Debt on credit cards continues to haunt some people as a recent report from a financial services company shows that delinquencies and defaults on accounts increased.

Moody’s Investors Services’ Credit Card Index for November showed that charge offs increased to 10.56 percent during the month. The two months before saw charge offs drop, with October posting a rate of 10.04 percent.

The firm noted that it expects charge offs – or credit card card debts that lenders deem uncollectable – will reach a high of between 12 to 13 percent during the middle of 2010.

One of the things that could lead to a further increase in the number of credit card defaults is a rise in account delinquencies. Like charge offs, delinquencies of 30 to 180 days rose to 6.2 percent in November after coming in at 6.1 percent the previous month.

However, the Moody’s index also showed that early-stage delinquencies dropped to 1.6 percent in November.

Many experts have noted that one of the driving forces behind a number of different loan delinquencies and defaults is unemployment. Read more…

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After Bank of America saw $4.5 billion in credit card losses in the first nine months of 2009, the new chief executive will be taking his position next week and one of the first priorities will be to fix is the bank’s credit card business. According to new CEO, Brian Moynihan, his main priority is to get his hands around the problem as soon as possible.

Card Population Control

As the second-largest U.S. credit card issuer, after J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the bank has a lot of cards that have circulated to the public. In fact, according to the CEO, there are too many card users in general population.

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The First Vineyard Prepaid MasterCard® is available to any U.S. resident over 18 years of age with a valid social security number and verifiable address. Read more…

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Even with a renewed focus on paying down debt, Americans have been increasingly inclined to use their credit cards for online purchases in recent years.

However, a recent poll indicates that many consumers are still apprehensive about the threat of identity theft when it comes to shopping online. The Rasmussen survey found that 49 percent of adults consider themselves “somewhat” comfortable when it comes to online purchases, which was said to be down 11 percentage points in the past year. Also, 47 percent said they were not comfortable with online credit card transactions.

The polling company noted that people who use the internet on a daily basis are more likely to be comfortable with online credit card use.

In other findings, 12 percent of respondents said that they had had credit card data stolen online, while 16 percent reported that they had been victims of identity theft. A total of 46 percent called themselves very concerned about identity theft in general. Read more…

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