Curtis Arnold

Curtis Arnold is a nationally recognized consumer educator and advocate. Curtis was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon and was raised in DeValls Bluff, Arkansas. He currently resides in Little Rock, Arkansas with his wife and six children.

Biography

In 1998 Arnold founded the consumer financial site CardRatings.com and, in so doing, pioneered the concept of rating credit cards. CardRatings.com was acquired in 2008 by Quinstreet, Inc. (QNST), a Silicon Valley based Internet marketing firm. In 2008, Arnold published How You Can Profit from Credit Cards: Using Credit to Improve Your Financial Life and Bottom Line with FT Press. Arnold also co-authored a book on person-to-person lending entitled The Complete Idiot's Guide to Person to Person Lending (Alpha Books/Pengiun Group USA, April 2009), part of the The Complete Idiot's Guide to... series of reference books. Finally, Arnold is a contributor to The Ultimiate Allowance (InnerWealth Publishing, 2008).

Arnold is often interviewed and quoted nationally regarding consumer credit issues and currently serves as the Editor in Chief and primary spokesperson for CardRatings.com.

Arnold graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in 1992 after being awarded one of Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's Governor Scholarships. He pursued graduate studies in business at the University of Texas at Dallas.^[1]

Arkansas Business, a weekly journal, selected Arnold as a "Top 40 under 40" business leader in 2005 and named him one of 25 people that will shape Arkansas over the coming decades in 2009. According to Arkansas Business, this award recognizes "intriguing business and political leaders who bear watching."^[2]

In 2006, Arnold spoke as a panelist at a National Council of La Raza conference. In 2007 he spoke at the "The 2007 Responsible Credit Roundtable". The latter originally founded in 2002 as the non-profit "Responsible Credit Partnership" with support from The Saint Paul Foundation. The roundtable organization describes their goal as providing a forum for credit card industry and non-profit stakeholders to devise, test and implement ways to improve communication and account practices to build value for both companies and customers. Arnold has a particular passion for educating students about credit. He speaks often on college campuses about credit issues.

Service

Arnold contributes to a number of projects and organizations, including:

• Executive Director and Founder of the Bill and Sharon Arnold Family Foundation
• Board of Trustees for Ouachita Baptist University.
• Executive Director of New Creation Dance Company
• Co-chair of the Arkansas chapter of the Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Literacy since 2002, which seeks to educate students about personal finance issues
• Former advisory board member for "The Center for Consumer Financial Services" at Rochester Institute of Technology, which provides research related to student credit issues
• Board member of the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation
• Board member of Arkansas Baptist School System
• Board member of Dr. Robert Manning's "Debtor Wise Foundation"
• Program Committee member for "The HistoryMakers"- National PBS show
• Board member of ECB Capital LLC
• Board member of Compass (AR, TX, LA, MS, TN)- Personal Finance Ministry
• Serves on Strategic Planning Committee of the Little Rock Zoo
• Former board member of the Arkansas Festival Ballet

Membership

Arnold is or has been a member of the following organizations:

• "Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending", a coalition of Arkansans with the stated goal of combating abusive payday lending practices
• Gravity Ventures Arkansas, a member-managed angel capital fund
• Grand Prairie Civil War Roundtable
• "Society of American Business Editors and Writers, Inc. (SABEW)", a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote business journalism through education
• Toastmasters International where Arnold obtained Competent Toastmaster Status
• Little Rock Media Fellowship

Bibliography and Interviews

• How You Can Profit from Credit Cards: Using Credit to Improve Your Financial Life and Bottom Line (FT Press, 2008) June, 2008. ISBN 0-13235-377-6
• Michele Norris interviews Arnold for "All Things Considered" on National Public Radio. Titled Tips to Navigate the Maze of American Credit Cards
• Elaine Korry quotes Arnold for "Morning Edition" on National Public Radio. Titled Credit Card Customers Not Benefiting from Rate Cuts
• Tamara Keith interviews Arnold for on National Public Radio. Titled Some Consumers See Credit Cards Canceled
• Jean Chatzky interviews Arnold live on Oprah & Friends"- XM Radio Show. Titled How You Can Profit from Credit Cards

References

1. ^ Curtis Arnold autobiography on CardRatings web site
2. ^ Arnold listed in Arkansas Business Top 40 under 40 for 2005

External links

• Web site for CardRatings.com
• List of Arnold quotations at Thinkexist
• Web site for "The Bill and Sharon Arnold Family Foundation"

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