Beware of Credit Card Company Telephone Practices

Minnesota’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Discover Bank. The suit says that Discover was engaging in deceptive practices to enroll cardholders into its payment protection program and similar offerings.

Here's what some consumers have said:

• Discover routinely calls me and offers me services I don't want. They're pretty pushy about it. 
• Bank of America credit card services tried to do this to me 2 weeks ago for their credit monitoring service.
• Over the past weekend, I received four phone calls from Discover in a 48-hour period, with the same message left each time: "This is ____ from Discover calling. It is important that you return this call to 800-xxx-xxxx." As a cardholder, I became concerned about misuse of my card or account number, and I called back, only to be grilled for confirmation details . . . and then "offered" an expensive protection package. Clever sales ploy indeed, but met with only an abrupt hang-up at my end, once I understood the real purpose of their harrassing and worrisome calls.

Read other consumer responses and stories.

Americans Don't Want Tax Cuts for All

According to a new CBS News poll, 53 percent of Americans want the Bush-era tax cuts extended only for households earning less than $250,000 per year. That roughly matches the proposal put forth by the White House, which wants to extend the cuts only for incomes less than $250,000 for families and $200,000 for individuals.

Even among Republicans, support for extending all the cuts is less than half at 46 percent.

[source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20024494-503544.html]

Calculate your tax impact online: http://calculator.taxpolicycenter.org/