Personal Finance Daily: Credit-card terms: We're still confused

Personal Finance Daily DECEMBER 01, 2011 Credit-card terms: We're still confused By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: Credit card terms: We're still confused Readers' refinance problems, complaints 30-year mortgages average 4% Sizing up HARP 2.0 Apparently, the small type on our credit-card agreements is not only hard to read, it's hard to understand, too. Jennifer Waters reports that the nation's new consumer watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has just finished analyzing three months' worth of consumer complaints about credit car products and terms and found out: We're confused. This consumer confusion is pushing the CFPB to take steps to improve consumer education and to solicit input from consumers on how it logs and addresses complaints. While the process which the CFPB uses for logging complaints might not, in itself, making understanding credit card terms easier, the complaints are giving the CFPB an insight into what is bugging consumers and what could be considered market problems that will feed decision making, Waters writes. Also in Personal Finance today on MarketWatch, we have the December edition of Trading Strategies. Our columnists say that markets are heading into the favorable holiday season with a big boost from central banks, but don't be fooled by the window dressing. See the full special report here. — Anne Stanley , Managing Editor, Personal Finance Credit card terms: We're still confused The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports after three months of collecting consumer credit-card complaints that the gripes "show a mismatch" between consumers' knowledge about credit products and what the products really do. Read more: Credit card terms: We're still confused. Readers' refinance problems, complaints Be a squeaky wheel and complain about refinance policies and more. Lew Sichelman provides emails and phone numbers to express your concerns. Read more: Readers' refinance problems, complaints. 30-year mortgage averages 4%: Freddie Mac For the fifth week in a row, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages average at or below 4%, according to Freddie Mac's latest weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates. Read more: 30-year mortgage averages 4%. Sizing up HARP 2.0 Homeowners can start applying for the government's revamped refinancing program next week. But much like the first time around, experts say many borrowers will see it as too little too late. Read more: Sizing up HARP 2.0 INVESTING 5 money moves a top stock expert is making now Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategist Savita Subramanian cautions stock and bond investors to expect another year of high-wire headlines impacting Europe, the U.S., China and key emerging markets. Read more: 5 money moves a top stock expert is making now. A very bullish development Disney's 50% dividend hike may not appear as momentous as the Dow's 490-point increase. But Mark Hulbert nevertheless thinks it is, because of what it signals about Disney's future — and, by extension, the economy as a whole. Read more: A very bullish development. Exploiting December tax-loss selling Unlike other kinds of selling, tax-loss selling has nothing to do with the underlying merits of the stocks involved. The artificially depressed prices to which tax-loss selling leads therefore often create very attractive trading possibilities as year-end approaches. Read more: Exploiting December tax-loss selling. Don't fear choppy markets Active investors can temper the market's whiplash through pair trading, writes Wayne Ferbert. Read more: Don't fear choppy markets. ECONOMY AND POLITICS Jobless claims back above 400,000 level again The number of Americans who applied for jobless benefits last week rose above 400,000 again, an indication that the pace of hiring remains subdued. Read more: Jobless claims back above 400,000 level again. U.S. manufacturing lightly accelerates: ISM The U.S. manufacturing sector sees a modest acceleration in November as production and new orders pick up, according to a key gauge. Read more: U.S, manufacturing lightly accelerates. MF Global sets up CFTC fight over costs, security MF Global Inc.'s bankruptcy and an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer funds there is setting up a battle at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over customer costs and if investors should have their funds parked in separate bank accounts. Read more: IMF Global sets up CFTC fight. China opts for policy adjustment, not change Analysts at Credit Suisse and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch say that China's recent cut to banks' reserve requirement is a fine-tuning of monetary policy, not a wholesale change. Read more: China opts for policy adjustment, not change. China manufacturing slowing, data show Rival manufacturing surveys confirm manufacturing activity in China slipped into contraction in November, with the grim conditions now seen as pushing Beijing towards monetary-policy easing to support growth. Read more: China manufacturing slowing, data show. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2011 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. 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