Credit Card

American credit cardholders are known for running up debt. Now they are also spending billions of dollars annually to make sure their monthly bill gets paid even if they lose their jobs or some other hardship strikes. But a new government report shows that the price consumers pay for this debt protection may be too much for the benefits they receive. The Government Accountability Office reports that consumers shelled out about $2.4 billion in 2009 to the nine largest credit card issuers for debt protection products.

What's the deal? British Airways has a promotion to entice people to sign up for a new Visa Signature affinity credit card. First-time cardholders with new accounts will earn 50,000 miles with their first purchase and another 50,000 miles for spending $2,000 in the first three months after the account is opened. That's 100,000 miles, enough for two coach round-trip tickets or one business-class round trip to parts of Europe, including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.K. You also can redeem miles for flights on codeshare partner American within the continental U.S., and to Canada, Hawaii and Mexico.

Customers at Towson Hot Bagels usually pay with credit, not cash, when buying a bagel or a bottle of water, triggering fees the merchant must pay to process each transaction. Now, the shop's owner and retailers across the country may recoup "swipe" fees as a result of a preliminary settlement with Visa, MasterCard and major banks. When a consumer pays with a credit card, retailers can tack on a surcharge or "checkout fee" of up to 4 percent of the purchase to cover processing. But there's no rush among merchants to start charging this fee. Independent shop owners, national chains and retail trade groups insist they have no desire to pass credit card fees along to consumers so directly.

Anne Arundel County Police are searching for five people who they say picked up a lost credit card and used it to make purchases. In August, a woman dropped her credit card in the parking lot of the CVS store at 28 Magothy Beach Road, police said. Video surveillance shows five people associated with using the card, police said. The people in the video are four men and a woman in their early twenties or late teens, police said. The investigation is ongoing and police ask that anyone with information about the incident contact Anne Arundel County Police at 410-222-6145 or Metro Crime Stoppers.

Every day, millions of Americans make purchases with a credit or debit card. And most consumers think nothing of showing their driver's license when a merchant requests it. Maybe people are security-conscious; maybe they're going with the flow. But what isn't commonly known, consumer advocates say, is that they usually don't have to show ID. MasterCard and Visa rules state that a retailer can't decline a sale because a consumer refuses to present additional identification. That makes Alex Rostorotski's story all the more vexing.

In the last year, as Baltimore city schools' budgetary decisions -- $14 million in overtime, generous leave payouts, a renovated IT Department -- have faced heightened scrutiny, officials have defended much of their spending as "the cost of doing business. " In April, The Baltimore Sun sought to get a better picture of what exactly some of that business was -- and several sources informed us that credit card and procurement card statements, which outlined day-to-day activities at the system's central headquarters would do so. We began a four-month task by requesting credit and procurement card statements showing activity by central office staff from 2009 through 2011, through a Maryland Public Information Act Request in April.

An unfamiliar transaction on a credit card statement might not raise too much alarm if it's just a few dollars. But all those dollars add up. Take the case of a recently halted international scheme that bilked more than 1 million customers of more than $10 million since at least 2006, all funneled through dummy corporations, according to the Federal Trade Commission. How did the scam continue unchecked for so long? By making small, unauthorized charges of 20 cents to $10. The money was then laundered through bank accounts in countries such as Bulgaria, Cyprus and Kyrgyzstan, with the help of "money mules" that wired money overseas.

The last of the credit card reforms kicked in just two months ago, but get ready soon for reform version 2.0. The Federal Reserve last week released proposed amendments to the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act to clarify language and close a loophole that could allow subprime lenders to charge high, upfront fees. "The CARD Act, ever since it was introduced, has needed clarity," says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com. "There are a lot of gray areas.

On Aug. 8, flanked by hundreds of pages of documents sought since April, a Baltimore Sun reporter sat across from four city school officials at North Avenue headquarters to discuss a series of credit card expenditures incurred by central administration employees. For every charge raised, there was an explanation: The trip to Hooter's was spurred by a time crunch and a craving for chicken wings, and the setting was a separate dining area, where students were served by a fully clothed manager.

Aberdeen Aberdeen police report: Someone broke into a garage and stole a dirt bike, then broke into the home in the 300 block of South Drive last Friday. Two people were in custody on suspicion of stealing at Walmart on Saturday. A car was vandalized and tires missing in the 100 block of South Philadelphia Boulevard on Saturday. A vehicle had expired license plates at Economy Inn, in the 600 block of South Philadelphia Boulevard, on Saturday. Threatening text messages were reported Saturday in the first block of Moyer Drive.