Credit Card ’s Talk

?Bad credit card card? is used to refer to credit cards that can be obtained even with a bad credit rating. The bad credit card cards provide opportunity to people (with bad credit rating) to improve their credit rating. In that sense, bad credit credit cards act as rescuer for such people. So, bad credit credit cards also act as necessary a training ground for people who have not been able to control their spending urge in the past.

Bad credit card cards are commonly known as secured credit cards. The bad credit card card (or secured credit cards) requires the individual to open up an account with the credit card supplier and maintain some cash balance in the account. Why is that required? Well, credit cards are a business for the credit card suppliers; so how can they trust someone who has defaulted on his/her payments in the past? After all, a business is about profits and such risks are a threat to profits. The bank or the credit card supplier will generally pay interest on the balance in your account. However, it?s best to check this with the bad credit card card supplier/bank. The credit limit on the bad credit card card is determined by the cash balance in the account and is generally between 50-100% of the cash balance. These bad credit card cards are also referred to as debit cards, owing to the fact that they work less in a credit-giving manner and more in a debit-giving manner.

There are plenty of bad credit card cards available in the market. When searching for the bad credit card card that is best suited to you, you should consider 4 things in particular: the minimum balance that you are required to maintain in the bank account, the credit limit that you will receive (i.e. the percentage of your bank account balance that you are allowed to spend on your bad credit card card), the fees/other-charges applicable to the procurement of bad credit card card and the rate of interest that you will receive on the balance in your bank account. An ideal bad credit card card would have no fee/other-charges associated with it and would require zero or a very small amount as minimum bank balance. It would also have something like 90-100% of bank balance as its credit limit. Moreover, an ideal bad credit card card would also offer a good interest rate on the bank balance.

Bad credit card cards are really a good concept that provides respite to people with bad credit rating by letting them enjoy the benefits of credit cards while they mend their credit rating.

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The world of personal finance has come a long way since the first credit card was introduced by Barclays in June 1966 and the first cash machine became available in 1967. The latest figures from APACS, the UK payment association, suggest that there are approximately 32 million credit card holders in the UK alone, possessing nearly 70 million credit cards between them and owing an average of ?1772 on cards alone.

The ease with which credit cards enable retail transactions to be made combined with the addition of useful extras such as purchase and travel insurance, customer loyalty schemes, introductory rates, increased security, and lower rate credit cards, mean it is not surprising that UK card expenditure exceeded cash transactions for the first time in 2004 and is still continuing to rapidly rise. The explosion of online shopping has also been a major contributory factor in the increase in UK electronic payments. Last year 310 million purchases were made online, accounting for around ?22 billion in spending, and constituting 5% of all personal card payments.

Moneynet credit card news quotes Sandra Quinn of APAS on the rise of the role of the internet in UK personal finance as saying, The internet is now very much part of mainstream culture in the UK, and for many people it is the first port of call when looking for certain items to buy. In 2005, for the first time, more than half of all adults made an online purchase, which demonstrates this increasingly important role the internet is playing in the lives of UK consumers.

This level of internet purchasing looks set to rise still further as net access increases and more businesses gain a web presence and start to introduce online shopping carts, alongside increased security and fraud protection measures and the ability to make real-time payments which will help to generate a general improvement in the confidence in internet shopping. The capability for micropayments to be successfully dealt with, which is expected in the near future, will advance the ability of companies to process transactions still further by allowing small payments to be made for many online services.

Whilst it is rapidly becoming safer to perform transactions online and carry out all aspects of personal finance using the web, it is important to note that until the internet is made entirely secure, care must always be taken by ensuring anti-virus software is kept up to date, shopping is performed on secure and trusted websites, and customers must always be vigilant about using their personal and financial details online.

For more information visit Barclays Personal Banking

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About Michael
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This Citi Student credit card is a platinum card, therefore it has been designed for those college students who have already accumulated a good credit standing. There are not very many college students who have had the chance to build a good credit history, but if this sounds like you than you are eligible for a great deal of astounding benefits.

Keep in mind that this credit card does offer higher interest rates than most other student credit cards but it does not charge you an annual fee. Therefore, depending on how high the interest rates are these fees even out for the card holder. The Citi Student credit card offers a very rare benefit for a student card, 0% interest on ALL transactions for the first six months of owning the card. This is a benefit that is unheard of for a student card but incredibly useful for the students. The downside is that there is a cap on money advances of 19.99%. No matter what the prime rates are this is the lowest the interest rates on cash advances can reach. This therefore limits the attempt of any college student to try and make cash advance.

Citi Student Credit card offers the students the same standard benefits that they offer every one of their card holders.

?Discounts on selected merchants and retailers

?$1,000,000 in travel accident insurance

?Auto rental insurance

?Fraud protection services

?A large variety of other emergency travel services

If you are a student who can afford to pay their visa bills each month than the rewards are waiting for you with this Citi Student Credit Card. As a student now is the time to take advantage of these great credit card savings and bonuses. Many other credit cards charge high interest fees, annual fees and more. As a student you are able to save on these disadvantages with the Citi Student credit card.

For more information or to obtain the Citi Student Credit Card application, Joshua Shapiro recommends Find Credit Cards.

Have you checked your credit card statement lately? No, have you really examined it, looked at the Annual Percentage Rate APR and read the fine print on the back of the statement? If you have not, do so today, but be prepared: you may be in for the shock of your life.

Part of the problem Americans are having with debt is that many people are relying on credit cards to purchase every day items. This includes food, clothes, household items, etc. Some consumers — in hopes of advancing their lifestyle — purchase furniture, jewelry, artwork, and more with their cards. This reliance on credit cards to raise their standard of living is what causes problems for many.

Beyond that, there are insidious methods used by credit card companies that effectively keeps millions of consumers in debt for years. Let’s examine these methods and how you can avoid them.

Late Payment Fees. Fees for a late payment are surging. What was once a $10 or $15 fee is now often a $29 or even a $39 charge. Add that to your balance! Always pay your bill as soon as it arrives. If you wait until a few days before the due date, you must take into consideration that the transit time between when your bill leaves your home and arrives at the credit card payment address [and, with the person who inputs your information as having been paid, can be longer than you expected. Do you pay your bills online? If so, it can still take several days for your account to be credited. If you know you are cutting it short, it would be better for you to call the credit card company directly and make your next payment over the phone. A small fee of $5 to $15 is typically charged.

Bumped up APR. Even one late payment can result in your APR being bumped up. Way up in some cases. That special 4.9% fixed rate you secured can soon be history. Check the provisions in your member agreement and you may learn that your new rate is suddenly 18.9% or more. Worse, if you are late 2 or 3 times in a year, your rate could jump to 29%, 35%, or higher! Yikes.

Other cards jump in. You may be late with only one card and pay your remaining creditors on time. However, if you are late with your payments to just one provider, this one creditor will notify the credit bureaus that you made a late payment. All of your other credit providers have access to your credit information and they may jack up their APRs even though you pay each of them on time. Sounds like they are piling it on, right? Yes, and it is perfectly legal too!

Always pay your creditors on time and examine your statements closely every month to make sure that no erroneous charges appear. Contact your creditors in writing if you suspect an error.

One misstep can cost you and it will have a ripple affect across your entire debt picture. All of these tactics employed by credit card companies are absolutely legal. Whether they are ethical or not is another matter, but the law is the law.

Work within the paramaters of the law and take charge of your finances before unreasonable fees and penalties are assessed against you.

Copyright 2005 — Matthew Keegan is The Article Writer who writes on a variety of topics including: advocacy, automobiles, aviation, business, Christian themes, family, news, product reviews, travel, writing, and more. Samples from his portfolio are available right online.

?Simply fill out these checks to pay off your loans, bills and other higher-rate credit card accounts. Or use them to improve your home, take a dream vacation, or …?

Peaks your interest, doesn?t it?

Odds are you?ve received credit card offers that read much like this. (You might just find one in the mail today.) Lately it seems as if credit card companies are tripping over each other to give you the best rates on credit cards and balance transfer offers. What gives?

The key word in these offers is ?introductory.? Banks offer you a great rate for new purchases and/or balance transfers for a few months, then move that rate back up hoping you?ll let your debt ride with the higher rate.

Trash or Treasure?

If you?re like many you throw offers like these in the junk mail pile. Scott Bilker, author of Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt and founder of DebtSmart.com, says this might be a mistake.

?People don?t want to be bothered with transferring their balances, but if it takes you 10 hours over the course of a year to save $1,000 by doing transfers, that?s $100-per-hour for your time.?

If you carry a lot of debt, it just makes sense to try to find a way to lessen your finance charges.

Curtis Arnold, Founder and Public Relations Director of CardRatings.com, agrees. ?Transferring balances from one card to another to take advantage of low introductory rates can result in significant interest savings, as does financing purchases with low introductory purchase rates? there are currently several balance transfer offers available touting a 0% interest for one year.?

A Few Pointers to Success

So great! You?ll take that offer and save money by paying lower interest on your debt. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, if you don?t proceed with caution and a little wisdom, you could wind up paying more in interest charges than you bargained for.

It takes a little work, but with some organization you can make introductory offers work for you instead of letting the credit card companies reap all the benefits. A few tips on making the best of these offers.

1. Don?t Skip the Fine Print. Marketing departments make it their business to make the most enticing details of an offer jump out at you ? distracting your attention away from less attractive parts of the offer that are usually listed in the fine print. Educate yourself about all the terms before signing on. If the fine print seems too daunting to comb through, give the bank a call and ask about the terms.

What should you look for? We?re talking about offers that have low-interest introductory periods. Find out what the introductory rate is, how long it lasts, if the rate increases after the intro period and if so, what is it? Is there a fee for a balance transfer?

Find out if new purchases have a different rate than the balance transfer ? they often do. If so, you shouldn?t use that card for new purchases, as your payments will apply first to the lower interest debt. This leaves debt at the higher rate to accumulate more finance charges, reducing your potential savings.

Sometimes these offers require you to make one or two purchases each month, but there is usually no minimum purchase amount so you can still make the offer work in your favor by buying very low priced items ? like a pack of gum.

2. Do the Math. ?To make the most of your money, you have to do the math,? says Bilker. ?A six-month rate of 3.99% with a balance transfer fee of 4% (no ceiling) is really 11.99% (3.99 (2 x 4))! In this case, you?ll want to use the offer to transfer balances with rates that are greater than 11.99%.?

Place any fees and charges into your equation. There are many credit calculators available online to help you with the math. If the numbers show that you won?t benefit (save much money), than it?s probably not worth the effort.

3. Comparison Shop. When you get an offer in the mail, write down the fee and rate information and then go shopping. Says Bilker, ?There are many banks that want your business and are willing to give you good rates and terms. You just need to start looking for these credit options.?

Many introductory offers are only made by mail, so don?t be so quick to trash those envelopes that are obviously credit card offers. There are some gems; including offers that have no expiration date?meaning that the offer remains in effect until you pay the balance in full.

A note about balance transfer fees: Paying a nominal fee for a balance transfer may be a good financial decision if it will result in interest savings, however, try to avoid fees if possible. If you?re considering an offer with fees, sometimes the bank will eliminate or reduce the fees if you call and ask. If not, refer to Tip #2 and make sure that the math works in your favor.

4. Track your Money. Be aware of your money output. Bilker says consumers make a ?major mistake by not tracking when a low-rate offer ends, and letting their debt ride to a higher interest rate.? Know which cards hold which rates, and when dealing with introductory offers, mark your calendar with the offer beginning and ending dates. Then you can guard against a higher interest rate by either paying off your debt before the intro period ends or by transferring the balance again.

Which leads to a good question: how does all this balance transferring affect your credit rating? Viewpoints on this vary from ?risky? because of all the open credit accounts, to ?it really doesn?t.? The general consensus among many experts, though, is that taking advantage of balance transfer offers will not adversely affect your credit rating as long as you do not do so excessively. In fact, Scott Bilker maintains that balance transferring can actually help your credit rating!

And last, but certainly the most important:

5. NEVER make a late payment. Never! Not only will this affect your overall credit history, but one late payment can raise your low-interest rate to exorbitant levels?before the introductory period ends! (By the way, that little detail was included in the fine print that you should have read when you signed up for the card. Remember Rule #1?)

So don?t be afraid to give low-interest rate offers a second look. Just remember that it takes some organization and discipline to reap the greatest benefits.

Please visit our Card Reports section to review our current ratings of various balance transfer credit card offers.

Rebecca Lindsey is a Senior Staff Writer for CardRatings.com. She began writing articles about consumer credit issues for CardRatings.com in September 2000. Her articles have been republished and/or referenced by leading publications throughout the country, including Live Well on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Achieving Your Financial Freedom by Fred Brock.

Borrowing money has become easier in recent years, and credit cards have become abundant and more and more competitive. It seems to be so much easier to get hold of credit nowadays so it?s no surprise that there is more debt in the developed countries than ever before.

Credit card companies, banks and other lenders all make their money on the interest they charge you for borrowing money from them.

Obviously we can never predict in life when something is going to go pear shaped, we may lose our job for one reason or another, we may have ill health and be unable to work, we may have other financial commitments and find that the money we have doesn?t seem to stretch very far. This is unfortunate but quite often things can be resolved quite soon with the least upset.

People on lower incomes or poorer credit ratings are generally offered higher interest rates, and this is where many people come unstuck. Each month you have to make a payment, and quite often people on low incomes will pay just the minimum balance from their credit card statement, now this seems great for a while, until one day you realise that all you seem to be paying is interest! Your balance is just not going down! So what do you do? Well some people starting weaving a very tangled web by transferring their balance to another card with a great introductory offer (if they are in the lucky position to be accepted for another card).

Again this seems fine for a while until the introductory offer expires and you have to pay full whack interest!

Meeting the monthly demands becomes quite difficult, and in the end people are borrowing from one lender to pay another.

This is where debt consolidation comes in. Basically, a lender will pay off all of your debts, and then you will pay just one bill, to them, they claim that they could even reduce some of your debt. Research is the best tool here, before you go off and sign up with any old debt management company, read all of the terms and conditions and make sure you are aware of what is going on. Approached correctly debt management could avoid getting to the nasty stage of Bankruptcy!

Pearl Deloria is a proud contributing author, read more here. Find more information about consolidation or Loans.

The competition among credit card issuing companies is getting stiffer and stiffer by the minute. Each company offers the consumer a choice of several different kinds of credit cards ? all of which, they claim, have been ?tailor-fit? for their individual lifestyles. In addition to these cards, they entice customers to sign up by providing lower interest fees for balance transfers, and no interest payments for installment purchases (terms and conditions apply).

Not content with these benefits, credit card companies are trying to out-do each other in terms of visual appeal. In the past, credit card companies allowed you to have your favorite photo (be it of yourself, a landscape, your family or even your pet) emblazoned on the front. Nowadays, credit card companies are no longer satisfied with this kind of marketing strategy and have begun thinking ?out of the box?. American Express is in the process of testing a ?butterfly? card ? a card that can be folded in half and kept in a silver case which is attached to its own key ring. The same card company also has plans of introducing a hand-crafted titanium card which weighs almost 40 ounces heavier than the standard credit card. They are, sources claim, not going to charge extra for this special card, but it will only be available to members who fall under a certain category.

Other interesting innovations include the fiery red ?Battlestar Galactica? card by JP Morgan, which has an embossed ?Galactica Fleet Member? tagline. This card is aimed at attracting followers of this science fiction series. Another innovation is the scratch-and-sniff card of Versatile Card Technology. Similar to the scratch-and-sniff pages found in magazine, this kind of card is presently being marketed with a retailer who aims to release a perfume-scented card. With all these fantastic innovations being released in the market, capturing a new market should be a breeze because through these, owning a credit card would be a totally new experience.

This article is brought to you by CardRatings.net. Compare and Review 100?s of Top Credit Card Ratings. After comparing credit card offers, Card Ratings allows you to apply for the credit card of your choice by clicking the Apply Online button. Find up to date information on Student Credit Cards, and more.

You’ve decided to apply for a Citi MasterCard, but with so many different cards to choose from, how do you know which one is right for you? Here is a brief guide to the different types of MasterCard available from Citibank.

A great MasterCard program is the Citi Platinum Select Card. It offers basic rewards, such as an 0% Annual Percent Rate and no annual fee, for qualified applicants. This MasterCard will also give you peace of mind, when making online purchases, because it offers protection against unauthorised purchases.

If you’re looking for a plan with more rewards, then the Citi Premier Pass Card, might be the Citi MasterCard plan that’s just right for you. Like the Platinum Select Card, the Pass Card offers an introductory 0% APR and no annual fee, for qualified applicants. It also offers online account management, statements, and billing activity. The Premier Pass Card also offers extensive travel and air miles, so if you’re a frequent flier, this card’s for you.

Another great MasterCard offer from Citibank is the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card. In addition to the 0% APR for twelve months and the promise of no annual fee, this credit card package will give you reward points for money spent for everyday purchases. For example, for every dollar that you spend on the Citi Diamond card for purchases made at gas stations, drugstores and grocery stores, you will earn five reward points back, to use in their rewards program.

Even if you’re a college student, CitiBank has a MasterCard just for you. You have several student cards to choose from, such as the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card for College Students and the Citi Driver’s Edge Card for Students. Both are designed to help you responsibly build your credit history, while offering you basic rewards, such as 0% APR for six months and no yearly fee.

Regardless of your spending habits, there’s a Citi MasterCard program to suit your needs.

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Credit Card Resources a website providing information on credit cards

When shopping around and comparing potential credit card accounts, rewards should not be the only criteria you use to select a credit card. You need to read the credit card contract (cardholder agreement) before applying for a credit card to discover traps that often negate any potential benefits from rewards programs. These traps are usually hidden in the small print, but their impact on your finances can be huge.

Universal Default

Over 40% of credit card banks use ?Universal Default? to increase the interest rate of their cardholders. Basically, if you are late paying any credit account, the credit card issuer uses this ding on your credit report to justify raising your interest rate ? even if you were never late paying the credit card bill. A typical Universal Default APR is 27.9% or higher. You should not apply for a credit card that includes a Universal Default clause ? no matter how nice of a rewards program they offer.

Two-Cycle Billing

Credit card companies are starting to charge interest on balances in groups of two-months. So, if you have a $500 balance one month and pay it off the next month, the credit card issuer will still charge you interest during the month you had no balance because you had a balance the previous month. You should avoid any credit card with two-cycle billing.

Musical Due Dates

You should look into or ask the credit card issuer about their due date policies. Sometimes, credit card issuers will shave a few days off a due date after you are a customer for a while. They send a ?terms update notification? (which most cardholders do not read because it comes in the mail and may look like another credit card solicitation). What this does is lure cardholders into paying by a certain date, and then change the terms so the payment is due a few days earlier ? which usually results in the cardholder unwittingly paying late. The reason for this is once a payment is late, the card company raises the cardholder?s interest rate to the ?default? APR and charges a late fee. A typical default APR is 29.9% or higher and a typical late fee can be as high as $39. Other due-date tricks include setting due dates on weekends or requiring payment before noon on the due date, which essentially pushed the due date back one day.

Vanishing Grace Periods

Traditionally, a balance will only incur a finance charge if the cardholder carries a balance past the due date of their billing period. However, some card issuers are completely erasing their grace periods. This means that interest charges start the second a purchase is made on the card. Avoid cards with no grace period.

Holding Payment and Musical Payment Addresses

Some credit card companies will hold your payment for up-to 5 days if you pay by check and fail to use their envelope or write any requested information in the memo section of your check. They do this to make payments late, and then change APRs to their default APR (29.9% or higher). Some card issuers will even change the address they want you to send your payment in an effort to delay your payment (and causing a ?late payment? default and APR increase).

So, when you apply for a credit card, please keep all these factors in mind and be sure to read the credit card contract before applying. Be sure to shop around and compare credit card offers before applying. Several websites, such as creditcards.com, cardratings.com, cardweb.com and bankrate.com offer comparison charts from which you can compare different credit card offers. If you are set on getting an awards card, shopping.yahoo.com has a credit card section that list different types of rewards cards for you to compare.

John Janney is a financial literacy writer and president of the National Financial Awareness Network, a Dallas-based financial literacy company focused on bringing an independent voice to financial literacy.

Are you looking for details about the Blue Cash Card for Business? The Blue Cash for Business Card is issued by American Express and is a nice option for business owners with average credit who want to take advantage of a great cash back reward program while making regular purchases for their business. The cash rebate varies according to where you use the card but there are many different options for you.

You can earn a cash back rebate of up to 5% at OPEN Savings locations and up to 2.5% for all other general purchases. However, once your spending for the year reaches $15,000, the rebate on the ?Open Savings? purchases goes down to 2% and all other purchases are 1%. Examples of some of the ?Open Savings? locations are FedEx, Hertz and 1-800-FLOWERS.com.

This card has no annual fee and a 0% introductory rate on your purchases for six months. You have a 7.99% introductory rate on balance transfers in that first six months as well. There are also lower interest rates for purchases for those who qualify. After the introductory period, your APR goes to 10.99% variable on purchases and 22.99% on cash advances.

The Blue Cash for Business Card also has purchase protection, travel accident insurance, and various travel and emergency assistance services which are very helpful to business owners. The card has no annual fee, no minimum or maximum credit limits, a 25 day grace period, over limit fee of $35 and 3% cash advance fee. Late payment fees are $15 on balances up to $100; $29 on balances of $100 through $1,000 and $35 on balances over $1,000.

The rewards program has no maximum limit and no expiration to use reward points which is another great bonus to this plan. This is a great card with reasonable rates for your business expenses and the reward plan is an added bonus for business owners.

For more information or to apply for the Blue Cash for Business Credit Card, Beth Derkowitz recommends Find Credit Cards.