Consumer Credit

I just love it when the credit card industry threatens to take its toys and go home. That, in effect, was what card issuers said in response to the announcement by federal regulators last week that they planned to crack down on some of the industry's more consumer-unfriendly practices.

When Best Buy offered Mike Walker the chance to take home a television set and make no payments, interest or otherwise, for 12 months, it seemed like a great deal. Walker had shopped with Best Buy for years and had great faith in the retailer, so he barely glanced at the 13-page booklet that came with his new Best Buy credit card. It wasn't until a few weeks ago -- when the 12 months were nearly up -- that he found the catch.

EBay Inc. has launched the PayPal Pay Later credit service, allowing certain U.S. buyers financing with no payments for 90 days. The deferred-payment option is available for purchases from $50 to $199. The program is a partnership with GE Money Bank, a unit of General Electric Co., EBay said. San Jose-based EBay is trying to steer more users to its PayPal system for Internet transactions as it competes with Amazon.com.

More than 160 million Americans would be able to learn their all-important credit scores at no charge -- and with no strings attached -- under a settlement by credit reporting giant TransUnion Corp. of a long-running class-action lawsuit. The agreement would entitle consumers to at least six months of a TransUnion monitoring service, giving them access to the latest information in their credit reports as well as their current scores at any time.

Investors examine the same key economic reports at the start of every month -- on manufacturing, the service sector and employment. This week, they'll be looking at these indicators for inflation clues as much as they will for insight into economic growth. Inflationary pressures have overtaken recession as Wall Street's primary concern, at least for now. The market has been mercurial lately, convinced that it has a lot to worry about but not completely sure what to worry about most.

Overdue debts at the six largest U.S. credit card lenders rose in June after falling the two previous months as the effects of tax rebates faded, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Loans on which payments were late by at least 30 days averaged 4.03% of all credit card debt in June, 0.05 percentage points higher than May.

Americans still love their plastic, even if they don't trust the credit card companies dishing it out. A study released Wednesday by CreditCards.com found 58% of respondents saying they "somewhat" or "strongly" agree with the statement: "I don't trust credit card companies." At the same time, 82% considered having at least one credit card essential, and 77% said they liked the convenience of credit cards over using cash.

See Sally. See Sally run from the bank. Run Sally run. In the midst of one of the worst banking crises in decades, the U.S. Treasury Department today will launch a long-planned program to teach young Americans about credit and other financial matters. The theme of the campaign: "Don't let your credit put you in a bad place." Like in bankruptcy court? Don Iannicola, the department's deputy assistant secretary for financial education, tried to put the best face on the timing of the announcement.

Consumer loan delinquencies rose only slightly in the second quarter, a sign that the federal economic stimulus package helped people pay off debt, the American Bankers Assn. said. The association said a ratio of eight installment-loan types crept up to 2.68% from 2.62% in the first quarter. The report defines delinquency as a payment that is 30 days or more overdue. The report attributed most of the rise to home equity loan delinquencies -- a sign of continued weakness in the housing market.