Credit Card Offers

Today’s top news headlines feature a new report that shows more Americans are expressing dissatisfaction with their jobs and reasons anonymity is no longer protected online. Plus, find out how many women say they would marry an unemployed man.

Internet All But Eliminates Anonymity The New York Times Experts are debunking the myth that the Internet affords users anonymity in their actions, revealing that digital trails and advanced technology actually have the opposite effect. I

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As our smartphones have become our wallets and personal computers, holding everything from banking to social network information, they’ve become targets for hackers, scammers and criminals. Our phones hold a treasure trove of data—and the bad guys know it.

A screen lock is no longer enough.

Dream Droid, a botnet-type of malware program, recently infected the Android Market. It got its name because the malware activated at night, affecting users while they were asleep. Originally it was thought that 21 apps were infected, but an independent security firm found an additional 30 apps. Goo

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If your retirement fund bought any mortgage-related investments during the housing bubble, now may be time for a little payback. In two separate announcements in recent days, federal officials announced they will make Wall Street investment houses answer for allegedly lying to investors about the quality of mortgage-backed securities sold right before the housing bubble burst.

In the first case, a U.S. District judge in Manhattan approved a class action lawsuit against Merrill Lynch, alleging that the firm hid basic facts concerning $16.5 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities sold to unions and public employee retirement funds.

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A proposed rule from the Federal Reserve Board will limit the amount credit networks can charge for processing debit purchases to just 12 cents per transaction, and this is likely to be a boon to the restaurant industry, according to a report from The Associated Press. A new report from KeyBanc Capital Markets shows the entire industry is likely to see profits increase between 1 percent and 4.5 percent because of the large number of debit transactions they conduct.

In particular, the average restaurant conducts about 35 percent of all its transactions on debit cards, the report said.

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Who doesnt like getting something for nothing? And who doesnt like credit card rewards, which appear to deliver precisely that? Of course, you probably learned at your mothers knee that nothing comes from nothing, and that something for nothing doesnt really exist. As always, Mom was right.

Credit card rewards are paid for

Most credit card companies view their rewards programs as essential marketing tools, and fund them from all their different revenue streams. However, key among those streams are interchange fees (also known as swipe fees, see Credit card companies likely winners in Senate battle this week), and some argue that such fees are effectively a tax on purchases.

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While rent-to-own stores offer low, flexible payments, the convenience comes at a big price. Consumer Reports recently investigated rent-to-own merchants from Rent-A-Center to Aaron’s and calculated that consumers could end up paying exorbitant interest rates as high as 311%.  For example, they found a $612 Toshiba laptop being offered for $38.99 per week for 48 weeks, for a grand total of $1,872, excluding tax and other charges. That’s more than triple the actual price!

According to Consumer Reports, the rent-to-own industry has more than 4 million customers, 8,600 stores, and $7 billion in annual sales. The

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