So are you planning on getting the new talking credit card, Visa Voice?

Actually, there’s no such thing, but for a few seconds, before I realized I had stumbled onto the satirical fake news website, The Onion, I completely bought into its fake press release.

The Onion “reported” that Visa held a press event earlier this week to introduce “Visa Voice,” a new series of credit cards that talk to the cardholder.

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Debt consolidation companies normally offer an range of services to suite the individual needs of a particular debtor, whether it be a debt consolidation loan or re-negotiation of repayment terms with creditors so the client can repay their debts at an affordable rate.

However, Harrington Brooks, the company behind this web site add extra value to their service by including; Benefit and Tax Credit Checking, service as standard; and this really proving to be of benefit to their clients as the extra money this provides helps them to be in a better position to repay their creditors.

This involves comprehensive review of the client’s’ state benefit and tax credit status.

This service is free of charge to the client and aims to:

• Advise clients so they are able to understand and claim their correct benefit and tax credit entitlement.
• Provide an expert source of advice and support for effective benefit and tax credit claims to be made.
• Ensure clients access additional grants, schemes and services as a direct result of correct benefit and tax credit entitlement being claimed.

Operations Manager, Karen Hough comments:

Clients for whom we identify a gap in their entitlement on average gain an extra £900 per year. Sinc

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But the real excitement of proxy season is in the nuggets of information about the often eye-popping pay and perks provided to senior executives. Details about the cost of joy rides on the company jet, country club memberships, enriched pensions, and corporate drivers offer voyeuristic interest, to be sure. But more important is what this data reveals about the character of a company.

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30 Days of Magic

Your creditors report to the credit bureaus when you make late payments – true. The rea

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This is the conclusion of a study by Prudential, which has found 22 per cent of shoppers are eating less healthily because of the rising cost of living.

Its research found 75 per cent of Britons have changed their eating habits since the recession of 2008-09 began, with 68 per cent saying healthier foods are more expensive.

One in six focus on the reduced-to-clear sections in supermarkets and 11 per cent only buy foods on special offer.

And half as many people seek to improve their diet with healthier foods than four years ago.

Head of clinical health at PruHealth Dr Dawn Richards said: “People are only too well aware of the need to eat healthily, but financial constraints are making it difficult, resulting in peoples health being negatively affected.”

Another area where consumers have trimmed spending is on DIY, with Lloyds TSB revealing this has fallen to its lowest level in 15 years.

Although sports fans will not find out for a few weeks just what tickets they have won for which events, credit card debts have been built up and payments have now been taken from the bank accounts of all those who were successful in the ballot.

Some people have been very disappointed not to win any tickets, whilst others who bid for thousands of pounds worth of tickets have been left in urgent financial difficulty after winning more than they can afford to buy.

The average spend on Olympics tickets was apparently £1,250 per person, and many purchases were made on credit cards.

Experts at uSwitch have predicted that the credit card debt for people spending the average amount on tickets could take as long as 20 years to pay off in full.

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But the national index is still falling, dragged down by pricing drops in the worst-hit states. Itll drop another 2% in the next six months before starting to climb in the second half of the year. There are just a handful of states dragging down the national average…Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada…all of which saw home prices drop by more than 50% from 2006 levels. T

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Credit cards have a politician problem.

Of course, nobody’s talking about that. Everyone’s discussing Mitt Romney, and how he has been getting a lot of grief for one of his advisers making a crack about political campaigning being like an Etch-a-Sketch. But since I write a lot about credit cards, I’ve been thinking about how frequently politicians seem to invoke credit cards whenever they want to make a point about the state of the country’s financial affairs, and it’ll probably just heat up as the national election gets closer.

I have a few examples of what I mean below, and then I’ll make my larger point.

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Generally, when you obtain a home equity loan or any other type of mortgage, both you and your spouse must sign the loan documents at closing. However, state laws on property ownership vary, and in some states you can get a home equity loan without your spouse signing if you take steps to have the home listed in your name only.

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This is the view of occupational psychologist and author of Taming the Pound: Making Money Your Servant, Not Your Master Kim Stephenson.

He said youngsters need to learn harsh lessons, such as not being able to use their mobile except for emergencies if they cannot pay the bill, or being made to go hungry until tea-time if they squander their dinner money on sweets.

“Children learning that the thing you do each month is save will end up doing it automatically – then the habit they have will be one that will help them.”

Parents may have a role to play by letting their children know how much things cost – such as spending on bringing them up.

Mums and dads carry out the equivalent of £32 billion worth of free taxi services for their offspring every year, according to research by Sainsburys Car Finance.

For workers struggling to manage their 401(k)s, employers’ decades-long shift away from traditional, professionally managed pensions seems relentless — and potentially disastrous. But now, one plan administrator is bucking the trend, backing away from a 401(k) that wasn’t working for participants and adopting a new type of defined-benefit plan designed to reduce risks for both employers and workers.

At the start of this year, roughly 4,500 Boston-area hospitality workers belonging to the Unite Here Local 26 union became participants in a new defined-benefit pension plan.

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Could this article save you some money at the gas pump? It just might. And so here we go, our latest weekly look at credit cards appearing in the news.

Fighting the high cost of gas

The New York Times’ Bucks blog recently published an article about credit cards that offer cash back rewards to consumers pumping gas. As blogger Ann Carrns observed, “With gas prices edging toward an average of $4 gallon, it may be time to consider a credit card that gives you cash back rewards at the pump.”

The article mentioned several gas rebate cards including the Chase Freedom Visa, which gives you 5 percent cash back on up to $1,500 in gas purchases through the end of March and again from July to September.

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The question is whether youve acted on that advice. About one-third of Americans havent and, as a result, dont have sufficient savings to pay for unexpected expenses, according to a recent survey by the Consumer Federation of America and American Savings Education Council.

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If you dont have an emergency fund and are hit by any of the unforeseen events listed below, youll be forced to rely on credit cards, take out a loan or tap your retirement account. This could leave you drowning in debt or without enough money to fund your retirement.

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