Debt Management Info Blog

posted by on Jan 3

When credit cards offer “rewards” to their cardholders, this is done according to the number of purchases the customer makes with the card. Some of the most popular credit card rewards are gas reward credit cards,  air miles and discounts off the cost of flights offered by certain airlines, however, the variety of rewards that are available is quite numeous.Some retailers and stores offer “loyalty” rewards when a card which was issued in their name is used for purchases, and you can even earn discounts with some credit cards to put toward the purchase of a new car. 

The rewards offered by credit card companies can be very desirable to have, but you should ask yourself the question as to whether they are worth you having to spend your money to get.You can best answer this question by making comparisons between the interest rates on purchases made with credit cards that offer rewards and those cards that do not offer rewards.There is a great number of cards which are offering some sort of reward or loyalty bonus, but the lowest rate of interest on these types cards is likely to be in the area of 15% APR.

This interest rate is about 7-8% more than you would have to pay for a basic low-interest credit card and much more than the zero percent interest rate included with an introductory offer on some other credit cards.Across the whole range of reward cards, the interest rate comparison becomes even more alarming, with some interest rates exceeding well over 30% APR.

A regular credit card user who wants to earn sufficient points for worthwhile rewards, but has to pay interest at these sort of rates, may find it to be worth giving serious consideration toward choosing a much lower-interest credit card which does not offer rewards.The rewards for using a credit card will be free to someone who pays off their total credit card balance each time before the payment due date, because they will never have to pay interest.

Unless you are sure that you can pay off all of the total balance on your credit card every month, you may need to use an alternative such as the cash back credit cards.The way the cash back credit card works, is to pay cash back to the card user in accordance to what is spent on the card each month; this is also the same basic working principal of the credit cards that offer rewards.     

You will be paying an excessive amount for the use of a cash back credit card, if the amount you spend attracts the 19% APR in interest and the current best cash back rate is somewhere around 5 percent on the spent amount.You will be able to retrieve for your own pocket the 5% cash back on this card when you pay your total balance each month and avoid the interest charges.   

Credit cards with rewards and their family members, cash-back credit cards can therefore, be worth it, when you are maintaining a personal policy of repaying the balance on your card, before it starts to attract interest.It could be of benefit to your finances, to use the credit cards which offer you some cash back or rewards and you consistently repay the balances on them each time to avoid the interest charge.

posted by on Jan 3

Credit cards are a much loved accessory in the easy spending world of modern society but we have been misusing them. That insignificant piece of plastic has got countless people into serious financial trouble. The old fashioned system of pulling a wad of bank notes from your pocket and paying cash for things is long gone. Now we just book up the plastic.

Of cource we dont just have one card, but many of us have fistfuls of them. All with debt owing on them some with huge debt on them. In fact some clever people manage to juggle these cards. They manipulate them so that one card pays off another card and another card pays off the first card. On it goes but of course this is totally unsustainable.

The problem is that it is realy easy to lose track of your finances. In the old days you took out the money you needed and could afford to spend and that was all you spent. Now of course you buy on credit and this accumulates and debt accelerates with the horrendous interest rates the credit card companies charge.

There is a better way to use credit cards and avoid credit card debt but they need to be used with restraint. That is a very old fashioned idea. Actually used properly cards are safer and more convenient than cash. However, you need to figure out your financial limits before you go out spending any money. Never spend any more than you can afford to pay back at the end of each month.

In fact there are advantages to using credit cards. You can make use of their money right up to their minimum payment date and keep your cash in the bank earning interest. Additionally most credit card companies run rewards schemes related to your card spending. So that is nice that they give you rewards and let you earn bank interest but their motives are all selfish. They are positively willing you to overspend and enmesh you in their trap of high interest rates. Once in that trap it becomes harder and harder to get out. So be warned, use your credit cards wisely and take those companies for all they will give you. Just remember to always pay off your credit cards completely every month. There must be no exemptions to this rule because it is just too easy to fall into debt

posted by on Jan 2

Different credit card companies offer different things and your needs will determine which card is right for you. There are business, rewards and student cards that all offer different perks, so choosing one can be a very hard task. But, determining what goals you have, either personally or in your business, will help you to find the right card. A card that works great for one person may be all wrong for another.

Business credit card offers have some of the same offers that a personal card can offer, such as rewards and a low introductory percentage rate. Some of the rewards that are available are air miles or cash rebates, yet choosing a card with this type of reward is only beneficial if it is something that will be used. Choosing a rewards card is only good if you will use the reward. And having a low introductory percentage rate can be a huge plus, but you have to be careful and see what the rate will jump to after the introductory period has ended. Student credit cards are great because they allow younger people to get a start on their credit history, but they need to be used wisely in order to prevent any misuse.

Aside from having different perks, choosing a credit card can result in the possibility of debt consolidation. Choosing a credit card for this purpose can improve your credit rating because you will be able to manage credit card payments much easier. Being able to use your credit wisely or having the ability to fix it if you have misused it in the past, can greatly improve your credit rating, and will keep debt collectors and financial services from harassing you for missed or late payments. Transferring several balances from cards that have high percentage rates to a card with a lower percentage rate will also allow you to make larger payments towards the debt, rather than just the interest on your debt.

Personal and business needs will greatly determine what cards are right for you and your business goals. If you are realistic in your needs, then choosing a rewards card can be very beneficial; whereas, choosing one with a low introductory percentage rate could help with the consolidation you may need by transferring multiple balances to a single credit card. A student credit card can help young people get a jump start on building their credit history, but they need to remember to use it wisely.

posted by on Dec 31

Every person in the USA is monitored for their credit worthiness and awarded a number that matches this effort. This number is known as the FICO score, which ranges between 500 and 850. A credit report considers a number of important factors, such as the management of credit cards and repayment of debts, among others. Based on this report, a bank will accept or reject an application for a loan or any other type of credit.

There are five major factors that go into the making of credit reports and knowing these factors will help you in adopting the right debt management principles and obtaining the best credit score possible. The factors that directly influence your credit score are: your credit history, the total credit attached to your name, the timeliness of making your payments, and the number of your accounts, either closed or opened in the near past. If you have a low score, then credit repair measures are advised. The easiest and the fastest way to repair your credit score is by showing that you can pay your bills on time.

Quick credit repair can be established in two ways, either with the proper use of credit cards and/or with the help of debt consolidation measures. Credit cards can help you accelerate the repair of your credit report in no time. You need to use them in such a way that when the bills are presented to you, you are in a position to pay the bill in full or at least two thirds of it. If you keep doing this regularly, then your credit score will rise considerably. Consolidation of your loans will also help if you find you cannot pay your bills on time. The consolidation will help you stick to a repayment schedule that is easy to follow and at the same time will merge all of your debts into one easy payment.

A credit report represents how an individual manages his or her finances. There are roughly five factors that define this credit scoring, which is expressed through the FICO score, a number ranging between 500 and 850. The average score in US is more or less around 700. This report reflects how good an individual is with debt management. Financial institutions, both formal and informal, make their decision for advancing credit on this number.

posted by on Dec 31

Losses of over one billion dollars a year are now being suffered on an international basis because of credit card skimming.This common type of credit card scam is happening in Europe, Asia and Latin America and is starting to be encountered in the United States on a more frequent basis.

When you try to purchase something in a store, this type of credit card scam can be accomplished when you give your card to a store employee to scan at the register.When the store employee swipes your card for the purchase, it could also be swiped across a small machine in their hand called a skimmer, which stores the information on your card into its own system for the store employee to use to steal from you.The skimmer can retain the information on hundreds of debit and credit cards and then it is used by unscrupulous people to print counterfeit cards.

After your information has been fed into the skimmer, it can be downloaded into a computer and emailed to any worldwide location, as there are skimming rings working all over the world.It was not as easy to commit this fraud in the past, because the card skimmers were very large machines that had to be hidden under the check-out counter.Due to the great advancements in technology of the past decade, the skimmer is streamlined and the small hand-held machine is easy to hide from the view of the unknowing customer.These credit card skimmers are easy to buy, as they can be purchased over the internet at around three hundred dollars, but the machine used to make counterfeit credit cards is a much larger investment, which costs in a neighborhood from five thousand to ten thousand dollars.

Another form of  skimming is done through the placing of a skimmer bug directly into the credit card terminals and then retrieving it later with credit card information on it.The older credit card terminals are the ones that can be violated with this type of scam, but with the newer terminals this bugging has become much less prevalent.

As soon as the credit card skimmers have confiscated all of the information they need from your card, they will begin to make purchases of their choice with your credit card number.Online shopping has become more and more popular and this is the reason why so much of the credit card fraud is taking place over the internet, because it is very easy for the wrong people to gain access to your credit card information. The internet is also used by the thieves to make certain that the card’s information is valid through the purchase of many low ticket items in order to be assured that the card is active.   

The real victim in this crime may be the merchant who had the employee who did the skimming, because the cardholder is usually responsible for up to fifty dollars on the total amount charged on his card.The merchant is at risk for the loss of his merchandise and is one hundred percent responsible for the skimmer’s activities and the fees charged for the investigation.The money used by the credit card companies to offset the cost of investigating charge-back claims by their customers, comes from the investigation fees paid by consumers and businesses.

Before beginning a criminal investigation into this skimming activity, the ones who commit this scam know that a purchase must be made amounting to at least two thousand dollars.

Visit JSNet.org for more information on credit cards and various credit card articles on how to protect your credit cards from fraud.

posted by on Dec 29

posted by on Dec 25

Too much fraud and cases of identity theft have been traced to the infiltration of credit card number processing, after payments for online purchases have been made. People are gradually becoming reluctant to using online credit card processing since the stakes are so high. Efforts have been initiated to find alternatives to the use of credit cards online and the results are encouraging. At the same time, the question remains as to whether it is possible to completely eliminate the use of credit cards for online shopping. Can it be made safe enough for people to use them without worry?

The answer to this question is yes. Yes, fraud can be prevented and the danger of copying or poaching your credit card number from the internet can be completely eliminated. Meet the virtual credit cards, which have been engineered specifically for online shopping and will provide inherent protection for those who want to shop online. Virtual credit cards, simply put, are temporary cards that expire within a very short time after their use. Therefore, if anyone did capture the number, they would not be able to use it, let alone launch an identity theft attempt, which is emerging as one of the most serious and fastest growing crimes in the USA.

It is true that virtual credit cards may be the answer to the present dilemma of fraudulent activities online. They are also a good alternative to the permanent credit card number processing, which will short circuit the efforts of criminals to gain access to your money and/or identity. At the same time, there are still a few issues that need to be answered, such as acceptance for car rentals, hotel booking or purchases of air tickets online, since you will still be asked to show your real credit card at the time of delivery of the goods. Recurring expenses too can be a problem with this solution.

The time has come to find safer alternatives to using credit cards while shopping online. Many attempts have been made to work out a system of substituting the use of the credit card number with other means, such as with virtual credit cards. However, while this has made credit card processing much safer than before, there are still many issues that need to be tackled before payment with the virtual cards can be applied to all online shopping, bookings and rental activities.

posted by on Dec 22

posted by on Dec 22

posted by on Dec 20