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Credit crunch for consumers As card issuers hike rates, consumers forced to work harder to protect credit By Andrea Coombes, MarketWatch Last update: 1:36 p.m. EST Nov. 23, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- As credit-card issuers raise rates and fees and lower credit limits, consumers face higher-cost debt -- and more work maintaining their credit score. In some cases, banks' former darlings -- consumers who paid consistently and on time but let their balances ride -- now are being hit hardest, asked to stomach higher interest rates and fees or try their luck with different card issuers. For instance, some...

Russia lifts rates to 12pc to save rouble as crisis deepens Russia's central bank has raised interest rates a full percentage point to 12pc to prevent a collapse of the rouble following a day of mayhem on the Moscow markets, prompting concerns that the financial crisis may be spiralling out of control. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Last Updated: 8:47AM GMT 12 Nov 2008 The surprise move last night came after the authorities had spent $7bn of foreign reserves in a matter of hours trying to defend the currency, at a lower level. The central bank has now spent $84bn of its...

Remember the old Saturday Night Live skit about the First CitiWide “change bank” that does nothing but make change? Our customers ask us how we make a profit, quips the bank’s spokesman. “The answer is simple – volume.” As laughable as this dubious business plan sounds, it bears many similarities to the business plan the management of the U.S. Postal Service has been practicing for much of the past decade. And, as might be expected, the model isn’t doing much to help the Post Office – which lost $5 billion last year – cover its costs. This week, the Service...

In the fifth tightening of US monetary policy in as many meetings, Alan Greenspan and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the Federal Funds Rate target 25 basis points to 2.25%, as expected. More...

In the fourth tightening of US monetary policy in as many meetings, Alan Greenspan and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the Federal Funds Rate target 25 basis points to 2.00%, as expected. More...

In the second tightening of US monetary policy since May of 2000, Alan Greenspan and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the Federal Funds Rate target 25 basis points to 1.50%, as expected. More...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A widely expected rate hike by the Federal Reserve (news - web sites) turned quickly to campaign fodder as President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry (news - web sites) used the move to highlight their economic views. White House spokesman Scott McClellan, speaking just before the quarter-point boost by the Federal Open Market Committee (news - web sites), said such a move would be a sign of a reinvigorated economy. "It's not unexpected that as the economy continues to grow stronger that interest rates may rise some, and that's...

In the first tightening of US monetary policy since May of 2000, Alan Greenspan and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the Federal Funds Rate target, from its 46 year low, 25 basis points to 1.25%. More...

Economists see Fed raising rates in June, boosting them threefold-plus in 18 months: report. NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Federal Reserve will raise a key short-term interest rate to 2.5 percent 12 months from now and 3.5 percent by the end of next year, a newspaper reported Thursday. The Wall Street Journal said that 43 of 55 economists surveyed said they expect the central bank to raise its target for the federal funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate, starting in June, up sharply from a month ago when most economists surveyed said the Fed would raise rates in...

Look, up in the sky: It's a bird. It's a plane. It's the fed funds rate. How high will it go? NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - In case there was any doubt, Friday's jobs report made a Fed rate hike a done deal. The only questions now are: how far and how fast will rates rise? The answer depends on whether or not policy-makers have been watching the right numbers. Friday morning, the Labor Department reported a second consecutive blowout number for monthly job growth, sending economists scrambling to readjust their forecasts for the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate hike since...