Credit Basics
Frequent Flier Miles Not Good for Flights, Rental Car Fill-Ups, Increasing Bankruptcy, Pay Day Loans on The Internet
6/10/08
Have lots of frequent flier miles, good luck finding a free
seat. Liz Crenshaw reports on a diminishing airline perk. And Liz also on illegal
payday loans being offered to local residents. Let's go out to the airport to begin,
where it's getting harder and harder to find a free seat.
The USA Today reports that cutbacks by the major airlines mean
fewer frequent flier seats available to consumers. In the past few weeks, Continental,
Delta, American, and United have all announced cuts in scheduled flights.
An airline consulting company reports that free seats are easiest to find on American and Southwest. Frequent flier miles can be used for hotels or rental cars. Experts say you may have a better shot at using miles for those perks.
While we're traveling, Hertz is changing its policy on
rental car fill-ups. The Wall Street Journal reports that starting July first, Hertz
will charge market rate for gasoline plus a $6.99 refueling fee for a car brought
back with a less-than-full gas tank. Previously, customers had been charge $7.50
a gallon, which makes $4-dollar gas look cheap. The new policy will be available
at all Hertz airport and off-airport locations. And customers will still be able
to fill up a car before returning it.
Personal bankruptcies continue to
rise during these hard economic times. The Consolidated Credit Counseling Service
says Chapter 7 bankruptcies are up 36-percent as of March 2008, which comes to more
than 871-thousand personal bankruptcies in the past year.
Debt counselors warn that ignoring
financial problems will only make matters worse. They suggest you contact your creditors
before you get in too deep, Start to use cash instead of incurring new credit card
debt, Track your spending and prepare a budget, And make sure you stay covered by
insurance for medical, homeowners and auto.
And finally a warning from the DC Department of Insurance,
Securities and Banking about illegal payday loans. We did several Payday loan stories
last year before DC essentially put the stores out of business last January. But
DC warns that new payday lenders are illegally making the loans available via the
internet, charging borrowers up to 2-thousand percent interest, and taking payments
directly from the borrowers checking account.
The DISB says if you think you've been a victim of Payday
Loan fraud, call it at
