In an article titled "Suze Orman Is Having a Moment", Susan Dominus writes for Sunday's New York Times Magazine about the recent surge in interest in Orman's advice for consumers about credit card debt, etc. - and, in particular, consumer interest in her “Can I Afford It?” segment on CNBC.

Dominus notes: "Orman has strong opinions in general."

In an article titled "Weighing the Options with Credit Card Debt", Tara Siegel Bernard writes for Saturday's New York Times about the options available to consumers to deal with credit card debt.

The list of options she recommends isn't long:

1. Call your card issuer - and do it yourself. Issuers have alternative repayment plans available - but they may also reduce current credit limits to the amount of debt currently outstanding.
2. Find and work with a credit card debt counselor. A legitimate counselor should be able to negotiate a credit card debt management plan with the credit card issuer. Focus on finding a legitimate one.
3. Work with a debt settlement company - but be very, very careful.
4. Bankruptcy.

That's it. Have other suggestions - add your comments!

APACS has published its latest quarterly statistical release - reporting that in the first quarter were 1.9 billion plastic card purchases made in the UK totalling £94.2 billion compared to 1.8 billion purchases totalling £91.2 billion in the first quarter of 2008. The number of purchases was 4.0% higher than in 2008 Q1, and spending was 1.7% higher. Debit card usage continued to outpace credit cards - with debit cards accounting for 74.5% of all plastic card purchases in 2009 Q1 compared with 73.3% in 2008 Q1.

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has announced that its estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2009, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, was $31.7 billion, an increase of 0.7 percent (±1.1%)* from the fourth quarter of 2008.

The first quarter 2009 e commerce estimate decreased 5.4 percent (±2.5%) from the first quarter of 2008 while total retail sales decreased 10.2 percent (±0.4%) in the same period. E-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2009 accounted for 3.5 percent of total sales.

Total retail sales for the first quarter of 2009 were estimated at $909.6 billion, a decrease of 1.8 percent (±0.4%) from the fourth quarter of 2008.

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First Data Corp. has reported financial results for the first quarter 2009. Revenues were $2.1 billion, down 2% year over year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $491 million, down 15%.

FDC's operating profit for the quarter was $30.4 million, down 85% year over year. After paying interest expense on its debt of $448 million, the company reported a net loss of $231 million for the quarter.

"Our revenue base held steady in the quarter as we added new merchant and bank customers," said Michael Capellas, chairman and CEO of First Data. "We will continue to invest in new product development to fuel long-term growth while driving cost efficiencies to sustain profitability."

A webcast and presentation are available online. In its presentation, First Data noted that the volume of merchant transactions it handled in the first quarter fell 14% compared to 1Q2008.

Last night on Twitter, Senator Chris Dodd tweeted:

We are on the verge of a historic victory for American families that have suffered for far too long at the hands of credit card companies. The Senate will vote on my credit card bill on Tuesday, and I am committed to working to ensure that it passes with overwhelming support. It's time to put an end to the abusive credit card practices that drive millions of American families further into debt."

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• TIME: Congress' Credit Card Bill: Playing Fair, Not Foul
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