Articles by Jack
Jack is a personal finance writer from Pittsburgh. He also serves as a contributing editor for Primer Magazine. You can see his work at JackBusch.com.
Credit card thieves. We know they’re out there. We know we’re supposed to fear them, be ever vigilant against them, and, if given the opportunity, finger them so the authorities can haul them into prison. …
Have you heard of this? The Whitehouse, along with “key government agencies, business leaders and privacy advocates” have cooked up a blueprint for a voluntary, centralized identification system that will somehow clamp down on identity …
The longstanding battle between merchants and the banking industry has netted at least one victory for merchants on Capitol Hill. This week, the House and Senate came to an agreement over the issue of debit …
On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Board enacted additional consumer protections for credit card users in the ongoing game of legislative whack-a-mole. These new rules, which won’t go into effect until August 22, may bring some …
Heading overseas this summer? Don’t forget your credit card. Whether you’re in a pinch or simply picking up the tab on the road, credit cards can be your best friend–or worst enemy. Before hopping on …
In Europe, they’ve transitioned away from signature-based credit card authorizations and are instead using credit cards with built-in chips that require a PIN for most transactions. The system is called EMV, named for the three …
Oh boy. What follows is a rant from a non-believer. So, take it with a grain of salt.
There’s this hot new trend on the horizon that folks like The Wall Street Journal are calling “social …
If “Things You’d Find in a Wallet” were a survey question on Family Feud, chances are that “credit card” would be right up there just below “driver’s license” and cash. It says something that credit …
The Credit CARD Act that recently kicked into high gear this year is often hailed as one of the more consumer-friendly legislations passed on credit card reform, but it’s important to give due credit to …
The rich and famous lifestyle sometimes hides a shocking and shameful secret: hundreds of thousands of credit card debt. On the outside, the gliteratti and clan of hypervisible celebs seem to be living large and …
There’s this pervasive myth going around that paying off your credit card balance in full each month will score you points (literally) with TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. The fact of the matter is that it …
Okay, okay, we usually don’t hesitate to declare credit cards dead (Five Futuristic Ways to Pay without Credit Cards and Death of the Credit Card Signature) but our musings are more like utopian “what-ifs” from …
Those hooky satire songs from FreeCreditReport.com hide a dark secret. First of all, that dude is a French-Canadian, so he probably doesn’t even have a credit history in the U.S., and to make matters worse, …
Yes, you can pay your federal income taxes to the IRS by credit card or debit card. Should you do it? Maybe. Here’s how it works:
When you file your tax return through an official IRS …