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Credit Where Credit Is Due During the era of easy money, Discover Financial Services was dismissed as a second-rate credit card company that lacked the cachet and retail acceptance of rivals. Its profits paled next to those of titans American Express and Bank of America. The company's low-rent image was even lampooned on the Fox TV cartoon series Family Guy. Discover, the s ... read more>>   Fast Credit Online SHARON BERRY got a lukewarm reception from local banks when she sought a loan to expand her Stafford, Va., child-care business by opening a second center. Rather than scrap her plans, Berry visited a Web site called LiveCapital, filled out an online loan application, and within about five minutes was evaluating competing offers from several banks. ... read more>> How is This for Instant Credit Now you have even fewer reasons to visit a real bank: The newest automated bank machines will give you a loan and cash a third-party check. Dime Savings Bank in the New York City metropolitan area is one of a handful of banks with automated loan machines. Located in shopping malls, transportation centers and other high-traffic areas, these "ALMs" ... read more>>   Sneaky Credit Card Charges About a year ago, new credit card protections, known as the CARD Act, curbed many of the industry's more controversial practices, helping to keep more cash in your wallet. Unfortunately, card issuers are now devising creative ways to recover lost fees and interest income, says Dennis Moroney, a research director at financial-services research firm ... read more>>

New Instant Credit Articles this edition... The Best Credit Cards Not many issuers still offer 0% interest for 12 months on balance transfers. Discover does. Plus, it caps its balance-transfer fee at $75 vs. $99 or more at most banks. It's best to pay off your balance before the introductory period expires, but even if you don't, the interest rate isn't terrible: It starts at a respectable 10.99% vs. 12.18% for t ... read more>> The Credit Card Fraud That Would Not Die WHEN JONATHAN KAMENS of Boston got a phone call from American Express about suspicious activity on his credit card, he immediately canceled the card and had the company issue him a new number. But as he learned weeks later, that wasn't enough to put an end to the fraudulent charges. Kamens discovered that American Express-without telling him-had s ... read more>> What You Should Know Before Settling Credit Card Debt MANY CONSUMERS HAVE COME TO SEE DEBT SETTLEMENT as a quick fix when they're in a bind. BLACK ENTERPRISE recommends negotiating on your own, but if you absolutely must hire someone else to do it, you should know the risks involved. Federal Trade Commission rules that went into effect in September and October require businesses to disclose these risk ... read more>> WIN Rewards For Paying Off DEBT DEBT-RIDDEN AMERICAN consumers are reforming their free-spending ways. We've paid off $160 billion of revolving debt (almost all credit-card debt) since September 2008. It may seem counterintuitive, but some credit cards actually encourage this new frugal behavior. The cards below are all good deals -- at least for the first year. Discover's no-f ... read more>> Your Credit Card Is Not Accepted Here The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallaj?kull volcano introduced Jim Burke to the difficulties millions of Americans face when they try to use their credit cards abroad. Burke stood in line for more than seven hours at an Amsterdam train station in April as he sought passage to Belgium. He watched European travelers, also grounded by the eruption, bu ... read more>> Dodge the Hype and Nab the Best Card Rewards 1 Stick With the Simple Formulas The pitch: Junk mail is back. Nearly 1.1 billion credit card offers went out in the second quarter of 2010, up from 419 million a year earlier. Eight out of 10 were for rewards cards-but a countless number of those pitches aren't as good as they seem. Several issuers, for example, are touting 5% cash back in diff ... read more>>