The decision of the Chinese government to let Citi issue credit cards on its own presents a huge opportunity for the bank, as well as its Western rivals, who will surely follow. But there is going to be a lot of work that they will need to do, before they can take advantage of the situation. As we learn, at the end of ...more

Everyone seems to be issuing prepaid cards these days, making all kinds of claims along the way, ranging from mildly untruthful to plainly absurd. But the latest controversy involving Suze Orman's prepaid card was a more instructive one, I guess because it attracted more interest. It confirmed my belief that the vast m...more

Suze Orman's card is not a bad prepaid card, but it is nothing more than that either.  It is not even the best prepaid card out there, as that distinction belongs to American Express' prepaid card, which comes with no monthly fees at all. But what really bothers me is that Orman advertises her card almost like the s...more

The number of new credit card offers is rapidly increasing, as well as their quality.  The best offers are of course reserved for the consumers with the highest credit scores and if your credit history is less than good, you may not be approved for any card, even though card issuers are trying hard to push us away from...more

It seems to me that there is a correlation between the rise in the average credit card interest rates and the renewed interest of card issuers toward sub-prime borrowers.  Sub-prime credit cards should be expected to come with higher APRs, so the more such cards are issued, the higher the overall average. And as if ...more

The CFPB's vision for a "shorter, simpler credit card agreement" is neither shorter, nor simpler than the ones currently used by card issuers.  The CFPB claims that the whole agreement consists of two pages, whereas it is actually eight pages long, once you include the part that consists of explanations of the terms us...more

There was an article in the NYT yesterday that did a good job of outlining the types of fees banks can use instead of blatantly charging debit card fees.  As I've been arguing all along, whether we like it or not (I don't like being charged for using my checking card or account), the issuers will find ways to make up f...more

There is much more to be said about the issue of customers leaving banks for credit unions.  Credit unions may not be charging their customers any debit-related fees, but the fees they charge retailers accepting their debit cards are now much higher (83%, to be exact) than what big banks charge.  And these retailers in...more

So now that all big banks have backtracked on their plans to charge debit card fees, where does that leave us? Will they, humbled by popular outcry and cowered by politicians' threats, give up on their plans to make up for the huge revenue losses they will suffer as a result of the passing of the Durbin Amendment? No, ...more