Discover Financial Services

If you're burdened by credit card debt, lenders want to help you -- by adding more plastic to your arsenal in the form of a balance transfer card, which offers generous up-front terms for moving your debt. And some of those offers are much more generous than others.

Discover Financial Services is managing to get its namesake card accepted at more merchants -- and investors should give this stock some attention.

Amazon's holidays are off to a great start, but with its stock trading north of 100 times earnings, AMZN shares could be the one thing you don't want to buy from the online retailer. Instead, consider these companies that are riding on the coattails of the online shopping boom.

It appears that complaints from consumers and regulators about the lack of credit card transparency at banks have not fallen on deaf ears. According to CardHub.com's 2011 Credit Card Application Study, the 10 biggest issuers of plastic have significantly improved transparency this year.

FedEx, the world's leading package-delivery service and an ostensible bellwether of the U.S. economy, will report its latest earnings this week. Also, with the holiday shopping season well underway, Best Buy and Discover Financial Services are also reporting quarterly results.

U.S. credit card delinquencies fell in October to the lowest levels of the year as more people were able to restart payments on their consumer debt, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing company filings.

Five of the six largest U.S. issuers of credit cards reported a drop last month in then percentage of credit-card balances deemed uncollectable. The drop suggests consumers may be making headway in their efforts to pay off their debts.

Discover Financial Services posted a fiscal third-quarter profit that fell less than analysts had expected. Sales from its eponymous credit card grew 5% from a year earlier as falling interest rates spurred more usage and as more merchants started accepting the card.

Consumers in the U.S. are keeping their credit cards in their wallets in favor of using debit cards to avoid building up more debt, according to a new report by Javelin Strategy & Research. Key findings of the report:

Discover reported a strong 14% rise in second-quarter net income to $258 million, thanks to better card sales and a drop in charge-offs and delinquencies.