Credit Cards - Can You Really Live Without Them?

Filed Under (Abbey credit card) by admin on 30-08-2010

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In 2007, having a credit card is no longer a luxury or even a convenience - it’s a necessity. You can’t rent a car, check into a motel, or order online without a credit card. If you want a cell phone, you’ll probably have to purchase prepaid minutes - at a premium - unless you have some plastic with your name on it. And without a credit card, you either have to carry around a lot of cash, make frequent trips to the bank, or hope that the stores you patronize will accept your personal checks.

Credit Cards Can Be Lifesavers in the Case of an Emergency

Worst of all, people who lack sufficient access to credit are the most likely to use payday loan services. Later in this series we will explore this subject in depth, but for now, just consider this: If a single mother is hit with a sudden, unexpected expense - say a car repair for $600 - what can she do if she doesn’t have the money? She needs the car to get to work, and she doesn’t know anyone who can afford to lend her the money out of friendship. So she decides to use the local payday loan shop and ends up paying a 530 percent APR (annual percentage rate) interest. If, instead, she had a credit card with at least $600 of available credit, she wouldn’t have had to use the payday charlatans, and would have paid a much, much lower interest rate. Many people who use payday loan services, even once, fall into an inescapable spiral of debt, where they work all week to pay back their payday loans, and then have to take out new payday loans to meet their weekly expenses. People who use their credit cards responsibly never fall victim to this scenario.

Credit Cards Can Help With Budgeting

Credit cards help spendthrifts easily track their expenditures. One simple technique is to use one credit card to automatically pay your recurring monthly expenses (phone, cable, utilities, etc.), another to buy your groceries and gas, and a third for all other expenses (entertainment, eating out, etc.). When you get your bills each month you can compare how much you spent on your wants versus your needs and make adjustments as necessary.

Protections Offered by Credit Cards

Although the media likes to focus on the “epidemic” of identity theft, the truth is that using a credit card is much safer than using cash, a check, or virtually any other means of exchange. If you’re carrying cash and your wallet is stolen, you’ll never see a dime of your money. If a merchant cashes your check and refuses to grant you a refund, chances are, you’re out of luck. But in either scenario, using a credit card would have offered you protection.

If, for example, your wallet full of credit cards is stolen, you will not be liable for any more than $50 of fraudulent charges, per card. This is the legal limit, but in reality, most card issuers don’t even hold you liable for the first $50 - they just stick the merchants with the bill. And if a merchant refuses to give you a refund that you deserve, you can file a “chargeback,” in which the credit card company will side with you 99 percent of the time. Paying in cash or with a check offers no such protections.

Your Credit Card - Don’t Leave Home Without It

Credit cards are ideal for traveling abroad because they automatically convert to the local currency. This means you won’t have to waste time with the money changer or carry around several foreign currencies, and of course, not carrying cash makes you much less susceptible to pick-pocketing.

The main thing to understand is that credit cards can be wonderful tools that greatly enhance our lives. All that we need to do is be informed, active, and responsible users of these powerful little pieces of plastic.

Credit Cards: An Unnecessary Evil

Filed Under (Abbey credit card) by admin on 23-08-2010

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Why are we in debt?  Why is a majority of all people living with debt beyond their means?  We all have debt, this seems to be the nature of life, but why is it that our debt at least equals or exceeds what we can afford?

It is really quite simple.  This is what the credit card companies allow, this is what they want and this is how they make it rich.  The worst part is that they love for us to fall behind.

Everybody likes to get paid on time, but your creditors actually prefer the opposite.  They want you to be late!

Now granted they don’t want you to be too late or to default, but a week or two is just great.  Let’s just think what a late payment means to them.  You are still paying, but you are a week or two late.  Their late fee is $30.  They just made $30 for doing nothing.  You are already maxed out, so this fee puts you over your credit limit.  This earns them another $30 for, again, doing nothing.

You can now make your minimum payment of $20.  The math does not work in your favor.  Let’s just say that you have $15 in interest for the month.  Your total costs are; $15 in interest + $30 late fee + $30 over limit fee = $75 charged to your account.  You pay $20, which leaves you $55 worse than when you started and you have nothing to show for it.

This is why credit cards are evil and we must learn to do without them!

The first step in this process is to gather up all of your credit cards and destroy them.  You can save one or two, but get rid of the rest.  Just pick the ones with the lowest interest rates and preferably no annual fee.  Store your select few in a safe place that is not easily accessible.

This may seem extreme, but most people do not have the will power to simply not use the card.  They look at their statement, see $50 or $100 dollars in available credit and look at it as free money.  There is no such thing.

If you can’t bring yourself to cutting up your cards, at least gather them all up and store them somewhere that would take some effort to get to.  A safe deposit box is always a good idea.  You can also have someone that you trust hold on to them or hide them.

The key is to not have them accessible for those impulse purchases that we come across every day.  Once we pass the moment, chances are that we will realize that we don’t need to make that purchase or probably forgot about it all together.  We are now even closer to getting out of debt.

Don’t forget to cancel the cards that you are no longer going to use.  Most credit cards have an annual fee, anywhere from $30 to $100.  This is wasted money that you can use to apply towards the balance.

Some cards may charge you a closed account fee to persuade you to stay with them.  At this time you need to analyze the impact.  I recently cancelled a card that is charging me $3.50 a month in closed account fees.  My annual fee is $59.  12 months at $3.50 is $42.  I am still ahead of the game by $17, or more, if I pay it off within a year.  The most important part is that there is no way that I can use that card again and worsen my situation.

Now that the temptation is out of the way you can start paying them off.  Just remember to pay at least the minimum, pay all accounts on time, and stop using credit.  Now step back and enjoy the road to financial freedom.

Credit Card Rebates Rule The Roost

Filed Under (Abbey credit card) by admin on 13-08-2010

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Put the power of credit card rebates in your wallet! This can be done very easily if you have good or excellent credit, pay your balance monthly, and enjoy spending money to receive cash back on your purchases.

These unique credit card rebates are all over the place and they provide cardholders with cash rewards or rebates when they shop just like they normally would. All you have to do is use your credit card and purchase items that you always buy from your favorite store and you earn a percentage that you spend back in rebates. The average percentage rate is around 1% to 5% according to which credit card company you choose.

You may first wonder, what the gimmick is, because you know there is one. Well, to put it simply, the credit card rebates are given to you because the credit card company charges the business a fee. This fee is used to give you a rebate. You may also notice that with some credit card rebates you may be paying higher interest fees and annual fees than you would with a regular credit card. These annual fees are usually between £25 and £100 per year.

Many times with credit card rebates such things as balance transfers and cash advances do not count toward your rebate, but there are a few credit card companies that do offer £5 with all balance transfers. You will have to read the terms and conditions and of course the fine print to learn which credit card companies offer credit card rebates with balance transfers and cash advances.

Most credit card rebates are great even if you may have to pay a higher APR. Today, there are some credit card companies that are still keeping the APR as low as possible while offering credit card rebates. However, if you do not pay your balance on time you will soon learn that the money you would be earning is gone due to paying interest on your balance. The best way to avoid paying interest is to pay off your entire balance monthly. You may find that you are paying more in interest than you are actually earning in rebates if you carry a balance.

Remember, all credit card rebates are a great way to get something back for all your spending but for most credit card companies they only give these type of credit cards to individuals with good or excellent credit.

Credit Card Rebates Overview

Filed Under (Abbey credit card) by admin on 05-08-2010

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Rebate credit cards, or cash-back credit cards, are a popular feature that many credit card companies are offering to their clients. When you apply for a rebate credit card, you are essentially enrolling in a program that is designed to give you back a percentage of the cash you spend on the card. For each pound that you spend, your credit card company will offer a rebate. However, the rebates are generally set to become active at pre-determined price points. For example, you may only qualify to receive credit card rebates once you have spent £1000 or more pounds with your credit card.

How it Works
Rebate credit cards work for the consumer because shoppers get excited about spending money on one credit card if they know that the credit card offers rebates for each pound spent. Therefore, many shoppers elect to use only one credit card so that all of their expenses are consolidated. Before you request your credit card rebate, you may have spent more money through interest rates imposed by the credit card company than you actually get from the credit card rebate. Therefore, it is important that if you enroll in a credit card rebate program, you are aware of the interest rates that you may assume if you do not pay your credit card balance down each month.

How the Credit Card Companies Benefit
It can seem like poor business practice on the rebate credit card company’s behalf if they continue to give money to credit card users after they already have lent money out in the first place. However, credit card companies know that the more incentives they offer to long-term users, the greater the chances will be that those users will be loyal to the rebate credit card company. For example, if you know that you can get £100 back  if you spend £5000 on one credit card, you may be more inclined to actually spend money on that particular card rather than on other credit cards you may own. You will also be less likely to quit the credit card company before meeting that price point. While you stay with the rebate credit card company, you are most likely paying significant interest rate fees when you do not pay your monthly balance down. The majority of credit card holders do not routinely pay their balances completely, so the credit card companies benefit from the long-term relationship.

Where to Find Rebate Credit Cards
Believe it or not, rebate credit cards are easier to find than you might imagine. You may need to do some research so that you find a rebate credit card company that also offers a low interest rate. The low interest rate will help to keep you from spiraling into more debt, while the credit card rebates that you receive will make you actually feel good about spending. After all, who couldn’t use a little extra cash as a rewarding for spending it?

While many credit card companies offer rebate credit cards, the incentives associated with those companies very a great deal. Some companies may also offer 0% APR, while others may offer airline miles in addition or in place of the credit card rebates. Therefore, you must first define exactly what incentives you would actually use before you enroll in any one program. You’ll quickly find that there are many advantages to using a rebate credit card - the least of which is the fact that you will actually get money back for each pound you spend. Shop around for the rebate credit card company that offers everything you desire — and don’t forget to read the fine print!

Credit Card Rebates - Offer the Best Benefits

Filed Under (Abbey credit card) by admin on 29-07-2010

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Credit card rebates are the perfect way for you to get some of the money back that you have spent throughout the year. More and more credit card companies are getting involved with rebate credit cards and reward credit cards because consumers have clearly shown increased interest in the rebate cards that offer the best benefits.

We all love to get something for nothing, but it very rarely happens. However credit card rebates give you that opportunity. If you have an existing credit card then you’re going to use it to make purchases anyway, so why not get a little extra back every time you use your card with these credit card rebates?

The idea of rebate credit cards has been around for quite some time. The concept works on the principal that a percentage of cash is retuned to the cardholder at the end of each year, based on the total amount of card charges. The more times you make a purchase with your card, and the more money you spend, the more money you get back. The percentage of money you get returned when you use your rebate credit cards varies. Some companies will offer excellent deals that give you up to 5% cash back on selected purchases, others offer rates starting at 1% on all purchases. This type of card was introduced primarily to keep the business of cardholders who purchase most of their goods by credit card, and who pay the outstanding balance every month.

Like all other credit cards, it’s prudent to shop around to find a rebate credit card that offers the best deal to suit your circumstances. If you don’t pay off your balance every month then it may not be the card for you, as the APR can be slightly higher than other cards on offer. However, if you are the type of person who does pay their balance off each month, then it’s the kind of card you should consider using. The rebate credit card is a good way to actually get paid for spending.

Many lenders offer credit card rebates in conjunction with other reward schemes. Some give discounts when you purchase selected items, or goods from partner companies. If you use a certain supermarket, gas station, or drug store regularly it would be extremely beneficial to you to get 5% of your cash back on every purchase.  Find out which rebate credit card provider offers their rebate at the stores you regularly use. There are websites available online that will let you do a comparison on rebate credit cards, so you can find the best deals suitable for you.

Be sure to be aware of the terms and conditions of your credit card agreement, as some companies do have a limit on the value of rewards and credit card rebates you can claim in one calendar year.  On a £300 reward maximum, you can spend £6000 annually on gas or at the supermarket, for example, if your card has a 5% rebate. If your family budget exceeds £6000 pounds why not apply for another card for your spouse. This way you can maximize the amount of money you are able to get back on your rebate credit card.

Some rebate credit cards insist you have a monthly balance remaining to qualify for the rewards. If you don’t carry a balance into the next month then no rebate is accumulated. This type of card doesn’t produce as many benefits. You end up paying interest on your balance, and as the rebate credit card normally has a higher APR, the benefits of the rebate can be negated. It’s important that you look out for this when choosing a new card.

One thing you shouldn’t do is buy goods you don’t need in order to get a rebate. You should also be aware that if you return an item your rebate is deducted. On the whole credit card rebates can be very useful if used correctly, it just depends on your situation.