The first wave of new credit card regulations under the CARD Act took effect recently, but consumers have been feeling the effects for months. Most card issuers made changes to customer accounts in advance of the new provisions, which, among other things, require lenders to give cardholders at least 45 days’ notice of new terms and conditions. Many Americans saw their credit lines and interest rates change as lenders rebalanced their portfolios before the new laws phase in.

The spirit of the law intended to keep consumers informed about changes to their credit card accounts. However, some banks have interpreted these regulations to justify cutting loose loyal, creditworthy customers for the sake of arbitrary accounting efficiency. In a shocking trend, some lenders have started canceling cards completely, then mailing out closure notices. Some consumers have recently discovered this in the most shocking way possible: by being declined for transactions while swiping their cards!

Amazingly, this policy is completely acceptable under the CARD Act. “Account clos

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WASHINGTON — Employers eliminated more jobs than expected last month as the unemployment rate climbed to 9.8%, another sign that a rapid recovery in the labor market is unlikely.

Nonfarm payrolls declined by 263,000 in September, the Labor Department said Friday, noting that the largest job losses were in construction, manufacturing, retail trade and government. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires survey had expected a 175,000 decrease.

The unemployment rate, calculated using a survey of households as opposed to companies, grew 0.1 percentage point to 9.8%. Just last year, in July 2008 for example, the unemployment rate was under 6%.

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persions has increased by 7.6 million and the unemployment rate has doubled to 9.8%.

Average hourly earnings were up $0.01 last month at $18.67.

Federal Reserve policy makers met last week and held official interest rates near zero while acknowledging that economic recovery from the worst financial crisis in decades is well under way.

“Economic activity has picked up following its severe downturn,” the Fed’s policy committee said, even as it voted 10-0 to maintain the target federal-funds rate for interbank lending at a record-low range of zero to 0.25%.

Still, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Thursday reiterated that unless economic growth is robust, it could take some time for the labor market to improve.

“We have to grow faster than the underlying potential in order to make a dent in the unemployment rate,” he told the House Financial Services Committee.

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The best type of credit cards with travel rewards are those that provide flexibility and convenience particularly when it comes to redeeming points. Does your Frequent Flier Miles reward card give you the option to exchange your miles points for other types of rewards? Or are you just limited to the free airline ticket? What happens if you fail to redeem your miles points on time? Will you lose your opportunity to enjoy the rewards you worked so hard for?

Why Exchange Miles Rewards for Gift Check, Merchandise or Cash Back

Some travel reward cardholders may prefer not to go on a trip because of personal matters. When this happens, what are your options as a cardholder? Will you be able to transfer your mileage points to someone else? Can you exchange your points for other valuable incentives such as merchandise, gift cheque, cash back or rebates?

You’ll be glad to know that there are Frequent Flier Miles credit card that provide these options for their customers. Thus, in case they choose not to go on a travel, the mileage points they collected from their purchases would not go waste. T

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As more and more business owners choose to apply for credit cards, credit card companies are also finding new and better ways to make their offers more attractive. If you’re running a business, then you can take advantage of the stiff competition between small business credit card issuers. Consider these practicable tips on choosing a credit card that’s right for your business.

The Type of Card that Suits Your Business

Yes, credit cards for business are primarily essential to support your business spending. However, you can gain more from a business credit card if you choose one that complements the financing demands of your own business. Let’s take for instance business credit cards with reward programs.

Reward credit cards for businesses vary depending on their purpose. Travel rewards, gas rewards, hotel rewards, cash back or rebates are the basic categories that you can choose from. Some business credit cards combine two or more reward types to attract more cardholders. So wh

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Some time ago, I conducted a credit card survey among personal finance bloggers. One of the questions that I asked was “what was the first credit card that you got?” Almost everyone who took part in the survey could not remember. Most got their first cards in college. Unlike many folks, I did not get a college credit card. Instead I got my first card after I got my first job. Here’s the quick story.

I first job was a sales position in the financial industry. Back then, I corporate card from the firm I worked with. It was an American Express Corporate Card. If I recall correctly, it was a the Green Corporate Charge Card. The arrangement that the firm had with Amex was that the membership reward points that employees earned went into the Employees account. That is not always the case as the second firm I worked for gave me an Amex Corporate Card but I could not earn points.

So my rationale was since I was earning Membership Reward Points on the corporate credit card, I might as well use Amex as my main card and earn more points. I was deciding between the green card and the gold card, but ultimately settled for the gold card? Why? don’t really remember? maybe i

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