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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Cash-back credit cards aren’t the only popular way to get rewards from charging it — airlines also offer affinity cards that let users rack up frequent-flier miles with every purchase, too.

But a general rule of thumb, says Curtis Arnold of Cardratings.com, is that a cash-back card "makes more sense for most consumers.” Unlike many frequent-flier affinity cards that carry hefty annual fees and place restrictions on the use of frequent-flier miles, most cash-back cards have no annual fee and no limits on how and when the money is spent. "You don’t have to jump through hoops when it comes to redeeming rewards.”

Moreover, the cash-back option lets consumers shop around for the best deal instead of being stuck with whatever a single airline offers. "When you consider all the discount carriers out there, usually when you do the math, you come out ahead with the cash back” because you spend the money on the best and cheapest flight. "You definitely have more options.”

Source: www.post-gazette.com  25-06-2006

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Tags: credit cards, cardratings.com, cash-back card, frequent-flier affinity cards

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By Peter Kenny

If you are worried about getting a credit card or have a credit card and it is not working out for you, then maybe you should look at some of the alternatives on offer. There are a growing number of card alternatives to credit cards, some of which may be a better option for you.

Why look at alternatives?

There are plenty of reasons why looking at credit card alternatives are a good idea. Although credit cards have their uses, they also have many dangers and problems. Credit cards tempt you to spend more than you can afford, and then the high interest rates mean your debt increases quickly.

Credit cards can also be difficult to get if you have poor credit or you are young and have never borrowed before. Therefore, it pays to look at the alternative card options.

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Tags: credit cards

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By Bradley Carson

Just as good credit is a necessity in our personal life, it’s essential when you own your own business as well. Big or small, every business needs to establish credit. If you are a new business, you need to begin building that credit history as soon as possible. Establishing your company’s first credit is now made easy when you apply for a business credit card.

The financial institutions understand more now than ever, how hard it is to get that first credit card. They have created a wide variety of offers to be sure that there is one that fits everyone’s financial needs. With the ease of the internet and easy online applications, there are some business credit card offers that will give you an answer within 60 seconds.

For a small or new business a credit card is especially important. With a business credit card you can keep track of and control your daily expenses. It can also help by adding to your cash flow, freeing up needed dollars at just the right time.

Another advantage of a business credit card is the larger line of credit, which can be as high as $50,000. The business credit card offers also include most of the same attractive features of a regular credit card. The extra incentives include 0% APR for up to 15 months, no annual fee cards, up to 5% cashback and travel rewards. In addition, there are airline business credit cards. These are especially handy if your company’s daily operations include a great deal of travel.

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Tags: credit cards

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By Belina Storrey

As a financial consultant, I am amazed at what a small amount of understanding most of my clients have of credit card companies and how they work. I find that many financial struggles people go through could be lessened significantly simply through education about credit card companies and other significant factors that influence our financial situations greatly.

It is for this reason that I have shifted the entire focus of my career to becoming a financial consultant whose emphasis is on financial education. I realized that the teacher in me needs an avenue to communicate with people and so I have shifted focus. Why? Not simply because I love being able to teach, but also because I have a huge issue with how little understanding people have of the most basic information about finances. I began my new job by taking a ton of surveys to the streets. One of my main surveys was to collect information about people’s views of credit card companies.

You might be shocked to learn what a poor understanding of credit card companies that people have today. So few people realize that for the most part, credit card companies are out to get you and to make you pay as much in fees and in interest as possible. I was amazed by the number of people who honestly felt like paying the minimum monthly fee to their credit card companies was really the way to go.

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Tags: credit cards

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By Peter Kenny

Do you worry about reducing your debt? If yes then why are so many people only paying the minimum payment on their credit cards? Is it because they think if they keep paying the minimum payment every month it will pay itself off within months? Well that is not the case and we have to sort this problem out and fast.

Credit card companies love the fact they we only pay the minimum payment every month. Why? because they are raking it in while the interest rates are crippling us. So what started out as a small credit card bill could escalate into thousands of pounds. Say your credit card statement arrives your balance is £2000 the minimum payment is £40 which is 2% of your balance, if you keep paying just the minimum payment it’s the interest that most of your £40 is going to and not much to your bill.

The minimum re-payments have dropped as the credit card companies and banks originally charged 10%, but they found that customers where paying their debt back a lot quicker with the 10%. So the way for them to get more interest out of us was for them to reduce the percentage of the minimum payment, making us think that they where helping us but in fact they where just getting more money from us by adding on more interest, as it will take longer for us to pay of the credit card bills.

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Tags: credit cards

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From: By Cameron England and John Beveridge

HOW safe are your credit card details on the internet? Maybe not as safe as you thought.

On the same day that a global security survey by Deloitte showed an alarming rise in online security breaches, e-Bay company PayPal suffered a major scare.

Fraudsters were using a security flaw in the highly security conscious PayPal site to trick users into using a fake website.

Even very cautious users who go to the bother of checking that the initial website have a valid security certificate could have been fooled by the sophisticated scam.

Paypal quickly worked with an internet service provider to close down the malicious website but still has no idea how many people have fallen victim to the scam.

Given that PayPal is seen as one of the more security conscious companies using e-commerce, the breach does not boost confidence in buying goods on credit over the internet.

Deloitte’s survey showed a huge rise in the number of security attacks on the 150 biggest international financial institutions in the past year.

Institutions around the world are battling a greater number of internet scams than ever before.

Security partner Julie Priest said 78 per cent of the firms confirmed a breach from outside the organisation – up from just 26 per cent the previous year.

Almost half (49 per cent, up from 35 per cent) experienced at least one internal breach.

"Execution and exploitation of these attacks require significant resources and co-ordination, which implies professional hackers and organised crime have entered the domain once ruled by script kiddies and one-off hackers," Ms Priest said.

"This shift in trend means organisations not only face more sophisticated and hard to track attacks, but are also challenged by increased risk and potential losses."

Ms Priest said the good news was that financial organisations were becoming much more active at fending off criminal attacks.

About 51 per cent of scams involved phishing (fake e-mails claiming to be from a legitimate business designed to extract private information from users) and pharming (the redirection of traffic from a legitimate website to a fake website).

Following those were spyware (software designed to intercept a computer without the user’s consent) and malware (hardware or software inserted into a system for a harmful purpose), at 48 per cent.

Ms Priest said that financial institutions were stepping up efforts.

"They are shifting priorities and starting to take necessary measures to mitigate the various security risks and challenges," she said.

"However . . . organisations should avoid being blind-sided and must strive to maintain a balanced, more holistic approach. . ."

Source: www.finance.news.com.au  20-06-2006

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Tags: online security breaches, e-Bay, PayPal, phishing, fake e-mails, holistic approach

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By Ric Romero

June 2, 2006 - Austin Kershner loves his American Express Platinum card because it has no limit. It comes in handy for the college student.

"If I want to put all of my tuition on it, I can and I don’t have to worry, you know, ‘is it going to go through?’" Kershner said.

But he learned the hard way that no-limit cards can come with a price! He went to buy a car and encountered problems.

"I found out my credit score had been affected when they pulled my credit report for my car loan. It went down about 15 points," Kershner said.

"A lot of these consumers don’t realize that these cards can, in fact, hurt your credit," Curtis Arnold, of CardRatings.com, said.

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Rewards designed to woo fickle customers

BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

bappelbaum@charlotteobserver.com

It’s not your imagination. There are more offers from credit card companies in your mailbox.

The industry is desperately seeking new customers in a nation where everyone already seems to have several credit cards. Last year, companies mailed out 6.06 billion solicitations, a record.

Also a record: Only about 18 million offers, or about 0.3 percent, were accepted.

Recognizing the need for better bait, companies are sweetening more of their offers with the promise of rebates or rewards. Spend something, get something back.

There is a card that pays down your mortgage.

A card that rebates 5 percent of the money you spend on gas.

And a card introduced last year that combines gambling with credit card use. Each dollar charged to the American DreamCard earns a ticket in a monthly lottery. Spend $1,000, get 1,000 tickets. The jackpot climbs from $25,000, depending on how many people pay to play.

For consumers, the trend is a chance to pursue rewards of almost any flavor. It’s also an enticement to spend more than you’d planned.

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Rewards designed to woo fickle customers

BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

bappelbaum@charlotteobserver.com

It’s not your imagination. There are more offers from credit card companies in your mailbox.

The industry is desperately seeking new customers in a nation where everyone already seems to have several credit cards. Last year, companies mailed out 6.06 billion solicitations, a record.

Also a record: Only about 18 million offers, or about 0.3 percent, were accepted.

Recognizing the need for better bait, companies are sweetening more of their offers with the promise of rebates or rewards. Spend something, get something back.

There is a card that pays down your mortgage.

More

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