-
Select the Card for You
Select by Type of Card:- Gas Rebate Credit Cards
- Airline Credit Cards
- Balance Transfer Cards
- Business Credit Cards
- Cash Back Credit Cards
- Instant Approval Cards
- Low Interest Credit Cards
- Prepaid & Debit Cards
- Reward Credit Cards
- Student Credit Cards
- Select by Credit History
- Select by Bank
- Friends
- The Consumerist
- Credit Card Watch
-
Recent Reviews
- If you need credit, and fast!
- New Credit Cards rules coming
- Friendly tools to help your New Year’s money resolutions
- Swapping Gift Cards: it’s now possible to get what you really want!
- Reining in Holiday Spending, without breaking the bank
- Credit Room: addressing personal finance issues for women
- Use Less Miles And Fly More Often.
- Election 2008: the day after
- Congratulations Mr. Barack Obama
- Today November 4, 2008: you can make a difference
Top Rated Premium Offers
Discover More Card 
Friendly tools to help your New Year’s money resolutions
It’s that time of the year, celebrating the Holidays, preparing to party on New Year’s Eve, and pondering about our resolutions.
Is better managing your money in 2009 one of your resolutions? There are a handful of friendly web 2.0 tools that can make your life easier and help you manage your finances.
MANAGING your accounts: both Mint.com and Wesabe are web-based services that will perform the functions that Microsoft Money or Quicken perform on your PC; with the added benefits that Mint and Wesabe will gather the information from your various checking, savings and credit cards accounts without you tediously entering every transactions.
You can have snapshots of your situation, reminders of payments due, budget reports, and suggestions on how to save money.
If you have significant INVESTMENT accounts, Cake Financial can give you a consolidated view of all of your investment accounts, no matter which investment company holds them; you can then run performance reports, compare your returns with other investors (still maintaining anonymity) so that you can get suggestions from real life investors like you.
Everyone should check their credit report, remember that the only site authorized to do so for free is: www.AnnualCreditReport.com. Now there’s also Credit Karma , a site that lets you access your credit scores for free. From Credit Karma’s own web site: “Credit Karma believes consumers have a right to know this information with no charge or without the bait and switch of 30 days free followed by enrollment products with confusing opt outs. We subsidize our cost of pulling the credit scores by selling advertising on the site.” and “Our free credit scores are sponsored by partners who share our vision that consumers should have free and regular access to their score.”
These tools are both friendly and make your life easier, and if simplifying your life and spend more time with your friends and family, this is the way to go.
Enjoy!
___________
Sponsored by:
|
|
Photo Credits: Paul Worthington
What you should know about credit cards for students
Most credit card issuers have special credit cards for Students. Usually these credit cards carry a higher interest rate because of the higher risk represented by students with little or no credit history and little or no income. At the same time, if used properly, student credit cards provide the best chance for young Americans to start a credit history that will ultimately give them a good credit rating.
From a student’s perspective, building a good credit rating is essential upon graduation to secure a car loan to commute to work, and to obtain a mortgage to buy a condo or a house instead of wasting money in rent. Moreover, more and more employers are using credit score in their hiring process, and a good credit score will add an advantage against other candidates for the most prestigious positions. And last but not least, insurance companies are starting to use credit scores as a way to assess risk and therefore rate, meaning that all other things being equal, individuals with a better credit score will pay lower premiums than individuals with lower credit score.
Of course a student credit card doesn’t come with all the perks as a regular credit cards. Usually there are restrictions on credit limit, no-fee student credit cards are hard to come by, and there are few rewards offered. Think of this as the “starter credit card”, you can use it to build credit and to make life on campus easier. Use it to charge necessities like your books and school supplies and then pay off the balance in full at the end of the month. Parents also can benefit from their students carrying a credit card, so that instead of sending money and not having a good account of where the money was spent, they can better monitor expenses by checking the credit card bill, and then pay it on a monthly basis. And in case of emergencies, like an unforeseen trip back home, when time is of the essence, the student can easily manage without worrying too much about having the parents send money, check clearing, or wiring fees.
It’s a very good idea for parents and student to discuss and plan the use of a credit card as a way to ease college life, to better manage the money aspect of education, and to prepare and educate the student to life after college.
___________
Sponsored by:
|
|
Photo Credits: Patrick Haney (cc)
FICO score and Credit Cards
FICO score: art, science or alchemy? Most people believe it’s more alchemy than anything else, but in reality the algorithm used to calculate individual’s FICO score is secret and proprietary and it is often adjusted and refined, therefore the mystique surrounding it.
However the overall principle is still the same, maintain a good rating, or improve a bad one, and the rules of engagement in this game are:
- Always pay your bills on time, and since it is such an important factor, don’t wait until the very last moment to send the payment, and account for eventual mail or other delays. Unlike your taxes, the payment date is not the day by when you have to put the payment in the mail. A good idea is to set up an automatic payment with your credit card company, so that you are not responsible for any eventual delays, since they are the ones managing the entire process. And if you set up to have the minimum payment withdrawn from your bank account automatically, you can make additional payments by sending a check in the mail, online banking, or pay by phone.
- How much credit you are tapping. This is a ratio of the total amount of the balance outstanding and the total amount of available credit, the lower this ratio, the better. Try not to tap more than 50% of your available balance, better if you can stay in the 25% range, or less. If you are trying to improve your FICO asking your existing credit card company to increase your credit limit it’s a good idea, and better than opening a new account since the length of time that you have had the account matters as well.
- Length of credit history: as we were saying before, the older a credit relationship with an institution, the better. So if you are carrying a balance on one card and you are trying to play the game of moving the balance from one card to another, it pays not to close the old accounts, moreover when the introductory rate on the new card is about to expire, chances are your old card will gladly take you back and offer you a promotional rate to transfer the balance back to them.
- New accounts. This is actually an extension of #3 above, since once you acquire new additional credit, other institutions will be wary about extending additional credit to you.
- Quality of credit: depending on what types of credit accounts you have, lenders will be more or less willing to extend you additional credit. A classic example is that when people buy their first house and become homeowners and have their first mortgage, they are inundated with both credit cards offers and store cards offers, since traditionally homeowners are considered to have lower credit risk.
This are general guidelines, at the end of the day patience and diligence always prevails in maintaining good credit and improving not so good credit.
___________
Sponsored by:
|
|
Photo Credits: http2007 (cc)
A Beginner’s Guide to Credit Cards. Part I: An inside look into Interest Rates
Credit Cards: love them, hate them; when used properly they are wonderful tools for Personal Finance, but just like any other tools when misused and abused, credit cards can come back and bite you where it hurts the most: in your wallet.
Proper use of credit cards starts with understanding how they work, inside and out. Today we’ll start taking a look at how interest rates work, from the inside out.
- Interest rate is nothing else than the price of money. Money is bought and sold every day, and it’s paid for with interest. When you get a loan you are buying money, and the price is the interest on the loan. When you make a deposit into your savings account, you are selling money to the bank (the bank is buying money from you) and the price is the interest rate that the bank gives you on your deposit.
I know what you are thinking: why is it that I have to pay 18% interest on my credit card, when the bank gives me 3% on my 12-month CD? Good question. It’s called Profit, and fuel the American Way: you buy low, you sell high. Of course it’s more complex than that, the bank has associated expenses with marketing their products and services, the bank pays employees, rent on their facilities, has to write off some loans here and there while they guarantee that when you want money from your account with them it will be there. (It is more complex than that, but let’s keep it simple and go over this in principle). - Buying and selling money: credit card companies, like all other companies that lend money, don’t have huge vaults full of money waiting for people to charge something on their credit cards, they “borrow” money wholesale, and they resell that money to you at retail. In principle it’s no different than selling fruits and vegetables: buy wholesale in bulk at low prices, divide up and sell retail in small quantities at a higher price. But there are a couple of twists: Duration and Risk.
Duration: the longer the duration of the loan, the higher the interest rate. Look at rates for CD (Certificates of Deposit) where the bank borrows money from you, the shorter the duration of the CD the lower the interest rate. Longer terms demand higher rates. Again, there are exceptions to the rules; these exceptions are determined by what the forecast of the expected interest rate in the future; let’s stick to a normal scenario in order to understand the principle.
Risk: No matter what anyone tells you, credit cards companies and other lender tell you, they are in the game for making money, not to do you a favor. Treasuries, the bonds issued by the U.S. Government are by definition the risk-free securities because they are backed by the government of the United States (insert your own joke here for your own amusement: ____________ ). These securities too have a duration factor, longer term Treasuries carry a higher yield.
The investors behind credit cards or any other lenders, look at the yield of these securities (the Treasuries) and then add what they deem is a reasonable factor (reasonable in their eyes, for the benefit of their wallets) for the higher risk that they undertake. That’s why generally speaking conventional mortgages have low interest rate (secured by the real estate asset) while unsecured loan like a credit card have higher interest rates. - 1+2=3. So in principle, when you are facing a loan, any loan, the interest rate is the result of an mathematical addition:
interest free rate + compensation for duration of the loan + compensation for risk = your interest rate
That’s why different FICO score leads to different interest rates, and that’s why it is a common practice from credit card companies that if you are late on your payment with anyone, not only with them, they assume their risk is now higher and they increase your interest rate.
Stay tuned for Part II of A Beginner’s Guide to Credit Cards, coming soon to your RSS feed or your email.
___________
Sponsored by:
|
|
Photo Credits: Marc Smith (cc)
Build or rebuild a solid credit history
For many individuals with damaged or bad credit, there can be few options when it comes to the world of credit cards. Even the cards that are marketed towards individuals that fit the damaged credit profile are often not offered in scenarios where the credit scores or history are too low. A good option is a secured credit card like the Bank of America Secured Visa Credit Card.
This card helps you establish a credit history and demonstrate a positive repayment history for people with bad credit. You can deposit between $300.00 to $10,000.00 into a Bank of America security deposit account. Then your credit line will directly reflect the amount of your deposit. You can make purchases with your card up to the amount you have in your account. As long as you make the minimum payment before the due date each you credit should increase. Keep in mind however that your security deposit doesn’t cover the minimum payments each month; those have to be made. Then based on your credit and payment history with the secured card, you many qualify for an unsecured credit card with Bank of America at a later date.
There is a small annual fee of $29.00 and a $4 fee for balance transfers but that is a small price to pay for repairing your credit. Additionally the card comes with all the benefits and protection of an unsecured Bank of America credit card. Its nice to know that there are options out there even for those of us with bad credit.
|| CLICK HERE TO APPLY ||
|
|
___________
By Steve Borrelli from Sterling Home Mortgage
Photo credits: dotbenjamin (cc)
How To Improve Your Credit Score
As most people know by now, the ability to qualify for a credit card is almost solely dependent on your Credit Score. Many people suffer from a low credit score but simply don’t understand how to improve it. There truly are quite a few ways that this can be accomplished, but we are going to focus in on just 5 on them. If you can put your mind to working on these 5 things, your credit score will reflect it and you will not only qualify for a credit card but a quality credit card, one that will provide benefits you will enjoy. The 5 points are as follows:
- If you fall behind in your payments due to illness, unemployment or family issues TALK TO YOUR CREDITORS. Arrange a payment schedule with them. Talking to them is a lot better than having them call you with threats of foreclosure or bailiffs’ seizures.
- To minimize the number of inquiries on your credit report don’t apply for multiple credit cards. If your credit rating is important to you, then you also need to consider that when you shop from lender to lender, there is an accumulation of inquires on your credit bureau report, affecting your credit rating and ultimately the rate and terms of your mortgage. This isn’t the case with a mortgage broker who only does one inquiry yet can still get many competing lenders to quote on your business.
- Pay bills on time, since any payments more than 30 days late will affect the credit score. Note that a bill issued March 15 with a due date of March 31 does not become 30 days late until April 30, but if you have the means, pay earlier rather than later. A single late payment may result in a drop of over 20 points.
- Correct any incorrect information on your report. Credit reporting agencies are notorious for the errors they have on credit reports. If you find an error call the credit reporting agency and tell them about it. If it is the bank or store’s fault get them to fix it.
- Keep your credit balances as low as possible. You can also ask the lender to increase your credit limit which can increase your credit score.
We know and understand that it might not be easy, but get the support of your family and friends and stick to a disciplined method, improving your Credit Score will make your life a lot easier down the road.
___________
Sponsored by:
___________
Photo Credits: emdot (cc)
Credit Card Kiting
Taking advantage of the float on checks to obtain loans is illegal, it’d called Check Kiting.
But taking advantage of Credit Card float is perfectly legal. And with so many credit cards enticing good borrowers with alluring balance transfers offers, often times one full year at 0%, some people are taking advantage of this one full year float and switching from card to card, from issuer to issuer.
If you are thinking about engaging in this practice, there are a few issues that you need to consider:
- Monthly payments: you still need to make the monthly payments, a balance transfer offer enables you to transfer the balance from one card to another, but the obligation to a minimum monthly payment remains.
- Pay it off: if your goal is to eventually pay off our credit card debt - and it should be -, switching to a 0% card will accelerated the process only if your monthly payment is higher than the minimum payment indicated in the statement. A very simple rule is to take your current monthly payment and send the same amount every month regardless of the (lower) minimum payment required by the credit card company. See article How long will it take you to pay off your Credit Card?
- Read the fine print, part I: for each balance transfer offer you receive look for transfer fees, maintenance fees, and other fees associated with the transfer and the maintenance of the card and of the balance. If you are switching to a lower interest rate, is it worth it?
- Read the fine print, part II: are there any requirements to maintain the low introductory APR? Does it fit within your habits? Can you afford it? Is it worth it?
- 1, 2, or 3 cards? If you accepted a balance transfer offer and you’ll be using the same card to make regular purchases, beware that usually credit card companies will apply any and all payments to the balance with the lower APR first (the balance you transfer), so you might end up having to pay high interest rate on the balance that accumulates from your everyday purchases even if your monthly payment is greater than the new purchases. We strongly suggest that, you use two credit cards, one for your old debt that you are paying off regularly, and another one everyday purchases like gas, groceries, utilities and the like, and pay off this balance every month.
We also suggest you have another card, a third one, everyone should also have one additional credit card, with no balance on it, for emergencies.
If you don’t have the discipline of charging only what you can afford to pay off at the end of the month, don’t use a credit cards for your everyday purchases: pay cash! - Shop around for the lowest balance transfer offer, for the longest period, with no or low fees, and with the lest requirements. Experts suggest to switch only if you can get at least 6 months at 0% or 12 months at less than 4.99% APR. We can help with our articles and offers on balance transfer cards, and low interest credit cards.
- Maintain your good credit or improve your credit: ask around, people with good credit are inundated with balance transfer offers at 0% APR for one year or longer.
- How to transfer your balance: Experts suggest to always use the special checks that you receive in the mail from your existing credit card company, or ask the credit card company with the best balance transfer offer to send you some. Try to avoid using Customer Service Representatives to make the transaction, there might be some fees or terms that you won’t have time to evaluate. If you are doing the transfer online, read all the fine print before clicking and accepting terms and conditions.
- The Personal Finance 101 rule #1 still applies: if you don’t understand something, don’t do it.
- Rule #2 states: if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
- Be on the lookout for a better deal: if you transfer your balance to a low APR card, be on the lookout for a 0% balance transfer offer.
- Relax: if you’ve transferred your balance to a 0% offer, mark your calendar, a couple of months before the expiration of the offer, be on the lookout for another 0% balance transfer. Till then, make your monthly payments on time, and relax.
- Give yourself some time: don’t wait until the last few days of your current balance transfer deal. Experts suggest to put things in motion for a new transfer at least 30 days before the current deal expires.
Use your credit wisely, it gives you, the borrower, great power, freedom and control when it comes to credit cards, personal loans, student loans, auto loans, mortgage, cell phones, utilities, it follows you in everything you want to do in your life.
___________
Sponsored by:
|
|
