New Credit Card Rules
(AP)
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August 20, 2009 12:10 PM New regulations are in effect which will force credit card companies to give consumers 45 days notice of any rate increases or changes, giving cardholders the option of opting out and paying their balance down at their current lower rate. Companies must now also send out statements 21 days before payment is due instead of the current 14 day requirement.
February 24, 2009 1:07 PM
Katie Couric's Notebook: Debt Dilemma
It's a bit like that week in January when all the Christmas credit card statements hit your mailbox. You kick yourself and wonder why you spent all that money you really don't have. Well, it's budget time in Washington, and the bill is due.
The new administration needs to make some tough choices about how to pay off the nation's $1.3 trillion debt, including allowing some of President Bush's tax breaks to expire and deciding when the spending needs to be curtailed.
It's the first big test of President Obama's PR skills. The trick will be convincing people that slashing the federal deficit by two-thirds is worth the growing pains along the way.
If there's one thing that unites Americans of all political persuasions it tends to be an aversion to coughing up cash to the tax man.
On the flip side, our deficit is the biggest we've had since World War Two. Uncle Sam might have a beard, but he can't play Santa Claus for too much longer.
The new administration needs to make some tough choices about how to pay off the nation's $1.3 trillion debt, including allowing some of President Bush's tax breaks to expire and deciding when the spending needs to be curtailed.
It's the first big test of President Obama's PR skills. The trick will be convincing people that slashing the federal deficit by two-thirds is worth the growing pains along the way.
If there's one thing that unites Americans of all political persuasions it tends to be an aversion to coughing up cash to the tax man.
On the flip side, our deficit is the biggest we've had since World War Two. Uncle Sam might have a beard, but he can't play Santa Claus for too much longer.
February 11, 2009 11:39 AM
In Case You Missed It: Fast Draw
When you swipe your credit card, your account displays your debt ... but who's really picking up the tab? In case you missed the Evening News last night, check out the Fast Draw piece below. In brief: Mitch Butler and Josh Landis examine the crisis facing credit card companies, who have faced recent difficulty trying to sell off consumer debt to investors.
And remember to check back on their blog for the latest Fast Draws.
And remember to check back on their blog for the latest Fast Draws.
October 10, 2008 5:16 PM
And now, that clock has run out of numbers. Our national debt, now at $10.2, is one digit larger than the spots available on the sign.
When real estate mogul Seymour Durst created the clock back in 1989, the debt was at $2.7 trillion. Since 2003, it has grown by half a trillion each year, and the bailout Congress just signed will likely kick that number up even higher by the end of 2008.
But rather than retiring the debt sign, the Dursts will redesign it to include enough spaces for a quadrillion.
Expanding the credit line when money is tight - isn't that how we got into this mess in the first place? The debt clock literally is a sign of the times.
Katie Couric's Notebook: Sign Of The Times
Since 1989, the National Debt Clock has been a fixture in Manhattan's Times Square. After you've dropped a cool $200 on a Broadway Show, a glimpse of its ominous ticker might deter you from that $20 nightcap.
Video: And now, that clock has run out of numbers. Our national debt, now at $10.2, is one digit larger than the spots available on the sign.
When real estate mogul Seymour Durst created the clock back in 1989, the debt was at $2.7 trillion. Since 2003, it has grown by half a trillion each year, and the bailout Congress just signed will likely kick that number up even higher by the end of 2008.
But rather than retiring the debt sign, the Dursts will redesign it to include enough spaces for a quadrillion.
Expanding the credit line when money is tight - isn't that how we got into this mess in the first place? The debt clock literally is a sign of the times.
September 29, 2008 12:20 PM
Bush Administration Adds $4 Trillion To National Debt
Mark Knoller is a White House Correspondent for CBS News.
With no fanfare and little notice, the national debt has grown by more than $4 trillion during George W. Bush’s presidency.
It’s the biggest increase under any president in U.S history.
On the day President Bush took office, the national debt stood at $5.727 trillion. The latest number from the Treasury Department shows the national debt now stands at more than $9.849 trillion. That’s a 71.9 percent increase on Mr. Bush’s watch.
The bailout plan now pending in Congress could add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt – though President Bush said this morning he expects that over time, “much if not all” of the bailout money “will be paid back.”
But the government is taking no chances. Buried deep in the hundred pages of bailout legislation is a provision that would raise the statutory ceiling on the national debt to $11.315 trillion. It’ll be the 7th time the debt limit has been raised during this administration. In fact it was just two months ago, on July 30, that President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, which contained a provision raising the debt ceiling ...
(AP)
It’s the biggest increase under any president in U.S history.
On the day President Bush took office, the national debt stood at $5.727 trillion. The latest number from the Treasury Department shows the national debt now stands at more than $9.849 trillion. That’s a 71.9 percent increase on Mr. Bush’s watch.
The bailout plan now pending in Congress could add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt – though President Bush said this morning he expects that over time, “much if not all” of the bailout money “will be paid back.”
But the government is taking no chances. Buried deep in the hundred pages of bailout legislation is a provision that would raise the statutory ceiling on the national debt to $11.315 trillion. It’ll be the 7th time the debt limit has been raised during this administration. In fact it was just two months ago, on July 30, that President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, which contained a provision raising the debt ceiling ...
July 30, 2008 5:22 PM
What An Inheritance!
Mark Knoller is a White House Correspondent for CBS News.
If you scoured the hundreds of pages of the Housing bill signed today by Pres. Bush, you’d find that buried deep in its bowels – in the hope few would notice – is this:
It raises the legal ceiling on the national debt to more than $10.6 trillion. And it’s the sixth time the debt limit has had to be raised on President Bush’s watch.
On the day President Bush took office, the National Debt stood at $5.7 trillion. That's with a "T." ...
If you scoured the hundreds of pages of the Housing bill signed today by Pres. Bush, you’d find that buried deep in its bowels – in the hope few would notice – is this:
SEC. 3083. INCREASE IN STATUTORY LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC DEBT.It’s a provision that allows the U.S. Government to keep on spending money it doesn’t have and has to borrow.
Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $10,615,000,000,000.
It raises the legal ceiling on the national debt to more than $10.6 trillion. And it’s the sixth time the debt limit has had to be raised on President Bush’s watch.
On the day President Bush took office, the National Debt stood at $5.7 trillion. That's with a "T." ...
April 30, 2008 5:36 PM 
Michelle Miller is a CBS News correspondent based in New York.
Debt collection is big business.
And when the economy is down, it's really big.
That's because when cash is scarce, more people use credit to make ends meet. They need it to buy groceries, gas, you name it. And they ultimately fall further and further behind if they lose their job, fall victim to illness or suffer any other financial crisis beyond their control.
Mike Nowak knows this firsthand. After his divorce 20 years ago, he was left holding a large sack of credit card debt. He says it's what makes him the best debt collector in his shop at Northstar Companies.
What Would The Debt Collector Do?
(CBS)
Debt collection is big business.
And when the economy is down, it's really big.
That's because when cash is scarce, more people use credit to make ends meet. They need it to buy groceries, gas, you name it. And they ultimately fall further and further behind if they lose their job, fall victim to illness or suffer any other financial crisis beyond their control.
Mike Nowak knows this firsthand. After his divorce 20 years ago, he was left holding a large sack of credit card debt. He says it's what makes him the best debt collector in his shop at Northstar Companies.
April 2, 2008 5:23 PM
Ben Bernanake conceded that "a recession is possible." This week, we're taking a closer look at the national debt on the CBS Evening News. The numbers are simply mind-boggling.
To learn more, just click on my Notebook.
Katie Couric's Notebook: National Debt
This morning, the chairman of the Federal Reserve confirmed what a lot of Americans already know: The economy is in critical condition.
Ben Bernanake conceded that "a recession is possible." This week, we're taking a closer look at the national debt on the CBS Evening News. The numbers are simply mind-boggling.
To learn more, just click on my Notebook.
September 27, 2007 9:57 PM 
Randall Pinkston is a CBS News correspondent based in New York.
Waverly Taliaferro, 70, of New York, testified last week before the Senate Finance Committee about a financial foul-up that threatened the health and well-being of himself and his wife. His story, unfortunately, is not unique.
He retired in 2001. In 2003, his wife lost her job, leaving the two of them totally dependent on his monthly Social Security check. Soon, they fell behind paying their credit card bills.
In 2006, Taliaferro’s creditors obtained a judgment and froze his Citibank account. What’s the problem? Well, the account was not supposed to be frozen. Federal law exempts specifically exempts Social Security, veteran’s benefits and similar "safety net" payments from garnishment.
Taliaferro found out his funds were frozen when he tried to withdraw money from the ATM to buy groceries. The next day, he found an attorney with South Brooklyn Legal Services who wrote a letter to the bank, explaining that the sole source of Taliaferro’s funds came from Social Security.
Frozen Assets
(CBS)
Waverly Taliaferro, 70, of New York, testified last week before the Senate Finance Committee about a financial foul-up that threatened the health and well-being of himself and his wife. His story, unfortunately, is not unique.
He retired in 2001. In 2003, his wife lost her job, leaving the two of them totally dependent on his monthly Social Security check. Soon, they fell behind paying their credit card bills.
In 2006, Taliaferro’s creditors obtained a judgment and froze his Citibank account. What’s the problem? Well, the account was not supposed to be frozen. Federal law exempts specifically exempts Social Security, veteran’s benefits and similar "safety net" payments from garnishment.
Taliaferro found out his funds were frozen when he tried to withdraw money from the ATM to buy groceries. The next day, he found an attorney with South Brooklyn Legal Services who wrote a letter to the bank, explaining that the sole source of Taliaferro’s funds came from Social Security.
September 6, 2007 4:17 PM
'Til Debt Do Us Part
Got any spare change? Seems the government may need it. Our Mark Knoller has been keeping an eye on your money and offers this notebook:
Take a deep breath and read the rest.Few took notice, but for the first time in U.S. history last Friday, the national debt hit an all-time high of $9 trillion.(iStockphoto)
To be exact, the total liabilities of the U.S. Government hit $9,005,648,561,262.70, according to the Bureau of the Public Debt at the Treasury Department.
Numerically, that’s in excess of the debt ceiling set by Congress, which stands at $8.965 trillion.
Some components of the national debt are excluded from the debt ceiling calculation.
But had it truly been reached, the Treasury Department would be barred from selling any more bonds, notes and other securities until Congress raises the limit.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson served notice on Congress in July that he expects the U.S. Government to bump into the debt ceiling in early October and that lawmakers need to raise the ceiling before then.
No official notice of the national debt milestone was taken by the White House. Understandably. It’s an embarrassingly large figure for a president who claims to be fiscally-conservative to have to explain.
Mr. Bush often boasts about his commitment to fiscal restraint, and trumpets his efforts to bring down the annual federal deficit from its all-time high of $413 billion in 2004. The Administration forecasts a deficit this year of $205 billion. The forecast from the Congressional Budget Office is lower still at $158 billion.
But Mr. Bush almost never mentions the national debt. On the day he took office, the debt stood at $5.727 trillion. That means it has increased by 57 percent on his watch. So far.
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
