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6 Credit Cards Services You Don’t (Usually) Need

Everyone who has opened up a credit card in the last five years has been pitched on various supplementary “services” from the company in question. The offers sound enticing and even logical at times, but are they really justified from a hard dollars-and-cents standpoint?

Credit Card Debt Drops 11% (CNN Money)

The average credit card balance for 2011 was $6,576, down from $7,404 the previous year, according to a report from credit tracking and financial education website CreditKarma.com, based on data from more than 300,000 of its users.

Credit Unions Predicted as Next Major Lenders (Credit.com)

Consumers can generally also expect to receive higher-quality customer service from credit unions because, by their nature, the smaller institutions are designed to serve a community, the report said. This is why, for example, they are also far less likely to apply annual fees to credit card accounts.

Consumer Credit Defaults Are On The Rise (Business Insider)

Consumer defaults ticked to the highest level in nine months as the national composite index inched up two basis points to 2.24%, data from S&P Indices and Experian shows.

Who Use Prepaid Debit Cards (The Finance Buff)

People buy prepaid debit cards as a gift because a card looks nicer than cash or a check. They are OK with the purchase fee. Some use prepaid cards for kids’ allowance. Instead of giving a kid cash, parents put money on the kid’s prepaid debit card. Suze Orman’s The Approved Card has some appeal in this market, but she isn’t targeting it specifically. “Teach your teens financial responsibility” is last on her list of 9 reasons for choosing this card.