Crash Survival Zone

Louis Licata has shelved plans to hire three more employees for his Cleveland law firm. Jeannie Macone, of Florida, is cutting back on inventory for her trinket and home décor business. In Ohio, Patrick Allen has slashed employee travel and begun paying cash for work dinners with clients of the marketing firm that he started [...]

U.S. credit card defaults rose to record highs in May, with a steep deterioration of Bank of America Corp’s lending portfolio, in another sign that consumers remain under severe stress.

Delinquency rates — an indicator of future credit losses — fell across the industry, but analysts said the decline was due to a seasonal trend, as [...]

The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to put new restrictions on the credit card industry, passing a bill whose backers say will make card-issuers spell out their terms in fewer words, using plain English, and treat customers more fairly.

The 90-to-5 vote, following a 357-to-70 vote in the House on April 30, made it likely that [...]

The bank stress test results, released Thursday, suggested that the nation’s 19 biggest banks could expect nearly $82.4 billion in credit card losses by the end of 2010 under what federal regulators called an adverse economic situation.

But if unemployment breaches 10 percent, as many economists predict, the rate of uncollectible balances at some banks could [...]

Consumers frustrated with the treatment they’ve been getting from their credit-card issuers should keep an eye on the White House Thursday, when President Obama meets with the heads of 14 major banks to talk about credit-card practices.

The White House has kept mum about the meeting’s agenda, but officials and industry analysts say there is increasing [...]

Obama to Press Executives to Adopt New Rules or Face Action by Congress
President Obama will meet directly with credit card executives this week and plans to tell them to support strict measures that curb lending abuses or face the wrath of angry consumers and a determined Congress, according to banking industry officials.
The heads of the [...]

Will a wave of populism push Congress to sign off on consumer-oriented legislation that has stalled for years?
It’s been an annual rite in Washington for more than a decade: Key Democrats in Congress vow to crack down on credit card companies and protect consumers.

Every year, the bills go nowhere. This year could be different.

Many insiders [...]

There’s no shortage of blame for the mortgage crisis that drove the economy into the ditch.
But here’s a fresh culprit: the 2005 bankruptcy reform act, which was strongly pushed by the credit card industry.

So say three researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who argue that the legislation shifted risk from credit card [...]

Hard times are usually good times for debt collectors, who make their money morning and night with the incessant ring of a phone.

But in this recession, perhaps the deepest in decades, the unthinkable is happening: collectors, who usually do the squeezing, are getting squeezed a bit themselves.

After helping to foster the explosive growth of consumer [...]

Hard times are usually good times for debt collectors, who make their money morning and night with the incessant ring of a phone.

But in this recession, perhaps the deepest in decades, the unthinkable is happening: collectors, who usually do the squeezing, are getting squeezed a bit themselves.

After helping to foster the explosive growth of consumer [...]