Credit Card Solution

One of the things I hear a lot is people who tell me that they have accumulated a lot of points or miles with their credit cards.

Often, they have just been using the same credit card for many years and are just overwhelmed by the various options. Which choice they make can drastically effect the value they receive from their credit card spending. Here are some popular credit card program and a brief summary of their best value redemptions.

American Express Membership Rewards

There are options within this program for cash back, statement credits, gift cards, and merchandise. In each of these cases, your points are only worth a paltry one cent each. Some cards allow you to get 1.2 cents in value for travel redeemed through their agent. Read all post…

Surprises can be good or bad, depending on the circumstances. When it comes to using credit cards and “surprises” in the same sentence, the initial feeling is usually not a joyful one. However, sometimes credit card companies can surprise us with special offers and promotions just because we are their loyal customers. These kinds of surprises are so much better than the fees, rate hikes, and of course, “surprise – you missed a payment.”

Not all credit card companies offer their cardholders a special deal or discount here or there, but when they do, there usually isn’t a lot of fuss. You might receive a letter in the mail or you might see a special screen when you next log into your account.

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First, an admission: your blogger is a digital dinosaur. Yes, he has a Facebook page, but it was created, unrequested, by a friend, and is visited only every month or two. He has 67 friends, and has spent significant time with, broken bread with, and/or drank too much with every single one of them. See? He doesnt get social networking.

Credit card trends online

So it was a bit of a shock for him to read in Mondays American Banker that 74 of 100 executives surveyed at Aprils Card Forum & Expo (a trade event for executives of credit card companies) said that they expected social media to be a significant factor in their future customer service delivery.

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If you’re currently paying astronomical credit card finance charges, which is pretty much a given if you’re carrying a credit card balance without a promotional introductory rate, you may want to consider a credit card balance transfer.

Most credit card balance transfers come with 0% APR for a certain period of time, whether it be as short as six months or as long as 21 months.

Picking a 0% APR credit card based on the length of the 0% promotional credit card APR is very important, especially if you’ve got a sizable credit card balance that’s going to take some time to pay down.

Why go with a credit card that only offers 0% APR for 12 months when you can get a credit card that offers 0% APR for 21 months?

Let’s look at a 0% APR credit card example:

Current credit card debt: $2,500 @ 20.99% APR
Monthly finance charges: $44
0% APR for 21 months: no interest charged during this period

If you continued to carry a $2,500 credit card balance, you’d be hit with roughly $44 in interest charges each month, which is more than $500 annually. Why subject

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