Bankruptcy filings for the twelve months ending June 30th hit an all-time record of 1.5 million. One year ago, annual filings totaled 1,386,606. Bankruptcy filings first broke one million during the 12-month period ending June 30, 1996.
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Soft drink vending machines that take credit cards are slowly making their way into the USA. This week the nation's second largest Pepsi bottler announced plans to deploy 80 credit card-enabled machines in Chicago.
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American consumer wallets are opening again, but slowly. Driving by historically low credit card rates, Americans added nearly $4 billion to revolving credit, mostly credit card debt, during June.
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The top-rated airline in the nation has beefed-up its MasterCard program after switching banks. Midwest Express Airlines confirmed this week that its credit card portfolio is in the process of being sold by U.S. Bank to Juniper Bank.
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Air miles for business owners has become a real bonanza. This week Delta Air Lines opened its credit card program with American Express to small business owners. The new program is part of "OPEN: The Small Business Network" from American Express.
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About four out of ten Americans indicate that heavy losses in the value of their stock portfolios make them less willing to incur more credit card debt. Among those earning $75k or more per year, nearly half say they will cut back on card use due to the wacky ...
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Charge-offs among the top ten issuers of VISA and MasterCards increased by nearly 22% during the second quarter of this year compared to second quarter of 2001, driven largely by the rise in sub-prime losses. Providian and Metris/Direct Merchants reported the ...
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Credit cards and taxis are coming together like peas and carrots. Two companies teamed up this month to introduce a new high-tech taximeter gizmo that offers real-time authorization of credit cards within three seconds.
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Rewards for debit cards continue to surface and have now been extended to some business cards. This week, Ohio-based Charter One Financial unleashed the "MegaRewards Business" program.
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The difference between a store credit card and a bank credit card in the USA is about 4 million merchants. However, Sears is seeking to narrow the gap by lining up other merchants to take its store credit card.
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