A family run zoo in Devon has become the unlikely inspirational source for a Hollywood movie.

Read more…

Richard Branson has been a capitalist icon since the former rock star founded his Virgin brand of companies. Virgin Atlantic airlines, its flagship airline offers service to dozens of destinations from its London hub. Bank of America and Virgin Atlantic offer customers an American Express rewards card that earns miles in Virgin’s Flying Club frequent flier program.

How This Card Works

After their first purchase, new applicants will receive 20,000 miles in Virgin’s Flying Club frequent flier program. Cardholders will then receive three miles per dollar spent on Virgin Atlantic purchases, with one and a half miles being earned for each dollar spent on all other purchases. Cardholders can earn unlimited miles each year and awards start at 20,000 miles including flights and cabin upgrades. The Standard interest rate for purchases and balance transfers is equal to the Prime Rate plus 11.99%. The

Read more…

Public Citizen, Ralph Naders consumer advocacy group, released a catchy new music video that, despite its charms, likely wont get Brian Moynihan tapping his foot. Called Breaking Up is Hard to Do, and based on the Neil Sedaka doo-wop classic by the same name, Public Citizens video calls for the massive bank to be broken up into smaller, more manageable parts. 

The video features animated versions of both Moynihan and former BofA executive Kenneth Lewis, as well as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, doing the sort of Scrooge McDuck things we imagine the obscenely wealthy to do: tossing money around, smoking cigars, and the like.

Read more…

Dear To Her Credit, Years ago I had a MasterCard with Chase Bank on which I ran up a bunch of debt. I couldn’t keep up with my payments and fell behind. I tried to settle with the bank for cents on the dollar, but Chase Bank refused to do so. I let the debt go — about $2,000. The “date of last activity” on my MasterCard account was in January 2002. I live in Mississippi and the statute of limitations on unsecured credit card debt at that time was three years.

The old debt was eventually charged off and naturally my credit has suffered. Now, 10 years later, I received a call last week from a number that I tracked back to a collections agency who left me a message wanting me to call them back immediately. Well, I didn’t, nor do I intend to do so.

What should I do if I receive a second call or something by mail from them? Ignore any future calls?

Read more…

Swedish authorities have said that a 44 year old man has survived in his car for two months after it was buried by snow. The man, Peter Skyllberg of Karlskrona, Sweden, survived by drinking melted snow but was not able to eat anything during his two month long nightmare.

Temperatures went lower than 22 degrees below zero outside, but the snow surrounding the car was able to act as a natural igloo, keeping the man warm enough to survive.

Mr Skyllberg was saved when a passerby from the nearby town of Umea came across his car and got help. While Skyllberg is alive, he was said to be in “really bad shape” when he was found.

‘Case of a lifetime’

The chief medical officer of Norland’s University Hospital in Umea, Dr. Ulf Segerberg, called the man the “case of a lifetime” and said that every year they receive many people who have frozen to death. He went on to

Read more…

The Prime Rate is the one term that is present in the user agreement of nearly every credit card offer on the market. When citing the interest rate, a bank will typically specify a variable rate equal to the Prime Rate plus a fixed percentage. As simple as that sounds, many credit card users don’t know what the Prime Rate is, where it comes from, and why it is important to them.

What Is The Prime Rate

The Prime Rate, otherwise known as the Prime Lending Rate, is an interest rate used as a reference by banks. The term traditionally referred to the interest rate given to their best customers. The Prime Rate can vary from country to country, but in the United States, it is three percentage points above the Federal Funds rate, the rate at which banks will loan each other money overnight. T

Read more…