Franklin Debt Relief Reveal Unfair Practices of Credit Card Companies which are Pushing Consumers Further into Debt

(PRLEAP.COM) Chicago, IL 20 May 2007 – Today Debt Relief firm Franklin Debt Relief ( ) have unveiled their opinion on the practices of credit card companies in dealing with credit card users. The credit card industry asks that consumers accept contracts that are excessively one-sided according to Franklin Debt Relief. Often contractual terms which are included by credit card companies are against federal and state law, and as such they could not be enforced in court. As part of Franklin Debt Relief’s strong stance against the credit card industry they wish to put an end to onerous contracts of this nature by imposing fines for such behavior which they claim is merely there to scare consumers. Bobby Zangrilli, of Franklin Debt Relief ( ) commented: "Changes in bankruptcy law now mean that a person’s legal right to be stripped of all assets in turn for being stripped of all liabilities is a practice that is well known to be a last resort for both consumers and businesses that find themselves in unmanageable amounts of debt. However, this legal right made it difficult for credit card companies to promote financial products that were unsecured, because consumers would have a means by which to escape if they could not pay that debt. Now thanks to changes in legislation that was heavily pushed by the credit card industry, that option has become a lot more difficult to implement for consumers. At the same time as this, credit card companies offer special deals for students and unsecured credit cards at high interest rates which is, in our opinion, unethical and an altogether altruistic way of doing business" Franklin Debt Relief also feel that charges levied by credit card companies are unfair because they grossly overvalue the expenses that they cause, and that instead of being made widely known in abbreviated overview documents, they remain buried under pages upon pages of standard terms until such time as they wish to start issuing them. Bobby Zangrilli went on to say: "It is only when a person is in financial trouble that they become aware of the charges that they have to pay. At that point they are too far involved and it becomes impossible for them to avoid these additional charges. At Franklin Debt Relief ( ) we believe that these terms should have to be made more prominent to consumers and also that legislation should be put in place to cap these charges." About Franklin Debt Relief Franklin Debt Relief ( ) is a debt relief company based in Chicago that specialized in debt relief and debt settlement, where by they reduce personal debts by negotiating, on behalf of consumers, with creditors.

BPNA launches two new MasterCard credit cards

27th April 2007

By Julia Chan

Chicago-based financial services provider Banco Popular North America has introduced two new credit card products in collaboration with credit card issuer MasterCard, namely the Banco Popular platinum MasterCard card and the Banco Popular classic MasterCard card.

The Banco Popular platinum MasterCard is an unsecured program offering an introductory 0% APR for balance transfers for six to 12 months. In addition, the card has no annual fee and automatically enrolls qualifying customers into the Popular rewards loyalty program. Other benefits include car rental insurance and purchase assurance.

The Banco Popular Classic MasterCard secured program, which is aimed at customers with little or no credit history, as well as customers wishing to rebuild their credit history, also has no annual fee and customers receive the same card benefits as the platinum cardholders enjoy. However, these accounts are secured by opening an interest-bearing Banco Popular North America (BPNA) savings account with a minimum deposit of $500 and a maximum of $5,000. The credit limit matches the deposit dollar for dollar.

Other benefits of the new MasterCard offerings include a MasterCard zero liability policy for fraudulent activity, access to 1.2 million ATMs globally, worldwide acceptance at more than 25 million locations, and a bilingual customer service.