Some Advanta cardholders are receiving checks from the company's $35 million settlement with the FDIC over steep rate hikes. A reader Deborah writes in a comment:

My interest rate was raised to 34.99% almost a year ago. I had been at around 16% or 17%. Today I got a letter from John F. Moore, President, Advanta Bank Corp., with a check in the amount of $36.95 attached. This is apparently the result of the settlement Advanta reached with the FDIC regarding Advanta's "Repricing Event," which they state occurred between 6/1/07 and 12/31/08. The check is valid for only 120 days, and it states very clearly that by accepting and cashing the check, the payee is agreeing to release Advanta and its parent and subsidiaries from any further action. I still have an outstanding balance with them, on which I'm paying this egregious rate, and would like to know what recourse I might have. I don't intend to cash the check, as $36.95 doesn't come close to two months' interest. But I can't sit still and watch them get away with this. Any suggestions?

When the settlement was announced in July I had no luck tracking down how many cardholders might be eligible. (I just put queries into the FDIC and Advanta on this, and will update when I hear.) Advanta has about 1 million account holders, and it focused exclusively on small businesses.

The restitution sounds negligible for a lot of customers who are still paying 30%+ interest on outstanding balances. Per a reader Todd:

I also received my check today and am wondering whether it's a good idea to cash it or wait to see if there is further action I can take. I was given an introductory offer of 0.00% and then 7.99% thereafter. However, it was increased to my present rate of 24.99% for no apparent reason. It would have increased to 34.99% if I hadn't opted out and cancelled the account. Unfortunately, I still have a rather large balance. I called to request a rate decrease and was sent to an apparent call center in India. I was told the computers were down and I would receive a call back which never happened. Is there a class action suit or any other legal means to recoup the outrageous interest rates or at least decrease them?

I haven't found any firm information about a class action, although months ago it sounded like someone was exploring the idea. If anyone knows more about this and wants to share the info, either in comments or privately, please go ahead. And if you got a restitution offer, let us know how much and what you plan to do.

The settlement is just a piece of Advanta's troubles. The company cut off all new lending this spring, and it's in danger of being de-listed from the NASDAQ because its shares are trading in penny-stock territory.

I'll update when I hear more. In the meantime, please keep the comments on this one coming.

What makes visionary entrepreneurs such as Apple's Steve Jobs, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Ebay's Pierre Omidyar and Meg Whitman, and P&G's A.G. Lafley tick? In a question-and-answer session with HBR contributing editor Bronwyn Fryer, Professors Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of Insead explain how the "Innovators' DNA" works.

Fryer: You conducted a six-year study surveying 3,000 creative executives and conducting an additional 500 individual interviews. During this study you found five "discovery skills" that distinguish them. What are these skills?

Dyer: The first skill is what we call "associating." It's a cognitive skill that allows creative people to make connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas. The second skill is questioning - an ability to ask "what if", "why", and "why not" questions that challenge the status quo and open up the bigger picture. The third is the ability to closely observe details, particularly the details of people's behavior. Another skill is the ability to experiment - the people we studied are always trying on new experiences and exploring new worlds. And finally, they are really good at networking with smart people who have little in common with them, but from whom they can learn.

Fryer: Which of these skills do you think is the most important?

Jeff: We've found that questioning turbo-charges observing, experimenting, and networking, but questioning on its own doesn't have a direct effect without the others. Overall, associating is the key skill because new ideas aren't created without connecting problems or ideas in ways that they haven't been connected before. The other behaviors are inputs that trigger associating--so they are a means of getting to a creative end.

Gregersen: You might summarize all of the skills we've noted in one word: "inquisitiveness." I spent 20 years studying great global leaders, and that was the big common denominator. It's the same kind of inquisitiveness you see in small children.

Fryer: How else do you think the innovative entrepreneurs you studied differ from average executives?

Dyer: We asked all the executives in our study to tell us about how they came up with a strategic or innovative idea. That one was easy for the creative executives, but surprisingly difficult for the more traditional ones. Interestingly, all the innovative entrepreneurs also talked about being triggered, or having what you might call "eureka" moments. In describing how they came up with a product or business idea, they would use phrases like "I saw someone doing this, or I overheard someone say that, and that's when it hit me."

Fryer: But since most executives are very smart, why do you think they can't, or don't, think inquisitively?
Dyer: We think there are far more discovery driven people in companies than anyone realizes. We've found that 15% of executives are deeply innovative, meaning they've invented a new product or started an innovative venture. But the problem is that even the most creative people are often careful about asking questions for fear of looking stupid, or because they know the organization won't value it.

Gregersen: If you look at 4 year olds, they are constantly asking questions and wondering how things work. But by the time they are 6 ½ years old they stop asking questions because they quickly learn that teachers value the right answers more than provocative questions. High school students rarely show inquisitiveness. And by the time they're grown up and are in corporate settings, they have already had the curiosity drummed out of them. 80% of executives spend less than 20% of their time on discovering new ideas. Unless, of course, they work for a company like Apple or Google.

We also believe that the most innovative entrepreneurs were very lucky to have been raised in an atmosphere where inquisitiveness was encouraged. We were stuck by the stories they told about being sustained by people who cared about experimentation and exploration. Sometimes these people were relatives, but sometimes they were neighbors, teachers or other influential adults. A number of the innovative entrepreneurs also went to Montessori schools, where they learned to follow their curiosity. To paraphrase the famous Apple ad campaign, innovators not only learned early on to think different, they act different (and even talk different).

Professors Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University, Hal Gregersen of Insead, and Clay Christensen of HBS further explore this topic in an article which will appear in the December issue of Harvard Business Review.