Credit Card

You browse, you decide, and when you're ready to pay you're offered a 15 percent discount, $20 dollars back right away, or free shipping. How? By applying for a store credit card. But Consumer Reports Money Adviser says resist the urge to immediately say, “Yes!” Some of the biggest stores, such as Bloomingdale's, Macy's, and Sears, charge around 25 percent interest on unpaid balances. That's about twice the average you would pay with a traditional bank credit card. Carefully look over cash-back and rewards offers, too. Walmart touts 1 percent cash back on all purchases.

(CBS News) - If you pay with plastic, get ready for some big changes this week. Sweeping new reforms for the credit card industry go into effect Monday. President Obama signed the act - 10 years in the making - last year. And as CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reports, the new rules are designed to put you back in charge. Under the new rules, consumers will have added protection from what critics call the "tricks and traps" of credit cards. "It used to be - let's say you slip up and you're a day late on a payment.

Sedgwick County is considering charging transaction fees for using credit cards when paying for some services. "What that means is you use your credit card to pay a county tax and then we charge you whatever the fee would be from the credit card so we don't have to pay that directly," explains County Manager Bill Buchanan. Every year the county pays nearly $1 million in fees to credit card companies, half of that coming from motor vehicle registration. Passing those fees onto people paying with credit cards would save Sedgwick County a lot of money, but could create some problems.

Update: Wichita police are still looking for suspects after someone broke into the mail room of a northeast Wichita apartment complex. It happened at Eaglerock Village, 7600 block of east 37th St N., Saturday night. A credit card that was stolen along with that mail was used to charge around $1,400 at a nearby Quik Trip and Wal Mart store. A warning about the mail thefts is posted by each apartment. "Frustrated, kind of disrespected," said Joe Compton.  He was the first to discover the problem after getting a call his emergency credit card was being used.  "$1,400-ish, on my credit card, in about two hours.

People whouse a card to pay property taxes in Sedgwick County can expect a new fee. Friday Sedgwick County Commissioners voted 3-to-2 in favor of the new fees. The fees are designed to offset how much the county pays to handle card transactions. Starting Nov. 19, if you use a credit card to pay Sedgwick County property taxes you will be charged a fee of two percent. If you use a debit card, you will be charged a fee of $3.95. County officials plan to do an audit after three months to make sure the county is only covering its costs, and no making extra money from the fees.

A call to your home says your computer may be at risk, but experts say it is a scam. The Better Business Bureau first warned about what it's calling the "Microsoft" phone scam in March, and it is still going on. In recent weeks Factfinder 12 has received several calls from people who have received a scam phone call. In the phone call, the scammer claims to be a computer technician and may say they work for Microsoft. The caller tried to trick the victim into taking control of your computer remotely.

The Kansas State Troopers Association wants the public to know it is in the midst of a phone fundraising campaign. The association contracted with a company called DayCom Incorporated.  When calling, DayCom's representatives will tell you they're phoning on behalf of the Kansas State Troopers Association, said President Jeff Dietz. The association president says money raised from the Honorary Membership Campaign will be used to provide aid and assistance to member officers.  "They will not ask for a credit card over the phone.  They will not ask for any money up front, said Dietz.  "What they will do is simply tell you they will send you a packet in the mail.

Here are some ways to protect yourself from Identity Theft. 1. Destroy private records and statements. Tear up -- or, if you prefer, shred -- credit card statements, solicitations and other documents that contain private financial information. 2. Secure your mail. Empty your mailbox quickly, lock it or get a P.O. box so criminals dont have a chance to snatch credit card pitches. Never mail outgoing bill payments and checks from home. They can be stolen from your mailbox and the payee's name erased with solvents.

Now that the holidays are over, the bills arrive and it's time to pay for all that fun.  Jeff witherspoon has spent years with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service. He says it's usually in  mid-January that people start getting the credit card bills and realize how much debt they have because of the holidays.  And he says that's when the hard work of getting out of debt really starts.  "You've got to really buckle down, look at everything you spend money on, eating out, your cell phone plan, everything that's discretionary in your budget, figure out if there's a way to tighten it down as tight as you possibly can get it"  > Among jeff's suggestions: pay off the credit card with the lowest balance first.

When Janette and Lee Adams needed a birth certificate for a family member, the first place they looked was on-line. They quickly found companies offering to help. “The one I happened to click on wanted an extra $69 fee,” says Lee. It was $69 the Adams didn’t pay. “It's silly to pay that kind of money when it's only $26,” says Janette. The Better Business Bureau agrees. “There are a lot of third-party that make you feel like they’re going to help you,” says Robbie Namee with the BBB. She says be careful when looking for official documentation.

More thefts from apartment complex mailboxes have residents changing the way they do things.  Eyewitness News has confirmed thieves have taken mail from mail-rooms in two different complexes on Wichita's northeast side, just down the road from each other.  Each attempt affected dozens, maybe hundreds, of residents. Residents at Eagle Rock Village are worried, not just about losing money but their identities as well.  They've had their mail boxes torn into twice in the last two weeks.  Now, less than a half mile down 37th Street, residents at The Remington apartments are facing the same concerns.

Police are looking for two men they believe broke into several mail boxes at the Eagle Rock Village Apartment complex in northeast Wichita early Sunday morning. This is the second time this has happend in the last week. Police say a woman saw two men running from the mail room just before 3am. When officers arrived they found that the mailroom and several mailboxes had been broken into. Last weekend thieves broke into the mail room at the apartment complex as well. In that burglary a credit card that was stolen was used to charge around $1400 dollars at a nearby Quick Trip and Wal Mart.

Update: Wichita police are still looking for suspects after someone broke into the mail room of a northeast Wichita apartment complex. It happened at Eaglerock Village, 7600 block of east 37th St N., Saturday night. A credit card that was stolen along with that mail was used to charge around $1,400 at a nearby Quik Trip and Wal Mart store. A warning about the mail thefts is posted by each apartment. "Frustrated, kind of disrespected," said Joe Compton.  He was the first to discover the problem after getting a call his emergency credit card was being used.  "$1,400-ish, on my credit card, in about two hours.

The parking lot at the Century II Expo Hall got a make over Wednesday. After parking, drivers will not use the traditional meters, but four pay stations at the north end of the lot. They will have to remember their spot number and punch it into the device. This is part of a trial that is expected to last three months. "We see this as an opportunity to provide a higher lever of service to our patrons," John D'Angelo, manager, arts & cultural service division, said. The pay station will accept change as well as credit cards as payment.

People whouse a card to pay property taxes in Sedgwick County can expect a new fee. Friday Sedgwick County Commissioners voted 3-to-2 in favor of the new fees. The fees are designed to offset how much the county pays to handle card transactions. Starting Nov. 19, if you use a credit card to pay Sedgwick County property taxes you will be charged a fee of two percent. If you use a debit card, you will be charged a fee of $3.95. County officials plan to do an audit after three months to make sure the county is only covering its costs, and no making extra money from the fees.

Holiday shopping is just around the corner, and so are the hard sells for extended warranties and service plans. Consumer Reports says there's a real dollars-and-cents reason for that. Stores make a lot more profit on those than on the actual product you're buying! In fact, Consumer Reports says service plans are almost never worth it. Consumer Reports' reader survey shows that products rarely break during the service contract period. And even if they do, it doesn't cost that much more to repair them than it does for the contract itself.

The economy may still be wavering, but not the banks. They're still sending consumers plenty of credit-card offers with enticing rewards, cash-back offers, and low interest rates. Consumer Reports just analyzed more than 50 cards, including ones that are good for those struggling to pay off their credit-card debt. For those people, Consumer Reports recommends transferring the balances to a card with a lower APR. You can often find cards with very low interest rates, even down to zero, for balance transfers.

It's a scam costing hundreds of people thousands of dollars.  Women claiming to be from AT&T ripping 200 people off for more than $670,000.   Five women have since been arrested in connection with the scam.  This is how it worked, the women would call saying they needed immediate payment by credit card, or the victims would lose their phone service.  They would then use the credit card information to purchase vehicle, furniture, and pay their...

A new invention lets shoppers who rely on credit cards to still be good tippers.  The "dipjar" is the first credit card machine dedicated exclusively to collecting tips. It's being tested in some New York City coffee shops, meaning grateful customers who don't carry cash can still leave a tip. Recent college grad Ryder Kessler says he invented the Dipjar because he noticed service employees getting fewer tips, because fewer customers use cash. "They are working so hard. they are taking home less money now because of these payments trends over which they have no control and we want to hep them recoup some of those lost tips," Kessler says.

Seems like there's a new scam every day.  Some of our viewers, and several of our staff, have taken calls from a phone scammer this week. They'e told their credit card is locked and the caller needs the number, experation date and PIN to get it unlocked. Of course, it's a scam. We don't know of anyone falling for the rip-off around here, and we don't want you to be a victim. As always, the advice is....never give out personal information over the phone if you don't know who you are dealing with.