These rising interest rates are bad news for those of us hacking away at our credit card debt. A couple of years ago I thought I was safe because my cards had so-called “fixed interest” rates, not variable prime-plus rates most cards are infamous for. Surprise, surprise, when the rates really started to take off my credit cards sent me nice little notes with how much my “fixed” rate was going up. One went from a decent 9.89% to 15.90% and the other from 14.99% to 17.99%! Good Lord. Eventually I’ll be in the position to negotiate these down, but with my current balances they just laugh at me — they know I’m not getting any other offers. Debtors beware the rising rate! Check out the Debt Zapper Calculator at Credit Card Nation to compare what different rates will cost you, or see how fast you can pay down your debt.

The IRS may be good for something. BusinessWeek reported yesterday that the IRS has revoked the tax-exempt status of 41 “nonprofit” credit counseling agencies. [...]

Millions of young workers graduate in debt and wonder: When I become eligible for a 401(k) or another tax-deferred retirement plan, should I contribute to the plan even if I could use those funds to pay down debt? [...]

An artlice from Sunday’s Boston Globe (story) got me thinking about the principle of consumption smoothing for the first time since I took Econ 101 about seven years ago. If I remember correctly, it basically states that after reaching a certain age or point in life, our the things we need to buy begin to taper off until they reach a constant annual level. [...]