Credit Card ’s Talk

In this day and age, a large number of the population is in possession of a credit card, sometimes even numerous credit cards! Banks and businesses are becoming more and more aware of consumer?s desires for specialised credit cards, and have thus introduced a myriad of credit cards that are joint ventures between banks and businesses. There are credit cards aimed at men, and credit cards aimed at women.

If you?re a sports fan, for instance, then you can?t go past the NASCAR credit card. Or there?s the NFL credit card, the World Series of Poker credit card, the MLB credit card, and the Bass Pro Shops credit card. People who love to travel would be interested in the British Airways credit card, or the World Perks credit card. If you like your cars, then the Subaru credit card, or the Volkswagen credit card is for you.

With the price of gas escalating out of control in the current world climate, gas reward credit cards are in big demand! Two such cards available at the moment are the Speedway SuperAmerica credit card, which lets you earn up to an 8% rebate on all gas and merchandise purchased at Speedway, SuperAmerica, and Rich Oil locations; and the HESS credit card, which lets you earn up to a 10% rebate on all HESS purchases.

For women, the Starbucks credit card is bound to be a favourite! As is the Borders and Waldenbooks credit card, for all people who enjoy reading. There are even credit cards for entertainment ? both the Sony credit card and the Universal Entertainment credit cards provide fantastic rewards programs. If you have children, there?s also a credit card for you ? the Toys R Us credit card can earn you awesome rebates!

Of course, when it comes to choosing a credit card suitable to your needs, it is important to read the fine print, and not just choose a card because it looks ‘pretty’. All of the cards mentioned here can be examined in further detail and compared at http://www.getfastcreditcards.com.

About the Author
Lisa R Johnson is co-owner of http://www.getfastcreditcards.com, a website where American citizens can view and compare countless credit card offers, and can also then apply online immediately for credit cards.

Congratulations college freshman! You?re about to embark on one of the most exciting times of your life. By now your parents, siblings, and friends have offered you all kinds of advice on how to make your transition to college smoother - how to get along with your roommate, what classes to take and which ones to avoid, where to find the best off-campus food, and how to stay safe on campus.

One thing they may have not warned you about is how quickly you?ll be bombarded with credit card offers. You?ll find them in your textbooks, in your mailbox, and on every campus bulletin board. You?ll be offered free DVD?s, t-shirts, music downloads, and more in return for completing an application for credit.

Why all this fuss over you for a stupid piece of plastic? Because they love to recruit new borrowers, especially in your age bracket. They know, from numerous studies, that college students tend to be impulse buyers. And even though your impulse purchases tend to be small - pizza, coffee, beer, CD?s, cigarettes, books, etc. - those small purchases can add up quickly.

Fifty-four percent of freshman students and 92 percent of sophomores have at least one credit card. A recent study shows the average college student graduates with between $1,500 - $3,000 in credit card debt.

Here are 7 tips to help you manage your college credit card needs:

1) Look for a card with the lowest fixed percentage rate and a low or no annual fee. Read the fine print carefully - many low or 0% introductory rate offers expire in 6-12 months.

2) NEVER use your credit card for a cash advance. The fees and repayment structure associated with a cash advance are outrageous.

3) Have a budget! Your credit card is not free money. Budget your money so that you can pay off your balance at the end of each month. If you can?t pay off the balance, always make more than just the minimum payment.

4) Pay your bills on time, otherwise you?ll pay a late fee between $25-40 every time your late with a payment. Late payments will also increase your chances of having your percentage rate raised on ALL your credit accounts.

5) Request a low credit limit somewhere between $700-$1,500. The object is to have credit available to meet some of your expenses and in case of an emergency.

6) Less is better. You don?t need more than one or two cards at the most. The more you have the more tempted you?ll be to use them or to ?max? them out.

7) Consider using a debit card instead. A debit card is linked to your checking account and purchases are automatically deducted from your account balance. Of course, make sure you have money in your account to cover any purchases you make.

Using a credit card is a big responsibility whether you?re a college student or an adult. Managing your credit wisely establishes a positive credit history which will serve you now and well into the future.

? 2005, http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com

Author: James H. Dimmitt
James is editor of TO YOUR CREDIT, a free weekly newsletter with tips to help you manage your personal finances. Subscribe today and receive his e-book ?IDENTITY THEFT- How To Avoid Becoming the Next Victim!? and other bonuses by visiting http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com

If you?re feeling weighed down by the debt on your credit cards and wondering how you?re going to make up enough to pay off the interest, let alone make a dent in that seemingly insurmountable balance, there is a solution to help you pay off your credit card debts without incurring loads of nasty interest charges.

In these days of the consumer society where we?re all out spending like there?s no tomorrow and racking up huge credit card bills, the banks are all desperate to get their teeth into us and take on all that debt (or more importantly for them, interest repayments), so much so in fact that they?re willing to offer you inducements to switch your credit card balance to them.

This marketing ploy by the lenders is designed to give you a short term benefit in the hope that you?ll stay with them and start paying interest (and thus earning them money) long after the initial interest free offer has elapsed. Human nature after all shows this to be true time after time. This, you can use to your advantage.

So let?s say that Bank A is offering a credit card deal with a zero percent on balance transfers for 6 months. OK, so the first question is what does this mean. Simply, it means that in turn for transferring your debt to their bank they?re willing to give you an interest free loan for 6 months to cover your balance. Nice.

So, you can get rid of those nasty interest payments and start concentrating on reducing the card balance for the next 6 months. All good so far, but after 6 months you?ll start paying them the interest and, if you haven?t cleared the balance by then, you?ll be back to square one (albeit with a slightly smaller balance, if you?ve been good).

OK, so what?s so great about that then? All we?ve achieved so far is saving 6 months worth of interest payments and you?re still in debt, back to paying interest and not much better off: Right? Wrong.

Having already benefited from 6 months interest free credit on your card, why not do it again? There are plenty of banks out there all keen to take on your credit card balances so why not just keep on signing up for card after card until you?ve managed to pay off your full balance without paying a penny of interest?

Of course, there?s also the matter of all the plastic that you?ll have floating around having gone through this exercise, and this is where you need a little discipline. Rather than transferring your balance and just leaving that old card in your wallet, tempting you to come out and play, cancel the card once the balance is clear, then shred the plastic.

Follow this simple logic and in a matter of time (depending on the size of your balance and your ability to pay it off), you should be left with no huge debts, only one credit card in your wallet and a feeling of satisfaction that you just managed to get the banks to pay off all your credit card balances without charging you a penny of interest.

Paula Marriss is a financial advisor and editorial contributor at The Money Zone where she writes regular articles on Credit Cards and other Personal Finance topics. To read more please visit http://www.money-zone.net/creditcards/

So your thinking about getting a credit card but your not exactly sure what to look for right? Well there are a lot of different things to consider when applying for a credit card. Some things to think about are the interest rate, annual fees and features the credit card may offer. Here are a few tips that will help you choose the best credit card for you.

Tip #1 Determine how you plan on using the card.

This is one of the most important things to determine when looking for a credit card. Will you be paying your credit card bill off in full each month or are you going to carry a balance? If you will be paying your credit card bill off each month you won?t have to worry about interest rates so you may want to look for a card that offers some sort of rewards program. If you will be carrying a balance each month you will want to find a card that offers low interest rates. Be sure to find the lowest rate possible since this will save you the most money on finance charges each month.

Tip #2 Read the fine print.

Read the credit card disclosure to see what terms and conditions apply to the credit card. Are there any minimum finance charges? How long is the grace period? What is the APR? How much are the late fees? These are all important things to look for when reading the credit card terms. By looking at the credit card terms you can compare different credit cards to see which one will benefit you the most. Be sure to also know what the introductory rate is and what the rate will be after that introductory period is over. Some cards will offer a 0% intro APR and then the rate will shoot up to over 20% once that introductory period is over. Also keep in mind some cards have an annual fee and some don?t so be sure to take that into consideration.

Tip #3 Determine what credit card features will benefit you the most?

Are you a frequent flyer? Do you want to save money at the gas pump? Or do you want to receive cash back on your purchases? There are all sorts of different rewards that credit card companies offer. If you are a frequent flyer you may want to get a credit card that gives you free airline miles. If you purchase a lot of gas each month you may want to get a gas rebate card that can save you 3%-10% at the gas pump. Or if you just want to receive money back on all your purchases you might want to look at a cash back credit card which may give you up to 5% cash back on your purchases. In the end you want to get a card that will work for you. You need to ask yourself what type of card will benefit you the most?

Richie Chapin is a freelance writer and website administrator for Low Interest Credit Cards.

A rise in costs for users of any financial service usually results in public outcry, why is it then that so many of those same consumers allow penalty fees and charges to accrue on their credit cards, when the problem could so easily be avoided?

The financial groups Defaqto and MoneyExpert have released a report in which the startling figure that one in five consumers have had to pay just such a charge, and while credit cards were the worst offender, a number of different personal finance services also incurred unnecessary charges. These services included charges for simple personal finance errors such as allowing an overdraft to go over the agreed bank limit, or investing in an inflexible mortgage and then paying off the debt early. In both cases either better preparation beforehand with regards to choosing the right provider (such as using an online personal finance database like Moneynet’s credit cards, or http://www.fool.com) or taking advantage of financial options now readily available would have presented more flexible options which would not have imposed the penalties.

To take an example, credit cards allow greater control over your personal cash flow - you can pay now for a product or service even if the funds you use will not be available to you until the following month, at which point you pay off the credit card. Credit cards also have valuable incentives for their use with larger purchases, featuring, as the majority do, insurance options and traceability. However when you are making smaller purchases, say clothing or household products, then the use of a credit card may not be the best use of your money: searching for a suitable personal loan would most likely result in better short-term rates and the avoidance of penalties such as those imposed on the one in five people surveyed by Defaqto and MoneyExpert.

With the survey also producing the result that one in twenty consumers faced charges in excess of ?100 it would seem that this problem is more than a trifle for a large portion of the UK population and that while there are a great number of personal finance options available out there, there are very often not used to the advantage of the consumer as they could so easily be with a little research.

Disclaimer All information contained in this article is for general information purpose only and should not be construed as advice under the financial Services act 1986. You are strongly advised to take appropriate professional and legal advice before entering into any binding contracts.

About the Author:

Michael Hanna is a keen writer, and internet marketer living in Scotland:

Contact details:
E-mail: samqam@googlemail.com
Phone: 0131 561 2251
Michael’s Website: Taxi Belfast

Jim Spowart, the ex-chief of Halifax who also helped launch Standard Life Bank and the online mortgage bank Intelligent Finance, has recently announced that credit cards should carry warnings similar to those on cigarette labels to alert shoppers of the potentially high repayment costs. He is even reported as having written to the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, regarding excessive charges, and demanding that legislation is put into place. Jim Spowart believes that consumers deserve to receive better protection and that an official body like the Office of Fair Trading should be tasked with looking into the financial practices of the credit card companies.

The fact that many credit card charges are excessive will probably not come as much of a surprise to most credit card owners in the UK; however, with the nation’s continually increasing problem of personal debt, there is a mounting need to implement changes that could help to educate and protect UK consumers from getting into further financial trouble.

The most recent reports show that credit card interest rates are now typically around the 16% APR mark, which makes them, on average, over 11% above the current Bank of England base rate of 4.75%. In the letter which he also intends to send to the shadow chancellor, George Osborne Spowart states that the warnings should be explicit in their wording, with statements such as, This credit card is charging you a rate of interest 200% above the Bank of England base rate.

[There is no justification for such rates other than pure banking greed, Spowart told the Scotland on Sunday newspaper. He added, What we need is legislation in the UK which would insist that lenders highlight the fact that they are charging 200% about the Bank of England's base rate. The cost of these excessive interest rates is certainly contributing to the customers' inability to pay bills.

This situation is especially unfortunate for younger consumers who generally have not had sufficient time to build up a particularly good credit rating, and who are therefore usually offered credit rates towards the upper end of the scale; these younger consumers are also the least informed to make intricate financial decisions. However, these decisions are not easy for older consumers either. Recent changes within the finance industry have made it increasingly difficult for all consumers to compare credit card rates.

Over the past year, the press has been awash with tales of the many different methods by which banks calculate interest rates - which means that some deals may not be as good as they originally seem. The recent legally enforced reduction of late payment charges is likely to lead to an increase of various other fees to compensate for losses from this highly lucrative source. To counteract the additional losses experienced by credit card companies due to people taking up the introductory 0% offers has, over the past 16 month, lead to an implementation of fees for transferring debts from one card to another, as well as a bewildering array of different interest rates assigned for new purchases, currency conversions, credit card cheques, and so on.

The introduction of reduced late fees, personal summary boxes, minimum payment boxes, and improved transparency by part of banks is a big improvement; but as the constant financial reports show, larger financial institutions are liable to claw back any reduction in profits from one area by increasing rates or introducing new fees in other areas - making it is unlikely that any real long term financial benefit will be gained by the average consumer.

Michael is a keen writer living in Edinburgh. Michael’s Website: Belfast Airport Taxis