Credit card processing bills are a jumble. Here's how to read yours.
No one likes a bill, especially one filled with cryptic codes and indecipherable jargon. That's a pretty good description of a statement from a credit card processor. Such firms authorize credit and move funds through the banking system so that you get paid. For these services, you pay the processor a fee, known as the discount rate. Many processors tout low discount rates to lure new customers. Problem is, your bill can be so complicated that it's nearly impossible to figure out if you're paying that low rate--or a lot more, thanks to a host of surcharges and fees. We recently studied a dozen statements. While bills differ from processor to processor, here are some common fees you might see on yours.
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Jews in Arab east Jerusalem defy Obama peace push
Adler is one of 2,000 Jews who reside in predominantly Arab neighborhoods in the heart of east Jerusalem, part of a movement that aims to ensure Israel's hold on the sector, which Palestinians seek as the capital of a future state.
Revved up by the Obama administration's latest attempts to limit Jewish encroachment in disputed areas of the holy city, they are working furiously to cement and expand their presence.
Senate Passes Broader Rules for Overseeing Wall Street
The legislation is intended to prevent a repeat of the 2008 crisis, but also reshapes the role of numerous federal agencies and vastly empowers the Federal Reserve in an attempt to predict and contain future debacles.
The vote was 59 to 39, with four Republicans joining the Democratic majority in favor of the bill. Two Democrats opposed the measure, saying it was still not tough enough.
Consumers in U.S. Face the End of an Era of Cheap Credit
That, economists say, is the inevitable outcome of the nation’s ballooning debt and the renewed prospect of inflation as the economy recovers from the depths of the recent recession.
The shift is sure to come as a shock to consumers whose spending habits were shaped by a historic 30-year decline in the cost of borrowing.
“Americans have assumed the roller coaster goes one way,” said Bill Gross, whose investment firm, Pimco, has taken part in a broad sell-off of government debt, which has pushed up interest rates. “It’s been a great thrill as rates descended, but now we face an extended climb.”
Settlement Talks Reported in Ground Zero Workers’ Suit
The first 12 cases are scheduled for trial on May 16 in Manhattan. But Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who is overseeing the litigation — involving rescue and cleanup workers who sued over illnesses and injuries they say stemmed from working at the World Trade Center site in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack — said at a recent hearing that a detailed settlement plan about 70 pages long had been drafted.
Huge Housing Complex in N.Y. Returned to Creditors
The owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the iconic middle-class housing complexes overlooking the East River in Manhattan, have decided to turn over the properties to creditors, officials said Monday morning.
The decision by Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty comes four years after the $5.4 billion purchase of the complexes’ 110 buildings and 11,227 apartments in what was the most expensive real estate deal of its kind in American history.
The surrender of the properties, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, ends a tortured real estate saga that saw the partnership make expensive improvements to the complex and then try to rent the apartments at higher market rates in a real estate boom. But a real estate downturn and the city’s strong rent protections hindered those efforts, leaving the buyers scrambling to make payments on loans due for the properties, which have been a comfortable harbor for the city’s middle class since they opened in the late 1940s.
Suicide Bombing Puts a Rare Face on C.I.A.’s Work
Ms. Hanson’s report, “Faithless Heathens: Scriptural Economics of Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” carried a title far more provocative than its contents, said the professor who advised her. But it may have given a hint of her career to come, as an officer for the Central Intelligence Agency specializing in hunting down Islamic extremists.
That career was cut short last week: Ms. Hanson was one of seven Americans killed in a suicide bombing at a C.I.A. base in the remote mountains of Afghanistan.
U.S. Sees an Opportunity to Press Iran on Nuclear Fuel
The long-discussed sanctions would initiate the latest phase in a strategy to force Iran to comply with United Nations demands to halt production of nuclear fuel. It comes as the administration has completed a fresh review of Iran’s nuclear progress.
In interviews, Mr. Obama’s strategists said that while Iran’s top political and military leaders remained determined to develop nuclear weapons, they were distracted by turmoil in the streets and political infighting, and that the drive to produce nuclear fuel appeared to have faltered in recent months.
9 hardest-hit jobs of 2009
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FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2009 file photo, a construction worker cleans up after a rain storm as he works on a new home in Los Altos, Calif. A private forecast of economic activity over the next six months edged up less than expected in October, signaling slow growth next year.(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
It was the worst of times and it was the worst of times for many American workers this past year.
With 10 percent unemployment, 2009 draws to a close leaving millions of Americans without jobs. Even those who still have jobs feel beaten down. The recession took its toll in the shape of job cuts, furloughs, and wage and benefit reductions in just about every industry.
U.S. Widens Terror War to Yemen, a Qaeda Bastion
A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country, according a former top agency official. At the same time, some of the most secretive Special Operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces in counterterrorism tactics, senior military officers said.
The Pentagon is spending more than $70 million over the next 18 months, and using teams of Special Forces, to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces, more than doubling previous military aid levels.
U.N. Officials Say American Aide Plotted to Replace Karzai
Mr. Karzai, the officials said, became incensed when he learned of the plan and was told it had been put forth by Mr. Galbraith, who had been installed in his position with the strong backing of Richard C. Holbrooke, the top American envoy to Afghanistan. Mr. Holbrooke had himself clashed with the Afghan president over the election.
Kosher Food In A Click
Shopping Kosher Has Never Been Easier With A Wide Verity Of Kosher Online Supermarkets Each With A Huge Selection Of Kosher Foods From Chocolate And Candy Too Veal And Duck.
As Technology Is Being Developed We Adapt To Them, Now We Can Order From The Comfort Of Our Home Or Office Or Even Cell Phone.
Obama answers questions from top Cuban blogger
In an unusual written response to Yoani Sanchez, who has gained international acclaim for daring to criticize her government online, Obama also said it is up to Cuba to act if it wants normal relations with Washington, saying that a true thaw in nearly 50 years of deep-freeze “will require action by the Cuban government.”
Fort Hood Gunman Gave Signals Before His Rampage
“I’m going traveling,” he told a fellow worshiper, giving him a hug. “I won’t be here tomorrow.”
Six hours later, Major Hasan walked into a processing center at Fort Hood where soldiers get medical attention before being sent overseas. At first, he sat quietly at an empty table, said two congressmen briefed on the investigation.
Then, witnesses say, he bowed his head for several seconds, as if praying, stood up and drew a high-powered pistol. “Allahu akbar,” he said — “God is great.” And he opened fire. Within minutes he had killed 13 people.
Upstate Republican Abruptly Suspends Race for Congress
New York Times
A moderate Republican whose candidacy for an upstate New York Congressional seat had set off a storm of national conservative opposition, abruptly withdrew on Saturday, emboldening the right at a time when the Republican Party is enmeshed in a debate over how to rebuild itself.The candidate, Dede Scozzafava, said she was suspending her campaign in the face of collapsing support and evidence that she was heading for a loss in a three-way race on Tuesday involving Douglas L. Hoffman, running on the Conservative Party line, and Bill Owens, a Democrat.
Ms. Scozzafava had been under siege from conservative leaders because she supports gay rights and abortion rights and was considered too liberal on various fiscal issues.
Democrats in House Present $894 Billion Health Package
New York Times
House Democrats on Thursday unveiled an $894 billion package to remake the health care system, and celebrated by holding an outdoor rally at the Capitol where they asserted that tens of millions of Americans would soon gain affordable insurance.The 1,990-page measure, which was months in the making, would broadly expand Medicaid, the state-federal insurance program for the poor, by offering subsidies to moderate-income Americans to buy insurance either from private carriers or a new government-run plan.
“It is with great pride and with great humility that we come before you to follow in the footsteps of those who gave our country Social Security and then Medicare — and now universal, quality, affordable health care for all Americans,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a crowd of several hundred people.
The 83-year-old dean of the House, Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, stole the show with a combative speech in which he assailed insurance companies and Republicans, who have been warning that the legislation would slash Medicare.
By expanding coverage and reining in health costs, Mr. Dingell said, the bill would meet “the greatest humanitarian need this country confronts, and the greatest economic problem.”
“The only citizens who will have to worry about their participation in Medicare being cut are the insurance companies,” Mr. Dingell said.
In Schools Post, Thompson Was a Conciliator
Karzai Agrees to Nov. 7 Runoff in Afghanistan
Flanked at a news conference in Kabul by Senator John Kerry, the head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Kai Eide, the top United Nations official in Afghanistan, Mr. Karzai said he would accept the findings of an international audit that stripped him of nearly one-third of his votes in the first round, leaving him below the 50 percent threshold that would have allowed him to avoid a runoff and declare victory over his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah.
Energy Firms Deeply Split on Bill to Battle Climate Change
NEW YORK TIMES
As the Senate prepares to tackle global warming, the nation’s energy producers, once united, are battling one another over policy decisions worth hundreds of billions of dollars in coming decades.Producers of natural gas are battling their erstwhile allies, the oil companies. Electrical utilities are fighting among themselves over the use of coal versus wind power or other renewable energy. Coal companies are battling natural gas firms over which should be used to produce electricity. And the renewable power industry is elbowing for advantage against all of them.
As TD Bank works out problems, competitors benefit
Citizens Bank said that “thousands” of people had taken them up on a promotion last Friday aimed at luring new customers. Under the offer, which started Saturday, customers who open a new checking account with Citizens get $100 automatically deposited into their new account.
The bank said that the number of new accounts was seven times normal volume but would be no more specific than that.
Remembering the Horror of a Bright Blue Morning
They gathered near the pit where the twin towers once stood. Politicians spoke, a choir of students sang, and the name of each victim was read aloud, one at a time, 2,752 in total, one more than last year. At the end, taps was played, and the relatively small group that lasted for the entire three-and-a-half-hour ceremony — much of if buffeted by fierce winds and lashing rain — dispersed, some into Lower Manhattan, some to a reflecting pool where flowers were tossed to remember those who died.
Sept. 11 training exercise sparks confusion in DC
No shots were fired as part of the exercise, Coast Guard Chief Keith Moore said later Friday.
Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance
The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die.
