Word: rates
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...total, this year's senior gift fund totals $68,036--thousands more than 1996's record-breaking $53,000 figure and more than double last year's $23,573. Last year's participation rate was just over...
...first trimester blood test and ultrasound nor a second trimester blood test offers a definitive answer, a team of British researchers found that by correlating the results with their program they were able to identify 85 percent of Down's syndrome cases with only a 1 percent false positive rate. Amniocentesis provides a definitive answer, but the procedure involves withdrawing fluid from the fetal sac using a needle, which triggers miscarriages in 1 percent of such procedures...
...customers with ATM and service fees, giants like Citigroup, MBNA, Bank of America and American Express are raising fees, to $20 or $30, for being late or over limit. They're also shortening and rigidly enforcing grace periods on bill payments, upping foreign-transaction fees and imposing penalty interest rates of 20% or more. Some bewildered customers are being punished for not charging enough (inactivity fees). And even if you pay your MasterCard, say, but fall behind on your Discover charge, the MasterCard issuer might raise your interest rate, because you're deemed a greater credit risk...
...industry's view, the reliance on fees amounts to a fair deal in which the best customers pay the least--and best doesn't necessarily mean those who have no balance. Instead of charging everyone a uniformly high rate, as in the past, the issuers offer lower rates and punish the offenders. "This is the best time to be a credit-card consumer," argues George McCane, senior vice president of corporate affairs at First USA. "Rates are as low as they've ever been [national average: 15.8%], and for those who meet the regulations of the agreement, they stay...
...learn that as a reward for mailing in his credit-card payment on time, he would have less time each month to pay. Ron Stadelman has another tale of woe. Last summer the Cary, Ill., real estate agent transferred his balance to a Household Visa card with a 10.4% rate. But within a few months, his account, among others, was purchased by Fleet Bank, which gradually hiked the rate to 26.9% and said Stadelman couldn't close the account until he paid off his entire $8,500 balance. "It's highway robbery," fumes Stadelman. "Credit-card companies used to honor...