 2009

Credit card delinquencies still rising

Posted by: in Money General Talk

Filed under: Credit, Debt

Credit card delinquencies continued to rise in the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest data.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that “For the first three months of the year, the delinquency rate in the U.S. rose to 1.32% for consumers who were three months or more behind payments on their cards, up 11% from 1.19%

By a year earlier, according to a report published Monday by credit-reporting agency TransUnion LLC. The delinquency rate for the first quarter jumped 9.1% from the previous quarter.

Particularly troubling is the fact that the delinquency rate appears to have continued its ascent even as tax-refund checks were mailed — suggesting that many Americans were so strapped for cash that they couldn’t use the refund checks to pay down debt as they’ve in years past.

On the other side, Fitch Ratings reports (subscription required) that credit card delinquencies pulled back a bit in Might following four straight months of new record highs.

Transunion doesn’t anticipate credit card delinquencies to peak until late 2010 or 2011.

And here’s the worst part: Now that the United States government has a major stake in many of the largest banks, we lose on both ends. As the credit card industry charges off bad debts, guess who’s footing the bill? We are.%a, %d %b %Y %H:%i:%s EST

Continue reading Gdgt launches: A community site for gadgets and gadget users

02 07 2009

Gdgt launches: A community site for gadgets and gadget users

Posted by: in Social Informant

Filed under: Internet, Social Software

Engadget founder Peter Rojas and former editor Ryan Block are launching a new project this day called gdgt. The web site isn’t a gadget blog, but rather a portal for gadget specs, reviews, and other information as well as a social networking site that lets users create profiles with lists of the gadgets they have, want, or had.

If you’re not interested in creating a profile and sharing your gadget lust with the world, the site still serves a few purposes. It has a decent list of existing gadgets with detailed specifications and some pretty nifty comparison charts. You can also read professional reviews from other web pages as well as user reviews and comments about each gadget.

If you do create a profile, you can submit your own gadgets, which means that the site’s already decent catalog of gadgets will continue to grow over time. Users can also add items to your have, want, and had list, and embed a personalized gdgt widget on your web page or social networking profiles.

Gdgt launches: A community site for gadgets and gadget users originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading What will new credit card rules mean for those under 21?

01 07 2009

What will new credit card rules mean for those under 21?

Posted by: in Money General Talk

Filed under: College, Credit, Debt

The new credit card rules signed into law recently herald a great deal of positive changes, but one requirement sticks out as an odd addition. The requirement that individuals under 21 need a parent or guardian to co-sign for a credit card has the capacity to leave many otherwise responsible borrowers without the capability to start building credit.

In theory, this new rule protects young people from making bad credit decisions, and makes it easier for credit card companies to recoup losses associated with young people who default on their credit cards. But in practice it is odd that legislators believe young individuals can join the armed forces and even gamble but not make responsible credit card decisions.

When the law goes into effect next year, individuals under 21 whose parents won’t co-sign for a credit card will have to have proof of the capability to repay the credit card. I spoke with former credit card industry insider and CEO of Cardhub.com, Odysseas Papadimitriou, to find out what kind of proof will be required in 2010.

First and foremost, he pointed out that the current language of the law doesn’t define the burden of proof needed, and he anticipates card issuers to offer various formulas until an industry-wide proof of ability to repay is put into place by issuers or legislative action. As it stands now, expect to see issuers relying on a pay stub income assessment, much like apartments and other businesses verify ability to repay.

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Continue reading Use payday loan services? This tip might save you $20

01 07 2009

Use payday loan services? This tip might save you $20

Posted by: in Money General Talk

Filed under: Borrowing, Debt, Consumer Complaints

It’s not an honor I’m proud of, but I’m pretty sure that out of the many writers who contribute to WalletPop, payday loans is my beat.

At least, I wrote about them quite a bit a year ago during a period in which I found myself short of cash and, yes, frequenting payday loan stores. (If you’re curious, you can find some of my posts here and here. Oh, and here.)

Anyway, a relative of mine (honest, it’s not me) recently told me about a loophole he found that saved him $20 at a payday loan outlet, and I immediately thought, “Boy, this could make an interesting story for WalletPop.”

I don’t know how it works in payday loan stores everywhere across the country, but last November, in Ohio, the public voted to rein in payday lending to cap the annual interest rate on these short-term loans. So the aforementioned relative of mine took out a loan for $400 and was going to be charged $460. That stated, due to changes in the law, he was being charged $40 for the loan.

The extra $20 was to change his $440 money order into cash.

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01 07 2009

Twitter’s follower and following pages get a big redesign

Posted by: in Social Informant

Filed under: Design, Social Software, web 2.0

If you’ve been on Twitter over the past day or so, you might have noticed some huge changes to the way the site shows users’ lists of followers and followees. Instead of just showing names and icon, these pages now display more detailed information, including location and most recent tweet. All of the actions you have available for each user are collected into a compact drop-down menu, so you can mention, direct message, block, follow or unfollow the user quickly.

Several users have correctly pointed out that the new design makes Twitter look a lot more like an iPhone-optimized site. It’s definitely an improvement in many ways, but there’s one small quirk I’ve to take issue with: in the old layout, the appearance of the “direct message” link next to a username gave a quick visual indication of whether that user was following you. You can still figure this out by clicking the drop-down menu, but it’s definitely not as efficient as before. On the other hand, the new design does a great job of showing who you’re following when you browse another user’s list.

Twitter’s follower and following pages get a large redesign originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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01 07 2009

Financial planning on a budget

Posted by: in Money General Talk

Filed under: Budgets, Debt, Retire, Saving, Investing

Not sure how to plan for the future? WalletPop speaks with Bryan Link, CEO and co-founder of free on the internet financial planning and advice website SimpliFi.net, about strategies in today’s tough economy. Among some of his recommendations, build up a liquid emergency fund and pay off debt from credit cards and an auto loan before putting money aside for investment.

To get more tips and learn more about SimpliFi.net’s new free service for middle income users, check out Walletpop Radio on BlogTalk Radio: %a, %d %b %Y %H:%i:%s EST

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Continue reading Job losses, housing market driving more bankruptcies

01 07 2009

Job losses, housing market driving more bankruptcies

Posted by: in Money General Talk

Filed under: Credit, Debt

Job losses and the disastrous housing market continue to drive more and more people into bankruptcy court.

Bankruptcy filings rose to 6,000 per day and are expected to increase to 1.5 million this year, up from 1.1 million in 2008, according to a report from Automated Access to Court Electronic Records in USA Today.

When the new bankruptcy law was passed in 2005, 2 million people rushed into bankruptcy before the law took effect, sending bankruptcy filings dropped drastically. Now they’re almost back to what they were because, as many consumer advocates expected, bankruptcy was not the purview of the wealthy deadbeats, but is truly the last refuge for those in serious financial trouble who need a way to get a fresh financial start.

“People are contacting us too late to get help. They are in such trouble that we can’t help them. They are just candidates for bankruptcy,” David Jones, president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies, told me in a telephone interview.

The agencies affiliated with the AICCCA used to be able to help 20-25% of the people who came to them to avoid bankruptcy. Now they find they have the ability to only help about 7-8%, Jones explained.

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