CardRatings.com Monthly Newsletter April 2002

April 1, 2002

Paying Your Tax Bill with a Credit Card Only if You're Desperate
It's easy to pay your tax bill by credit card. Experts say don't. If you owe money to the Internal Revenue Service, you can play the plastic fantastic with Uncle Sam. Whip out your American Express, Discover or MasterCard and charge your tax bill. Even Visa, after years on the tax-payment sidelines, is getting in on the action this year. Just remember: convenience comes at a price. First, there's a 2.5 percent fee of the amount owed. (4/3/02)

New College Savings Credit Card Rebate Plans
Instead of air miles, earn education dollars with you credit card. New credit card rebate programs help build college funds by allowing you to transfer the dollars you save with rebates into 529 college savings plans. (4/1/02)

Credit Card Rates Hold Steady
Credit card rates hold steady in March and variable interest rate credit cards have likely reached their low point. (3/29/02)

Cardholder Reviews

Recent Credit Card Reviews by Consumers Like You!
Following is a very small sample of the newest cardholder reviews that can be found by clicking the "Consumer Reviews" link above. We take pride in the quantity (our site offers 8,500+ reviews of 575+ different credit cards) and quality of the consumer reviews that can be find on our site. The cards are rated on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest recommended.

Credit Card: NextCard Standard Visa
Issuer: NextBank
Status: Standard
Review: I posted a review of NextCard about a month ago. When I opened the card it had a 9.9% interest rate. I noticed on my statement that my interest rate was 19.9%. I called them and asked about it and they said it was due to one late payment. They agreed to lower my rate to 12.9%. Here's the surprise. This month's statement shows they have lowered the rate even further -- 8.90% on purchase and 12.90 on cash advances. I didn't ask for a second lowering, but it's certainly a nice surprise. I only wonder how long it'll last. Has anyone else noticed their NextCard rate has suddenly dropped?
Best: Online record of all transactions
Worst: Misleading benefit program
Card Rating: 3.5
Customer Rating: 4
Benefit Rating: 2
Recommend: Yes

Credit Card: Capital One Platinum
Issuer: Capital One
Status: Platinum
Review: I've noticed most of the positive ratings are from those who've never had to dispute any items. I have to agree with those who've rated this card bad because of Capital One's dispute resolution policies. None of my other cards request all the information you have before even placing any amount into dispute, and then say you haven't sent information that they never requested. That happened to me with this card. The involved account is closed now, but I'd have never gotten it in the first place if I'd known how they handled disputes.
Best: Online Payments. No Foreign Currency Conversion Fees
Worst: Merchant dispute resolution is nonexistant
Card Rating: 2
Customer Rating: 1
Benefit Rating: 1
Recommend: No

Credit Card: Citi AAdvantage Card
Issuer: Citibank
Status: Standard
Review: I have had this card for several years and charge everything to accumulate American Airlines points. Once, I even charged a used car for my daughter even though I had the money to pay for it! The people are friendly and helpful when you call. I recently had my card stolen at a movie theatre and they replaced it immediately. The $50 annual fee is made up by the frequent flier miles you can accumulate. You can negotiate the interest rate after awhile. They cover car rental insurance and give you ways each month to accumulate mileage.
Best: Can accumulate American Airlines miles
Worst: None
Card Rating: 5
Customer Rating: 5
Benefit Rating: 5
Recommend: Yes

Credit Card: Direct Merchants Bank MasterCard
Issuer: Direct Merchants Bank
Status: Platinum
Review: I pay on time, I pay more then the minimum payment due and for some odd reasons the amount is always a few dollars short resulting in constant interest increase (28%) Every time I call them, they say we cannot reduce more then 2% and the next statement shows no changes..I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THEIR CARD TO ANYONE
Best: None
Worst: Unjustifiable interest increase
Card Rating: 1
Customer Rating: 1
Benefit Rating: 1
Recommend: No

Credit Card: GetSmart Visa Classic
Issuer: Providian
Status: Standard
Review: Relatively high APR. Great Customer Service. On-line card management.
Best: Customer Service
Worst: High APR
Card Rating: 3.5
Customer Rating: 4.5
Benefit Rating: 3.5
Recommend: Yes

Credit Card: Chase Wal-Mart MasterCard
Issuer: Chase
Status: Standard
Review: I have really enjoyed the lower rates, for my Wal-Mart purchases, that I have made in the past.My family and myself do most of our shopping at Wal-Mart, so this has been an added bonus for us.
Best: Lower interest rate for Wal-Mart purchases.
Worst: None
Card Rating: 4.5
Customer Rating: 4.5
Benefit Rating: 4.5
Recommend: Yes

The Cardholder Review section is a unique feature of our site and, to the best of our knowledge, there is no other organization or company that offers this many consumer reviews of credit cards. It's all about consumers helping other consumers. As your might expect, this section of our site has been one of the most popular sections of our site since it was introduced in the summer of 2000. New reviews are posted on a daily basis, so we hope that you will find this section of our site useful and that you will visit it on a regular basis.

Important Note! The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we can not guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.

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