Say goodbye to rate hikes without warning monthly changes to your billing cycle and the foggy notion of how long it will take to pay your bill in full; those will soon be credit card hassles of the past.On May 22 2009 President Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act a bill intended to increase industry transparency and help American consumers better manage their debt. Most of the provisions of the new legislation will be enforced beginning on February 22.While the President referred to the Credit CARD Act reforms back in May as "common sense " ...

Despite all the reports of Internet security breaches identity theft and hacked bank accounts people are still using easy-to-guess passwords for nearly all of their online activity.That's the conclusion from two recent studies that looked at passwords in general and banking passwords in particular.At the end of last year a hacker was able to gain access to 32 million passwords held by software company RockYou. The list was briefly posted on the web and security researchers were able to take a detailed look at the most popular choices.According to Imperva a company that makes blocking software the most popular ...

U.S. financial stocks fall as investors fret over sovereign debt in Europe and U.S. government proposals to regulate banks.

The continuing fallout from bad loans made in good years mean even more U.S. banks will fail in 2010 than 2009, despite a recovering economy.

If I were a prosecutor I’d be thanking Al Gore for inventing the Internet and email (I don’t know if Mr. Vice President claimed the email invention but without the Internet there is no email). Especially email because now you can amass evidence of wrongdoing in a very searchable and easy-to-use format.TheStreet.com has dug up a very interesting email that shows what goes on behind closed doors when the heads of two of the largest US and Spanish banks get together and talk. Not all of it appears to be legal -- there may be collusion and an agreement ...

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Stock Market Alerts LLC.