Finance Globe

Consumers have been busy reducing their credit card debt and delinquencies have fallen to the lowest level in nearly fifteen years, according to a report released by a national credit reporting agency. Delinquencies fell in the first quarter of 2011 to 0.74 percent of credit card accounts, TransUnion reported on Monday. This figure is down 10 percent from the previous quarter and down nearly 33 percent from the same quarter last year. The last time delinquencies...

Over half of college graduates are worried about paying back their student loans but are missing key ways to build a strong financial foundation, according to a study sponsored and released by Capital One Bank. According to FinAid.org and Fastweb.com., the average student loan for this year’s graduate is almost $23,000 - quite a hefty debt for someone just starting out in their career. For college seniors and recent graduates, the survey found that of the...

A Canadian-based online operation accused of scamming more than $450 million from consumers has been charged by the Federal Trade Commission, the agency reported on Tuesday. Consumers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were lured in by “free” offers, only to have recurring charges racked up on their credit or debit card, the FTC complaint states. The offers were for a wide variety of products and services, including acai berry weight-loss pills, teeth whiteners,...

Housing starts fell 10.6% in April from the previous month, the Commerce Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said in a jointly released statement on Tuesday.The unexpected drop was mainly due to the 28.3% plunge in volatile multi-family housing (homes with five or more units). Single-family home starts fell 5.1%.The seasonally-adjusted annual pace of 523,000 homes in April was also 23.9% below the level from a year ago - back when the...

The number people who filed for first-time unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 last week, according to a government report released on Thursday.The advance number for new claims was 382,000 for the week ending April 2, and the insured unemployment rate was unchanged from the previous week’s rate at 3%, the Labor Department reported.States reported that just over 3.5 million Americans were claiming Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) in mid-March, down from nearly 5.6 million at the same...

Kohl’s announced on Tuesday that the transfer of its private-label credit card portfolio to Capital One has been completed as of April 1, 2011. Capital One will service new and existing Kohl’s charge accounts for a seven year contract. Through the partnership, Capital One acquired more than 20 million existing Kohl’s charge accounts - which accounted for 50% of the department store’s sales last year."Kohl's has an exceptional brand and offers a great experience to their...

New claims for uninsured benefits fell slightly last week, down by 6,000 to 388,000, the Labor Department reported today.But the (seasonally-adjusted) four week moving average, which smooths out weekly volatility and gives a better idea of the overall trend, actually moved upwards 394,250 - an increase of 3,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 391,000.The insured unemployment rate for the second week of March was 3%, and the official national unemployment rate was 8.9% in...

The pace of existing home sales fell last month after increasing for three months in a row, the National Association of Realtors reported today.February’s sales of single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops dropped to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 4.88 million home sales per year - a decrease of 9.6% from the previous month, and a decrease of 2.8% from the same month a year ago.Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, continues to express that the housing recovery will...

Time is running out for over one million people who haven’t claimed their refunds for the tax year 2007.According to the Internal Revenue Service, refunds totaling $1.1 billion owed to people who did not file a federal income tax return in that year.The law provides a three-year window of opportunity for most taxpayers to claim federal refunds from prior tax years - the 2007 return must be properly addressed, mailed and postmarked by the April 18th...

The housing market continues to stabilize even though the pace of pending home sales slipped by more than analysts had expected in January, according to an industry report released on Monday. The pending home sales index declined 2.8% last month, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. Market analysts had predicted a decline of 2.2%. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said, “The housing market is healing with sales fluctuating at times, depending on the flow of...