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Posts Tagged ‘Credit Card’

There are just too many credit card products available. Have you ever wondered why almost all lenders and many more credit card firms keep on rolling out and introducing new credit card offers? It is quite logical that such businesses earn well. Almost all people own and use a credit card, two, or even more. It is very important that you conduct a credit card comparison first before getting a particular product with exceptional and attractive credit card offers.

Each product has different sets of credit card offers. That is because all cards are specifically intended for or targeted to particular types of consumers. Credit card users are categorised based on their usage. For each category, there are specified credit card offers. A credit card comparison would be most useful in looking at those categories and the corresponding credit card offerings.

Manual comparison

To do a credit card comparison manually, start getting quotes and feature information of different credit card products. Take note of annual fees, purchase, cash advance annual percentage rate (APR), introductory offers, rewards, and other fee structures. There are also special features and additional perks offered uniquely by every product in specific categories. Such credit card offers are aimed at luring consumers into getting credit card products.

It would be best if you would make a manual list of credit card offerings/features in a piece of paper. This serves as your simple credit card comparison. List down credit card products side by side so that you could easily compare interest rates, charges, credit card offers, and other perks. You would notice that there are credit card features that are present in some products, but not offered in others. In return, those cards lacking specific features may present other luring factors and come-ons.

Fees and introductory offers

Annual fees differ by categories. For instance, no-annual fee credit cards may implement higher interest rates and fees, while those with annual charges may offer lower APR on purchases and cash advances. Credit cards that feature rewards like airline miles usually impose significant or higher annual fees. Purchase APRs are usually significantly lower compared to APRs for cash advances.

When doing a credit card comparison, do not overlook special introductory credit card features. There are products offering lower interest rates and 0% introductory offers. Some credit cards highlight waived annual fees, particularly on the first year.

Manual credit card comparison could be a little tedious. Thus, if you aim to compare credit card features before you get a card product, you could also perform a credit card comparison using the available online comparison tools. Such services abound in the Internet. They could be most useful in that your search would be more specified, covering credit card offers from products available in specific states. Such tools facilitate credit card comparison in just seconds or several minutes, in contrast to manual comparisons that could take so much time, effort, and patience.

Andrew is a contributing author. He has been working in the finance industry for several years as a debt consolidation loanspecialist. When he is not working, Andrew shares his knowledge on the internet.

There are numerous debt pay off methods and amongst these, debt settlement is one such method that helps you to pay off your credit card debts quickly. Debt settlement is the debt payoff process that erases some parts of your debt. Thus, it becomes easier for you to go on making the payments on your credit cards and you may even be able to pay those off quickly.

What happens in debt settlement?

Debt settlement is one of the most popular debt pay off methods as it reduces the outstanding that you owe to your creditor or creditors. What happens in debt settlement is that it lowers the outstanding debt amount that you have and you are required to pay only the reduced debt amount. The creditor is not supposed to come after you for the forgiven part and is not supposed to hand it over to any collection agency after you successfully pay off the settled amount. Debt settlement generally lowers your outstanding debt amount by 40-60%. But, by how much your debt amount may be lowered will actually depend on your creditor.

In order to avoid any harassment regarding the settled account, it is really important for you to get a written agreement on the settled account or accounts. You should also check your credit report for the listing after making your payments on the settled accounts.

You can negotiate a debt settlement with your creditors and also with collection agencies if any of your accounts got handed over to a collection agency. However, you should know that not all creditors or collection agencies agree to a settlement. Moreover, you may have to miss payments on your accounts if you really want to settle your accounts with the creditors or the collection agencies. Otherwise, the creditor may not be ready to believe that you are in any kind of financial problem and may not agree to debt settlement.

Here comes in the drawback of a settlement. It hurts your credit. When you miss payments on your credit accounts, it gets listed on your credit report an lowers your credit score. So, if you think that you can actually manage to pay off debts without even settling your accounts.

Another disadvantage of debt settlement is that it has some tax implications. The amount that is forgiven through the settlement with your creditors is help to be your income. Thus, it is taxable. If the forgiven balance exceeds $600, you will have to pay tax on that amount to the IRS.

Debt settlement – How can it be done?

You can either settle your credit card bills on your own or if you think that it won’t be possible of you to settle the bills on your own, you can take the help of a debt settlement company.

If you want to settle your debts on your own, you will have to negotiate with your lenders on your own. You will have to ask for the written agreements and then go on making the on-time payments on your credit cards as per the lowered amount.

However, if you go to a debt settlement company, they will first analyze your financial obligations and your income. You will then be asked to open a dedicated account and save money. Only after you are able to save a certain amount, the company will negotiate with your creditors. You will have to forward the money to the settlement company and then they will forward the money to your creditors.

So, debt settlement does help you to pay off your debts quickly as the outstanding balance gets lowered and you are thus required make lowered payments.

Jason Holmes is a regular writer with Debt Consolidation Care and is also a contributory writer with other financial sites. His expertise is woven around various aspects of the debt industry and with his e-books he tries to impart to people the different situations and simple solutions to get out of difficult situations. Some of his works include e-books like ‘Credit Score The Quintessential Therapy for a Happy Pocket’, Take Creditors and Collection Agencies to Small Claims Court’ and, My Story- From Depression To a Smile’.

There are certain rules on how we should use our credit cards wisely. You can get more information about the credit cards form websites too. Get on the Internet and check out credit card Web sites where you’ll find information about credit cards and rates. Think very carefully before you decide to get your first credit card. The first thing to understand is how credit card companies make money. They obviously make money on interest charges and fees from people who carry balances. By analyzing these aspects the credit cards can be used in appropriate places.

It is beneficial to use credit card during traveling, as traveling is harder with cash and very dangerous as well. If you have a debit card that it’s ok but some rental credit card companies do not take debit cards also they will pre-auth your entire rental cost so there is the available balance issue. Credit card companies do the same but technically you are not spending that money so the pre-auth does not affect you in the same way. With a credit card, you do not have to make the payment while the affidavit is being sent out and the issue is being resolved.

A credit card is the easy way for carrying our money in a secure manner. It is not necessary that we have to carry cash to all the places. A credit card will help us out. A credit card is a small plastic card with some numbers embossed on it and which helps to purchase the things with no requirement of cash in pocket. Man always invented new things to satisfy his need and comforts. Credit cards were introduced with same background since its need was felt. Today, there are thousands of financial institutions that issue credit cards as compared to previous when the number was less. They have become important sources of identification.

Credit cards are used widely all over the world. If you happen to miss the credit card somewhere, you have to inform the authorized person immediately in order to block the card. If you don’t convey the company about the same, there is possibility of getting bankrupt. In case its ATM cards and debit card, the steps should b even quicker. The main use of the credit card is the cash transactions made. It permits the person named on it to charge purchases or services to his account charges for which he will be billed periodically.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corporation and Citigroup Incorporation are the leading players in the United States credit card market. These companies together account for more 50% of total outstanding of US cards. Generally, it is believed that US market is the most developed market for credit cards.

It is hard to see that consumers in the US pay cash for their purchase. Instead, they accustom to use credit cards for their shopping. This attitude of consumers in the US provides great opportunity for international players. It is believed that the credit card kind of instrument was in usage even during early 1900s in the US. During those periods hotels and department stores issued identification cards to their most valued customers.

The customers’ credit worthiness and status were established, when they present the identification card with the issuing entity. These cards were perceived to be a tool for status creation and consumers desired to hold such cards. This card was helpful for both companies and the customers. With the issuance of identity cards, companies were able to create loyal customers. On the other hand, customers too were benefited from the holding of such cards as they could buy goods on the basis of pre-established credit lines.

Credit card is the best and secure way for online purchase. While doing online purchase with credits cards, the procedures are very simple and the transactions can be made very easily. But we have to keep it in mind that there are some websites that are not secure, as they make use of your credit card details and they may make illegal transactions. All the online shopping websites are not trust worthy. There may also be some transaction charges when purchase is done online. Interest charges vary widely from card issuer to card issuer.

Mostly credit cards are used for the promotional purchase purpose. Promotional purchase is any purchase on which separate terms and conditions are set on each individual transaction unlike a standard purchase where the terms are set on the cardholder’s account record and their pricing strategy. During transactions fraud may also occur. Most internet fraud is done through the use of stolen credit card information which is obtained in many ways, the simplest being copying information from retailers, either online or offline. Despite efforts to improve security for remote purchases using credit cards, systems with security holes are usually the result of poor implementations of card acquisition by merchants.

Post sub-prime crisis, credit lenders attempted to be prudent and resorted to tougher lending norms. For instance, during December 2008, major credit card players in the United States decided to reduce their lending on credit cards.

As most of the consumers in the US use credit cards to purchase desired goods, this decision resulted in a drop in customers’ spending. The amount to be withdrawn from credit card lending was in the order of $2 trillion.

Companies decided to achieve this through various strategies, such as closing millions of accounts, cutting credit lines and raising interest rates. This decision by the players was attributed to the likelihood of mounting default in this segment. These steps would immune the players in the credit card market from any unexpected events.

This massive pull back program was believed to impact the overall consumer liquidity as most of the consumers depend on credit cards for their purchase. With unemployment touching historic highs, pulling back loans of this extent would significantly affect the consumers’ spending. Depressed consumer spending would boost economy and may prolong the prevailing recessionary trend. Stringent lending norms became the order of the day since the financial crisis.