Credit Card ’s Talk

The average American household owes thousands of dollars on their credit cards. Given that the average interest rate on a credit card is currently in the 18% range, the monthly payments that card-issuing banks receive should generate pretty substantial profits. Those profits are substantial, especially when combined with the fees that merchants pay to accept the cards for purchases in the first place. The growth of the industry, and subsequently, growth of profits, has slowed somewhat since the Federal government mandated higher minimum monthly payments for credit card customers last year. Since the average minimum payment has doubled, to about 4% of the outstanding balance, many customers have started to pay down their balances. When balances go down, so do profits.

If the balances are going down, how can the credit card companies increase their profits? It?s easy; they just raise the interest rates that they charge their customers. Customers may find their interest rates increasing to as much as 30% per year for any of the following ?transgressions?:

How can you avoid having your interest rate increased to 30% per year? In some cases, it will be unavoidable, in which case you should consider applying for another card. Otherwise, you should be diligent about paying all of your bills on time and make sure that you remit at least the minimum amount due. If you have a card that has a high limit that you rarely use, you might consider asking the company to lower your limit. If you have a high balance, you might look into transferring some or all of that balance to another card. You might even consider taking out a loan to pay down the balance.

Credit card companies are becoming more and more eager to find reasons to raise interest rates. The last thing you want to do as a consumer is to make it easy for them to do.

?Copyright 2006 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to affiliate marketing and informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a site about payday loans , debt consolidation, credit counseling, and personal bankruptcy.

You know those credit cards bills that softly come in asking politely to be paid each month? You may find that they are screaming that they are overdue or overlimit. They want to be paid now.

Credit card debt is never a good idea. With interest rates on the rise, it’s an especially bad idea right now. Your options of getting rid of it are shrinking as it grows.

How?

You may have received notices that your minimum monthly payment amounts are increasing. You were probably paying minimum payments ranging from 2% to 2.5% of your balance. This leads to years and years of debt. If you owe $10,000 on a card with an 18% interest rate, you could pay it for 32 years at a 2.5% minimum payment. That results in $14,600 in interest.

Raising your minimum monthly payment is a good thing for you. It allows you to pay off your credit card debt quicker, if you don’t continue to borrow. But it could be bad for your monthly budget.

With everything from gas to groceries costing more, you may find that your budget doesn’t have much slack. In fact, many minimum payments could double. Ouch.

And then throw in rising interest rates. And it’s not just your credit cards that have rising interest charges. If you have a home equity line of credit, your rates are on the rise. If your interest goes up by two points on a $30,000 home equity line of credit, you could be paying over $600 more a year in interest.

The Federal Reserve Board is expected to continue to boost short-term rates, so look for your rates to go even higher.

But what can you do?

The first and most important things is to not fall behind. It will kill you if your interest rates are increased and you are subjected to late fees.

You can stay ahead of the game by calling your credit card company and letting them know you are having troubles. Try to negotiate a lower interest rate. If that doesn’t work, look into transfering your balance to a lower rate card. Watch out for balance transfer fees and teaser rates that skyrocket after a few months.

Look into your home equity for help. Even with rates going up, home equity lines of credit are still lower than the rates on most credit cards. You may even be able to deduct the interest on your income taxes.

I would suggest taking out a home equity loan, instead of a home equity line of credit. You will receive a lump sum and make fixed payments for a fixed period of time. And the best advantage is that the rate is fixed. It may be a little higher than with a line of credit, but it will not go up.

Take a close look at changing your spending habits. Diverting your debt to another place does not get rid of it. If you keep using your cards, you will just be getting further in debt. Pay them off, cut them off and go on with your life.

Martin Lukac, represents http://www.RateEmpire.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies! Visit http://www.RateEmpire.com today

How many times per week does your mailbox contain an offer for a pre-approved credit card? If you’re like most people, you are receiving between two and ten pre-approved credit card offers each and every week! In a time when everything is being made from recycled materials in an effort to help save our environments from excessive waste products that are filling up our landfills and polluting our earth- you probably find the number of pre-approved credit offers a big waste of paper. Particularly if you’re not even considering obtaining a new credit card.

Unfortunately, the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 (and ammended in 1990) gives the credit bureaus permission to sell your credit history information to credit lending companies. In order to keep it fair for consumers, however, the ammendment of 1990 allows for consumers to choose NOT to receive these offers.

The selling of your credit history to credit card companies does not affect your credit score in any way, but may show up as an inquiry on your report. An inquiry is when a company has looked at your information, in order to determine your eligibility requirements. When an individual is not interested in getting more credit however, it seems ridiculous for them to receive so many pre-approved credit offers in the mail each week.

There are three things you can do to stop receiving these annoying credit card offers. The first, and the most fun, is not as effective as the second and third actions you can take, but is highly recommended anyway just for the entertainment value. Each of your credit card offers will most likely come with postage paid, return envelopes. Companies pay more than the standard rate of postage in order to get these envelopes- but only if the envelopes are actually placed in the mail. They pay nothing for postage on the envelopes that we just toss in the garbage. The theory is if you stuff other junk mail into the postage paid return envelopes and mail enough of them back to the companies, they will stop sending out unsolicited offers so that they are not paying for wasted return postage. While this could be really fun, and you might feel like quite the rebel when doing it, you may not get much of a result.

Each credit card offer you receive should have a fine print section that includes how you can prevent the credit bureaus from including you in the pre-screened lists that result in your getting credit card offer after offer. Most people never even see the fine print because the offer ends up being tossed in the trash immediately, or because, well, it’s fine print.

The other two actions you can take to stop receiving credit card offers are to visit a website and fill out a formal request: http://www.optoutprescreen.com, or make a phone call to 1-888-5-optout. This is an automated service that is supposed to be run by the main four credit bureaus, so it should stop all pre-screened mailings that come from any of the four bureaus.

Alternatively, you can always formally request the credit bureaus to stop including you on pre-screened lists by sending a letter to each bureau. Make sure you include your name, social security number, mailing address and phone number. If you’ve moved recently, include your previous address as well, so there is no confusion!

There is really very little benefit to receiving the countless credit card offers in the mail each week. It’s wasting paper and time, not to mention providing you with offers that are probably not as good as the offers you could get if you actually called or applied for a card with the company sending the pre-screened offers. If you decide after opting out of pre-screened lists that you want to get a new credit card, you can use the internet to find a new card to apply for or simply call your local bank!

This article has been provided by Creditor Web. At CreditorWeb.com you can compare over 100 credit cards from multiple banks and apply for a credit card online.

The Aspire Gold Visa Card issued by Columbus Bank and Trust is specifically designed for individuals with a poor or limited credit history, and who only need the basic functions of a credit card.

Due to the nature of this card, interest rates imposed for outstanding balances are high, with the minimum variable rates. This simply means that no matter how low the Prime Rate may get, interest rates imposed will not drop below this minimum. On top of that, the rates are tagged to the highest Prime Rate within a 90-day period making low APRs a distant fantasy.

As though these nerve-racking rates are not enough to scare intelligent folks away, the Aspire Gold Visa Card charges various fees that Regular Joes would not call ?loose change.? The minute your application is approved, a $150 annual fee for new accounts are imposed followed by a $29 account opening fee as well as a monthly maintenance fee of $78 per annum. All this adds up to $257 just within the first year, excluding any penalty or default fees should you be daft enough to use this card and not the outstanding balances off without fail.

On the other hand, there must be something valuable that this card has to offer in exchange for the steep fees. Well, some of the card?s ?additional perks? include various Internet account related activities, auto rental insurance, various travel and emergency related service, all of which are quite run-of-the-mill.

In summary, this card may not be suitable for everyone. In fact, the target market for the Aspire Gold Visa Card should be people who require just the basic credit card benefits, and who don?t mind forking out $257 for it.

Users who plan to pay the minimum on their credit card charges should look elsewhere, or they will end up paying for sky-high interests. Thus, the Aspire Gold Visa would not be suited for users who miss their monthly credit card payments time and again.

For more information or to apply for the Aspire Gold Visa Card, Eric Wasselman recommends Find Credit Cards.

How often have you seen someone going through their wallet searching for a credit card in the checkout line- and were shocked by the number of cards they had in their wallet? Credit cards can be used as a form of identification when applying for a major purchase, or when renting a car; and they can be used for convenient purchases that you won?t have to pay for until a month after you buy them.

Except, that?s not how it usually happens. Typically, people who have an abundance of credit cards use them frequently, and have to carry a balance from one month to the next because they are unable to pay each card off in full when the bills come in. So what happens then? Credit card holders are being charged high interest rates for each of their purchases, sometimes up to 24%! Credit cards are habit forming. It is very easy to pull out a piece of plastic, swipe it through the register and buy something you couldn?t afford otherwise. It?s tempting to think that the money will come later, and you?ll pay for it then. More often than not, the bills are more than the money you have later to pay them with. A study in 1999 showed that consumers in America used credit cards to charge over $1.2 trillion.

Even with this kind of negative usage, credit cards, when used properly, are a terrific source of financial convenience. The trick is to not over indulge yourself when you use them.

It?s also helpful to keep only one or two credit cards available to you at one time. Even if you receive a new credit card offer in the mail every day, you should stick to having a general use credit card (one that can be used for any kind of purchase), and one for emergencies. An emergency credit card allows you the peace of mind of knowing if an unexpected expense comes up that you have to pay, but don?t have the extra money available to pay it, you at least have a backup in the form of a credit card that will allow you to pay for it.

Using a general use credit card should be done with extreme discipline. Select one that offers rewards, cash back or other features that you can benefit from. Make your weekly purchases on your general use credit card, from gasoline to groceries, and keep track of your purchases so you know how much money you are using on the card. That way, you will know when you?ve reached your spending limit for each week based on the amount you have budgeted for such purchases. Set aside money from your paycheck each week for your credit card. When the bill comes in the mail, immediately send out the check for the FULL AMOUNT. This avoids finance charges, but has allowed you to earn interest on the money for the full month that you kept it in your bank account prior to mailing the payment!

When you use a credit card for your every day purchases with the discipline required to keep your spending in check, you are going to benefit greatly from the rewards programs and interest free purchasing power you get when you pay off your balance each month in full. You are able to keep higher amounts of money in your bank accounts for longer periods of time, allowing the money to earn a little interest before the credit card payment is due. You also are building a strong credit rating by making purchases and paying them off each month, and will help you when it?s time to apply for a mortgage or large loan for a new car or boat or other high ticket item.

This article has been provided courtesy of Creditor Web. Creditor Web offers great credit card articles available for reprint and other tools to help you search and compare credit cards.

In the search for the perfect credit card, one may take into account the travel rewards, cash rebates, shopping privileges or point collection and redemption programs. However, one of the most important aspects of a card, which is very much overlooked nowadays, is the availability of a low APR. This is especially important for those who wish to bring forward their outstanding balances month after month. For this consumer group, the answer to their financial problems would definitely be the Citi Platinum Select Card.

This card is usually categorized as one of the low APR credit cards in the industry. Although rates are tied to the Prime Rate, the interest rate for the Citi Platinum Select card revolves around 10.99%. However, new card holders are able to enjoy an introductory rate of 0% APR for an entire year.

Also, the grace period for this card is 20 days and purchases are calculated on an average daily balance system. Thus, customers are not pressured into overspending or to spend more than they can afford just to achieve a reward goal.

What?s more, with the APR 0% for a full year and no other fees involved, card holders are able to utilize the Citi Platinum Select card for balance transfers from other credit cards. While there are no annual fees accompanying this card, customers are reminded of a minimum APR on cash advances.

Being a Platinum card, platinum-status benefits including protection against fraud, travel accident and car rental insurance as well as emergency assistance for all traveling needs are also offered by the Citi Platinum Select card. Also, an additional Identity Theft solution service helps customers out of a fix with a stolen identity. Thus, when Citibank says that you have $0 liability on unauthorized purchases, they really mean it. Indeed, if you are searching for the perfect credit card, this is about as close as you can get.

For more information or to apply for the Citi Platinum Select, Eric Wasselman recommends Find Credit Cards.