Financial Literacy: Consumer Credit and Debt

CBC Foundation Hosts Financial Forums: A Reality Check: Life Happens (Oct. 13 - Nov. 17 2009) - on Tuesdays at 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM for the next six weeks in the HUB Congress room. Learn about budgeting, balancing, credit, investing, identity theft and more (see schedule for individual session descriptions and times). All free thanks to the Foundation and their community sponsors.

Billitteri, Thomas J. "Financial Literacy: Should courses be mandatory in schools?." CQ Researcher September 4, 2009.
Poor understanding of basic personal-finance and economic issues has left millions of students and adults mired in credit-card debt, prey to unscrupulous mortgage brokers and prone to making risky bets with their retirement money. High-school seniors correctly answer only about half the questions on personal-finance surveys, and those who take personal-finance courses tend to score no better than those who don't. Studies show similar deficits among adults. Yet experts disagree on a solution. Only a handful of states require at least a semester course on personal finance, and some advocates want Congress or state legislatures to mandate financial education for all K-12 students. Others question the effectiveness of financial-literacy programs in schools, and some worry that corporations may have too much influence on curriculum and instruction. A better approach to improving financial literacy, some argue, is to tighten government regulation to make credit cards, mortgages and other products easier to understand.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Clemmitt, Marcia. "Regulating Credit Cards." CQ Researcher 18.35 (2008): 817-840.

Mantel, Barbara. "Consumer Debt." CQ Researcher 17.9 (2007): 193-216. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. 17 Mar. 2007.

Books at CBC Library

Jasper, Margaret C. Consumer rights law. New York : Oceana, c2008.
Main Collection KF1610 .J37 2008

Jasper, Margaret C. Dealing with debt. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. : Oceana Publications, 2007.
Main Collection KF1501 .Z95J37 2007

Draut, Tamara. Strapped : why America's 20- and 30-somethings can't get ahead. New York : Anchor Books : 2007.
Main Collection HQ799.7 .D73 2007

Jasper, Margaret C. Identity theft and how to protect yourself. New York: Oceana Publications, c2006.
Main Collection HV6691 .J37 2006

Search for other titles on su:credit cards or su:consumer credit in the CBC Library Catalog

Articles:

Search EBSCOhost on:

• Credit Card Regulations - 240+ full text articles
  
• Credit Cards in general - over 3100 full text articles
  
• Payday Loans - 60+ full text articles
  
• Consumer* AND (credit OR debt) AND United States - 690+ full text articles

Foster, John Bellamy. "The Household Debt Bubble." Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine 58.1 (2006): 1-11. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 17 March 2007. Fox, Jonathan, Bartholomae, Suzanne, and Jinkook Lee. "Building the Case for Financial Education." Journal of Consumer Affairs 39.1 (2005): 195-214. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 17 March 2007. Reviews "programs aimed at improving Americans' financial literacy" and makes recommendations. Garrett, Thomas A. "The Rise in Personal Bankruptcies: The Eighth Federal Reserve District and Beyond." Review 89.1 (2007): 15-37. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 17 March 2007. Examines the factors that have "over the past 100 years" contributed "to the dramatic rise in personal bankruptcy filings seen across the country." Nichols, Nathaniel C. "When Harry Met Sally: Client Counseling under BAPCPA." Widener Law Journal 15.3 (2006): 641-666. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 17 March 2007. Credit cards, consumer spending, and "client counseling under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA)." Reference Articles: Olney, Martha L. "Credit Cards." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. Vol. 2. 3rd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. "Credit." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Eds. Jeffrey Lehman and Shirelle Phelps. Vol. 3. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005.