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Authorities cracking down on national organized-crime rings swiping $18 billion a year through ATM card-skimming have now turned their sights on aiding Big Apple victims. The US Secret Service, which investigates financial crimes along with protecting the president, started the crackdown in California last year because of the staggering problem and has now expanded to team up with a new NYPD task force to try to thwart the criminals better here. “It’s billions of dollars [stolen] annually across the nation, so that jumps off the page by any metric,” Secret Service spokesman James Byrne told The Post on Wednesday, as...

Collectively, Americans now owe a record $1.21 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new quarterly report on household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Credit card balances jumped by $45 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, driven in part by holiday spending, and are now 7.3% higher than a year ago. At the same time, credit card delinquency rates “remained elevated,” the New York Fed researchers found — with 7.18% of balances transitioning to delinquency over the last year. That uptick could indicate “borrowers are having some difficulty repaying,” the researchers said on a...

American credit card defaults have risen to the highest levels since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis as consumers grapple with years of high inflation. Credit card lenders wrote off $46 billion in delinquent loan balances in the first three quarters of 2024, a 50 percent increase from the same period last year. These forms of write-offs are are viewed as a highly monitored measure of loan distress. This is the highest level since 2010, according to industry data gathered by BankRegData. Mark Zandi, the head of Moody’s Analytics, said, “High-income households are fine, but the bottom third of...

A mother and daughter are in custody for the alleged murder of a 71-year-old grandmother whose decomposing remains were sniffed out by police after she had been dismembered with a chainsaw and burned on a charcoal grill. Candace Craig, 44, is accused of killing her mother Margaret Craig and enlisting in the help of her 19-year-old daughter Salia Hardy to dispose of the body, according to Prince George's County police. Officers on Friday conducted a welfare check on the matriarch at the Landover, Maryland, and immediately smelled the odor of decomposition. They discovered 'what appeared to be brain matter' in...

This map visualizes the average credit card debt held by households in each U.S. state and ranks the states where residents pay off the debt the fastest and slowest. Data is sourced from Bankrate (2024) who also used average monthly household income to calculate how long it takes to pay off balances. Households in Alaska and Washington D.C. are carrying more than $7,000 in credit card debt, the highest across the country. However, with average annual household incomes of $109,000 and $149,000, residents in both states can pay off their debt in about 15–20 months. In fact, glancing through the...

Slim CD, a credit card processing service company popular in the United States and Canada, recently revealed that a hack, which took place last year, exposed personal information of almost 1.7 million customers. “On or about June 15, 2024, Slim CD became aware of suspicious activity in its computer environment,” said a Sept. 6 customer notification letter from the company. The Florida-based company said unauthorized system access occurred between Aug. 17, 2023, and June 15, 2024. “That access may have enabled an unauthorized actor to view or obtain certain credit card information,” Slim CD said. The company said customer names,...

Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signed legislation on July 12 blocking credit card companies from tracking firearm and firearm-related sales in New Hampshire. By signing the legislation, HB 1186, Sununu secured New Hampshire as the 17th state in which credit cards cannot track such sales. The NRA-ILA reported: firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories, and provides a civil penalty for violations. This critical legislation protects gun-owners privacy and ensures that bad actors cannot use credit and debit card transactions to create a gun-registry or block cardholders from making gun-related purchase.

Unless you are living under a bridge or you are eagerly drinking the kool-aid that the mainstream media is dishing out, you probably understand that the economy has been struggling. Survey after survey has found that the American people are deeply dissatisfied with how the economy has been performing, and as a result it has become the number one issue this election season. But even though a large portion of the population is not happy about how things have been going, the truth is that the situation is far more dire than most people realize. Just this week we have...

Credit card delinquencies are on the rise, as research from the New York Federal Reserve shows nearly a fifth of borrowers are “maxed-out.” According the new report, issued by the bank’s Center for Microeconomic Data, household debt rose by 1.1 percent, or $184 billion, in the first quarter of the year, bringing the total to $17.69 trillion. “In the first quarter of 2024, credit card and auto loan transition rates into serious delinquency continued to rise across all age groups,” Joelle Scally, regional economic principal within the household and public policy research division at the bank, said in a statement....

A just-released report from Scholaroo indicates that the U.S. national average for credit card debt has escalated to $6,555, with New Jersey residents leading the nation with an average debt of $8,155 per credit card. Scholaroo, a national firm matching college students with potential scholarships, surveyed more than 2,000 people across the United States during the final quarter of 2023.Coming in at a close second is Connecticut, with an average debt of $8,011 per credit card, followed by Maryland, New York, and Alaska—all with average credit card debts of more than $7,600 per card. Rounding out the top 10 states...

When the economy is going well, people buy a lot on credit and keep current with their credit card debt. When the economy stinks, people still buy a lot on credit but fall behind in their payments. By that measurement, we're in a lot of trouble. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia published a study showing that the rate of credit card delinquencies — 30, 60, and 90 days past due — rose to a level not seen since 2012. And it gets worse. "Fourth quarter 2023 featured the worst card performance in the series," the report said. "All stages...

Delinquency rates among American credit card holders are at an all-time high, while at the same time a record number of “active accounts” have “a balance of over $2,000,” according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia report. We’re more than three years into the Biden presidency, so we all know where the blame lies. More from Bloomberg: Almost 3.5% of card balances were at least 30 days past due as of the end of December, the Philadelphia Fed said. That’s the highest figure in the data series going back to 2012, and up by about 30 basis points from...

Strain disappeared on March 8 after being kicked out of Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink in downtown Nashville while on a trip with his fraternity. University of Missouri student Riley Strain's body has been found in the Cumberland River Friday morning, the Metropolitan Nashville Police announced. "The body of Riley Strain was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville this morning, approximately 8 miles from downtown," the department wrote on X. "No foul play-related trauma was observed. An autopsy is pending." Police received a call around 7:28 a.m. from a worker at a nearby business who discovered Strain's...

The body of missing University of Missouri student Riley Strain has been found in a Nashville river after he went missing leaving a country bar earlier this month, authorities said. “The body of Riley Strain was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville this morning, approximately 8 miles from downtown,” the Metropolitan Nashville Police wrote on X. His body was found in the Cumberland River near 61st Avenue North around 7:30 a.m. Friday, news station WKRN reported. No foul play is suspected, but an autopsy has been scheduled, police said. Strain was visiting the Music City with his Delta...

The family of missing student Riley Strain says it has been shown unreleased surveillance video that captured him walking fast or “jogging” in the opposite direction of his hotel. Chris Whiteid, Strain’s stepfather, and Chris Dingman, a friend acting as the family spokesman, revealed that Metro Nashville Police on Sunday showed them the last known video of the University of Missouri student from the night of his disappearance. “We got to see him walking,” Whiteid told NewsNation in an interview that aired Thursday. “We got to see him kind of at a fast pace walk, almost a jog. And it...

Two TikTokers taking part in the search for missing college student Riley Strain — livestreaming their search efforts for followers — found his credit card near the Cumberland River in Nashville. Two TikTok users, @nobodyleftbehind13 and @annaclendening, were sharing their search as it unfolded live with followers when they stumbled across the missing Mizzou student’s credit card. “S—. I found his credit card,” one user can be heard saying in a video that was later shared to @rileylively’s account, Fox News Digital reported. Another user filming the search chimes in, “You found his credit card? We found his credit card....

During an interview with the Fox Business Network on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen answered a question on record credit card spending by stating that we still have strong credit quality and delinquencies have gone up a small amount from a historically low level and while “particularly lower-income households are borrowing again on credit cards. I see that as a normalization, rather than a disturbing new trend.” Fox Business White House Correspondent Edward Lawrence asked, [relevant exchange begins around 4:05] “Last year, many economists predicted a recession this year. We haven’t seen it. It looks like we may not see...

Capital One announced on Monday it was acquiring a rival financial services company in a massive stock deal as Americans continue to be plagued with credit card debt, according to The New York Times. The McLean, Virginia-based bank announced it would acquire Discover Financial Services in a $35.3 billion all-stock transaction, The New York Times reported. The acquisition of Discover would give Capital One more market power due to Discover having a payments network of its own at the same time as credit card debt continues to mount for consumers, according to The Wall Street Journal. The acquisition could face...

A new law requiring New York businesses to clearly display the total cost of purchasing items with a credit card — including any surcharges — is in full swing. As of Sunday, businesses in the Empire State are required to disclose any additional credit card surcharges before a customer begins to check out. The businesses can either post the total price, inclusive of the credit card surcharges, or list the different prices for both card and cash payments for items. “As more New Yorkers use credit cards and EBT [electronic benefit transfer] products to purchase goods and services, pricing transparency...

* Collectively, Americans owe $1.13 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. * Higher prices have largely caused consumers to spend down their savings and lean on credit cards to make ends meet. * Now, young adults, who are also burdened by high levels of student loan debt, are increasingly falling behind on the payments, the New York Fed found. Americans now owe a collective $1.13 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new report on household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This is...