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The poll from the AARP’s LifeTurner program, which interviewed about 1,000 people aged 18 to 34, showed that 57 percent of respondents felt as though their finances were the top concern in their lives. Furthermore, 66 percent of those polled rated their financial situation as fair to poor.

Debt, including credit card debt, is also a concern for the young people polled. Almost 80 percent of the survey’s respondents said they had some form of debt. Credit card debt was the most common form, coming in at 36 percent.

As the economy continues to put people in a difficult spot regarding debt management, young people who are having a harder time than the general population when it comes to finding a job. According to the BusinessWeek, which cited statistics from the government, the unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 is 18.2 percent, which is up from 13 percent last year.

In the latest report from the National Association of Business Economists, only 12 percent of companies are actually adding jobs at this time. However, this is still an improvement over the survey’s all-time low of 6 percent this summer.

The survey also found that the number of companies cutting jobs has fallen somewhat, with 31 percent now reporting that they are doing so. This is an improvement from the 36 percent of jobs that were cutting jobs in the previous report. The NABE also noted that for the first time since the recession began, more companies report that they are planning to add new jobs in the next six months as opposed to cutting them.

“Job losses have been moderating with an improved outlook for hiring over the next six months,” an Associated Press report quoted William Strauss of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago as saying.

Another good sign is that companies have indicated a rise in capital spending over the past quarter, the first time since October 2008.

Economists have widely predicted that the expected recovery will be a largely jobless one, for different reasons.

With this in mind, members of Congress are currently working to extend unemployment benefits for the millions of workers who are on the verge of seeing them run out in the coming weeks. An extension has been blocked so far by partisan disputes, although a report on the New York Times website notes that a new effort is underway that could see benefits extended even more for residents of states that have higher unemployment levels.

This week, Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, announced that his new legislation would reign in fees that can approach $30 or more for accounts that overdraft by even a few cents.

“Banks should not be trying to bolster their profits at the expense of their customers,” said Dodd, who added that his bill would shine “more light on these practices” while giving consumers greater control over their financial decisions.

As it stands right now, consumers who overdraft may not always be aware that they have done so, and lenders will often allow a transaction to clear anyhow for a fee. However, that fee often applies to each transaction that takes place when an account is overdrafted, which can cost consumers well over $100 by the time they check their balances. Some banks have also been criticized for manipulating the order in which transactions are processed to make overdraft activity more likely.

Critics of this and similar reform bills maintain that it’s the responsibility of consumers to know at all times how much money they have in their accounts, and that banks are providing them with a service by allowing them to use their cards in such situations.

Meanwhile, some supporters of regulating debit card fees were disappointed that the issue was not addressed in the broad credit card reform bill that Congress passed earlier this year.

Specifically, the new Dodd legislation would require lenders to have customer approval before they are enrolled in an overdraft protection program. The customers would have to be notified before a fee was assessed, which would then give them the opportunity to opt out of a transaction. Lenders would also be limited in how many fees they could charge in a given time period and the fees would have to be proportional to the cost of the overdraft.

By spending less on fees and having more personal financial flexibility, some consumers may find such proposals useful in their overall debt management efforts.

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That’s because more than 1 million bankruptcies were filed in the first nine months of this year, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, which reported a total of 1,046,499 such filings during that time period this year.

That was said to be the highest level since 2005, when Congress passed a bankruptcy reform law that made it harder for many people to file. Bankruptcy stays on one’s credit score for 10 years.

Bankruptcy is likely to become an even more serious problem in the future, with former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan making news over the weekend with his appearance on ABC’s This Week, where he predicted that unemployment rate would end up above 10 percent.

Greenspan also indicated that an eventual upswing in jobs is likely, although the overall conditions currently point to what will be a slow economic recovery.

A 10 percent unemployment rate has long been predicted by various economists as the recession drags on, although last week’s figures showed only a fractional increase, from 9.7 to 9.8 percent for the month of September.

An increased unemployment rate is also bad news for credit card companies because it means that over time they may find themselves forced to write off more accounts at a time when pending government reforms will already take a bite out of the ways they currently boost their profits, such as through punitive interest rates and late fees.

Elsewhere, a new Associated Press analysis of 3,100 U.S. counties provides further reason to expect a slow and difficult recovery. According to that report, 39 percent of the nation’s counties show signs of being economically distressed, down from 41 percent in both June and July.

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Now, Senator Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Banking Committee, is introducing new legislation that will follow up on these provisions by targeting the high overdraft fees that many financial institutions charge their customers.

“Excessive, automatic overdraft fees are forcing many American families deeper into debt at a time when they are already struggling to make ends meet,” said Dodd as he announced his new legislation.

Under the legislation, financial institutions would have to create an opt-in program, where consumers would be able to have their cards simply declined for insufficient funds rather than paying a fee that can in some cases can run well over $30 even if an account is over-drafted by so much as a dollar.

Dodd had previously been urging the Federal Reserve to enact such a provision.

Financial institutions maintain that they are merely providing consumers with flexibility to make purchases and avoid the embarrassment of having their card declined at an inopportune time. The institutions also point out that it is the responsibility of their customers to stay aware of what their balances are.

However, some critics have argued that lenders take steps to maximize their profits from overdrafts with practices like processing large purchases before smaller ones.

According to the Center for Responsible Lending, financial institutions collect about $17.5 billion per year in these fees. The organization maintains that many of these overdraft fees can be prevented if consumers are warned or have the transactions denied, and has reported that the average overdraft is less than half the amount of the average $34 overdraft fee.

(News4Press.com) Chicago, Illinois September 15, 2009 — Debt Settlement – the meaning of this program can be sort of mysterious to many. But what the program is and how it works is really a thing of beauty. But the question has be asked – why is there such an interest these days in debt relief? How did we arrive at this point?

As has been said in the past quite rightly – it’s the economy. We live in a global marketplace now. There is simply no denying this fact. And when one local, regional, or national economy falters it can have a domino effect on other economies of the world. And this is what has taken place.

The interest in debt settlement today stems from the fact that as consumer spending slowed, employers were quick slash payrolls. As jobs were lost, consumer spending slowed even more dramatically. Couple this fact with homes whose values have plummeted during this same time period, and credit card companies who have been raising rates and fees – and you have the perfect recipe for financial stress and duress. And this is what has occurred.

Debt settlement is of such great interest today because consumers are being hammered on many fronts today. They’ve heard of bankruptcy, but have doubts and questions about whether it really is the right thing to do – or does it do more harm than good (the latter is actually and factually the case).

Bankruptcy has many negative consequences, including: the virtual destruction/implosion (any harsh metaphor could be used here, as the devastation to the filer’s credit score cannot be emphasized enough), the inability to obtain future credit for a long period of time, the inability to rent an apartment in one’s own name, the very real possibility of being passed over for a job, as more employers are doing credit checks as part of their routine screening process for job applicants, and being required to pay hefty deposits for new home utility service in the future.

Debt settlement on the other hand is able to achieve enormous amounts of debt reduction and debt elimination without all the harsh consequences of bankruptcy. Debt settlement can in fact typically achieve a 50% – 75% debt reduction instantly, right off the bat. Think about that for a moment – having your credit card debt ELIMINATED by up to 75%! This is the beauty of debt settlement.

SYD Financial offers consumers a free debt evaluation which they can take advantage of at their website as listed below.

SYD Financial’s debt management professionals educate consumers on all the options available to them to get out of debt. SYD Financial helps consumers make the most informed decision possible so that they may get their financial lives back on track.

The Associated Press reports that some Medicare patients in Indiana will receive a debit card which will accrue money when they go to their medical provider for regular screenings and checkups.

By visiting their primary physician in the first 90 days of the program, participants will receive $15 on the card with another $20 added if they go for an annual checkup at some point. The plan is also aimed at having new mothers bring their children to get a checkup. Bringing a newborn for a checkup can earn $10.

Pat Rooney, president and CEO of Managed Health Services, the group behind the program, says the idea is get people to practice preventative medicine to eliminate costly procedures later on.

“What we’re trying to do is promote the healthy behavior and make sure the people are getting the right things that they need,” he told the AP.

As the costs for medical procedures continues to climb, many Americans are being forced to make payments on their credit cards. Recent research from Kalorama Information found that an increasing number of people were adding to their credit card debt by paying medical expenses with credit cards.

A separate report from McKinsey Consulting estimated that by 2015, some $150 billion worth of medical expenses will be charged to credit cards.

Finally, a study from Demos earlier this year found that payment of out-of-pocket medical expenses made up an average of $2,194 in credit card debt.