Finance Globe

This article is the second in a two-part series. Camping is a great alternative for the budget-conscious family vacation! Other benefits to camping compared to traditional flying/lodging/dining vacations: You travel with your own stuff, instead of renting a bed someone else slept in. There's nothing worse on vacation than reserving high-priced lodging because it seems nice on the website, only to get there and find that it doesn't look or smell clean - if you're travelling...

The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Friday that advanced estimates of February retail trade sales were $355.5 billion. This is an increase of .3% from the previous month after a .1% rebound in January, and is 3.9% above February 2009. This beat analysts' projections, who as a group expected a decline of .3%. It was expected that February's winter storms that hit much of the Mid-Atlantic could have negatively affected retail sales figures. February's numbers look...

The over-the-month unemployment rate for January rose in 30 states, fell in 9 states, and remained the same in 11 states, according to a report released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).Over the past year, the unemployment rate rose in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The national unemployment rate fell from 10% in December to 9.7% for January, but it is still two percentage points above what it was in January...

Since 2006, Lifelock Inc. ads have claimed that it could prevent identity theft for consumers willing to sign up for its $10-a-month service. The company even went so far as to put the CEO's social security number on the side of a truck in big, bold print as if daring any identity thief to steal it.The Federal Trade Commission reported today that Lifelock, Inc. has agreed to a $12 million settlement for making false claims to...

In the next stage of implementing the credit card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act), the Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday proposed new rules to cut cardholder's late fees and interest rates.The rules will amend Regulation Z, the Truth in Lending Act, and are set to go into effect in August 2010. The CARD Act, signed into law by President Obama in May of 2009, was set to go into full effect in...

The unemployment situation changed very little with 14.9 million unemployed persons in February, and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Non-farm payroll employment fell by 36,000 in February and has fallen by 8.4 million since the start of the recession in December 2007.White House advisor Christina Romer said in a statement, "Although the labor market remains severely distressed, today’s report on the employment situation is consistent with...

The Internal Revenue service sent out an announcement on Monday to inform taxpayers that more than $1.3 billion in tax refunds are due to nearly 1.4 million people who did not file a 2006 tax return.The IRS gives taxpayers a three-year window for claiming refunds for prior tax years - after that the refund becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury and the taxpayer misses out permanently. The deadline to claim the 2006 refund is April...

Identity theft remains the number one consumer complaint for the tenth year in a row, according to the Consumer Sentinal Network (CSN) report released on Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).The FTC, the nation's consumer protection agency, publishes the statistical data from the CSN report each year. The CSN is a secure online database of consumer complaints to the FTC, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Department of Defense, Better Business Bureau, U.S. Postal Service Inspector, and...

Fewer consumers applied for new residential mortgages and refinancing last week, according to a weekly survey released on Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). For the week ending February 19, the index used to measure mortgage loan application volume decreased 8.5% from the previous week, seasonally-adjusted. Unadjusted, the index dropped 7.3% from the previous week.For purchases, the seasonally-adjusted index decreased 7.3% from the week before, putting the index at its lowest level since May 1997,...

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced on Wednesday that they've proposed a new forbearance program to help qualified homeowners who lose their jobs. The program would allow homeowners to stay in their homes and pay a reduced mortgage payment for up to nine months as they search for a new job. "The vast majority of new distressed borrowers we are seeing involve the loss of income," said John A. Courson, MBA's President and CEO. "This program...