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Money in the News: Debit Card Fees, Holiday Layaway, Girl Scout Finance, New Resource, Paying Down Debt

The Consumerist says both Chase and Bank of America are stopping their $5 debit card fees. Chock it up to plenty of public outcry to make changes, so congrats on that. But be wary, they’re gonna try other things.

Intuit posts about the pros and cons of layaway service, just in time for your holiday shopping 🙂

Con: Layaway plans are often viewed as predatory lending practices. Although you may think that offering a layaway plan is a good strategy for helping low-income families budget for large purchases, many consumer advocates disagree. In a New York Times op-ed piece, Cornell professor Louis Hyman calculates that the service fee on a $100 layaway purchase at Walmart equates to a 44 percent credit-card APR. To avoid any suggestion that you’re taking advantage of your customers, consider eliminating service fees on layaway purchases.

The Consumerist posts about how Girl Scouts are not incorporating personal finance badges in their program. I absolutely LOVE this. Next on the docket, highschool curriculum??

There’s now a “Good Credit,” “Money Manager,” “Budgeting,” and a “Financing My Future” badge. But It’s not just the consumer credit side that’s getting represented, but also the other side of business. There’s a new “Customer Loyalty” badge in the cookie sequence, as well as Meet My Customers and Business Plan badge.

Resource Alert! My Skills My Future is a new site for finding career opportunities. This site is unique because it provides average salary, similar job opportunities, and suggested typical training for that position.

[View All Resource Alerts]

MSN Money posts some strategies on paying off debt in a hurry.

For Tim Pereira, 31, credit cards were his downfall. “I was relatively young when I started accruing debt,” says Pereira, who lives in Taunton, Mass. “I was 18 or 19 when I got my first credit card, and that’s basically when it started for me.” Over time, he racked up $36,000 in credit card bills, which he tried for years to pay off before he finally consulted a credit counseling agency. Counselors there helped him fashion a debt pay-off plan, which included payments that were automatically debited from his checking account every month.

About Crystal Groves, Google+

Crystal Groves is a farmer, web developer, musician, blogger, and personal finance enthusiast from the back hills of Maryland and Pennsylvania. She started Money Drain as a project to encourage people interested in fixing their financial situation to share their stories and learn from the stories of others. We all make mistakes, but in order to change we have to make changes.

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