CardRatings.com Monthly Newsletter July 2006
July 1, 2006
Credit Cards Come to Vending Machines- Students and All Consumers Beware
According to industry experts, cashless vending machines are coming our way, quickly. In fact, folks in Philadelphia will soon be able to use a credit card at 1,000 Coke machines. And it's expected that by 2009, over half the vending machines in the U.S. will take credit cards. (8/7/06)
Avoiding Student Credit Card Debt
Summer 2006 is winding down and the new school year is rapidly approaching! The endless days of basking in the summer sun are fading and, at the same time, credit card issuers are starting to ramp up their marketing efforts for the new school year. To help college students deal with the barrage of card offers, we are pleased to offer the following tips. (7/27/06)
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Credit Card Debt Likely to Escalate as the Fed Raises Rates Again On May 25th, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article entitled "Loss of Balance: Credit-Card Issuers' Problem: People Are Paying Their Bills". The article began, "Although Americans are deeper in debt than ever, they are paying off bigger portions of their monthly credit-card bills." The article offers reasons why and the overall affect on the card industry. Read more >>
Consumer Tips on Redeeming Credit Card Frequent Flyer Miles In a Knight Ridder newspaper article entitled Strapped Airlines Making It Tougher To Redeem Miles, the assertion is made that frequent flyer miles have become a form of currency that can be used to purchase many types of everyday products and services, including cameras, hotel stays, and meals. On the flip side, the article also suggests that redeeming frequent flyer miles for airline tickets is getting tougher and tougher. Read more >>
Survey Shows College-Bound Freshman Lack Basic Credit Card and Money Skills Over 2.7 million students will graduate high school this year, but the sad truth is that six out of ten of them would flunk "Personal Finance 101" if it had been offered in their school. That's the key finding of a recent survey done by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the personal financial literacy of young adults based in Washington, D.C. Read more >>
Will Federal Rulings Affect Non-Profit Status of Credit and Debt Counseling Agencies? During October of last year I wrote an article regarding non-profit credit counseling agencies entitled Is Non-Profit Status Merely Marketing Hype. Scott Pryzwansky, Senior Account Executive at Trone Public Relations, saw the article and wrote to me. Read more >>
HOT TOPICS...Paying it all off!!!
My roommate and I were making a budget for me and of course the credit card debt was one of my biggest problems. She suggested I pay off my debt with what I have in my savings account. If I pay off my balance I would be left with about 10% of my original savings. Is this wise to do? The roomie explained how much more logical and less expensive it would be to pay it off now instead of having to pay the extra 400-600 in interest. Since I am hoping to be debt free in a year or less this sounds ideal. However, I am a bit scared of having my savings drastically cut to do this. Any advice?
AJ, I had 2 platinums at 9.9 fixed, had accounts for 10 years, and had never been late. They wanted to change the rate to 28.9 due to what they call "Universal Default." I only have 10 cards, all with low balances. I pulled my credit report and the score was 706. I closed the account immediatley. Now I am getting pre-approvals daily for 0 percent until October 2007, at 8.9 fixed. I will not apply!
Evilbunny answers, You do realize that those offers just come from the marketing department, based on a very easy pre-aproval model. They have no knowledge of your previous history. They just spam everyone and their dog who has a cedit score over the thresh-hold. Just because a bank ratejacks you, which Chase is the worst from what I have seen and heard, that is no reason to jeopardize your credit score. Closing your accounts does nothing but hurt you personally. The banks can care less. They just want you to pay them buckets of interest or move your credit somewhere else. Also, if you close your account with Chase, even if there may possibly (not likely) be a lower rate in the future once it is closed, they will not lower the interest rate. That is just something to think about.
loonysteps, "Sufficient Credit Considering Income" - what does it mean? My application was denied due to this. I tried getting a student credit card, I've never had one. What could this mean?
Brammy answers, It means they think you have as much credit as you need. I keep seeing stranger and stranger reasons for DCs lately. I was DCd because my current card limits are too low. I do not use the cards to the max, but because they don not have higher limits they won't give me a new card. Check your bureau to make sure there's nothing on it that you didn't know about. You are entitled to a free one due to the decline. I'm not sure if they are looking at your student loans as well.
Visit our active Message Board. Ask a question, give your opinions. Select questions answered by our board monitor. Our board currently has over 30,000 posts (since May 2000) and new posts are added daily. We are seeking new consumers like you to become involved in our board community.
| Recent Credit Card Reviews by Consumers Like You |
Following is a sampling of the latest consumer reviews that can be found by clicking the "Cardholder Reviews" link above. We take pride in the quantity (our site offers approximately 17,250 reviews of 928 different credit cards) and quality of the consumer reviews that can be find on our site. New reviews are added on a daily basis. The cards are rated on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest recommended. Credit Card: Chase Platinum Visa® Review: Quick story. I had this card for a few years and always made my payments online, through my bank. Once, my payment posted a day late. It just so happens that my card was about to expire and a new one sent. Fast foward.... I was working on lowering the interest on all of my cards and when it came time to speak with Chase the rep told me,"I can't lower your APR because we don't make changes to closed accounts." This was a surprise to me because I hadn't closed my account. Turns out, Chase had decided they wouldn't send me a new/replacement card once the old one expired because of my 1-day late payment about 2 months prior. Nor would they keep my account open or notify me of these changes. I was so angry. I asked the rep why I never received a letter stating that my account had been closed and he simply told me they weren't required to notify me. Excuse me?? Isn't it just common courtesy to let someone know things like that. What kind of business are (some of these) people running these days?? I quickly turned all of my attention to getting the balance paid to $0.00 and vowed to never get a credit card with them again. I have another account with Chase - an auto account (which I'm currently transferring elsewhere, by the way). Whenever I call in to the office the rep on the other end always lets me know, "Hey, you're one of our best customers and you're pre-qualified for a Chase Platinum Visa!" UH YEAH.. SURE.. No thanks, I'll pass. Best Feature: Initially low APR Overall Rating: 1 Credit Card: Discover® Platinum Gas Card Review: I believe this was the best card going. While our local gas station card limits rebates to 5 cents a gallon I was getting 5% back on fuel purchases often including the cup of coffee I'd buy with my gas. In June I reeived notification that the program was being cut back to limit the rebate to the first $1200 in fuel each year. While this will still net me a savings of $60 in fuel costs it will only assist me for about four months in the year. Unfortunately with the time delay of the internet many people will have their cards in hand before they realize this. In the end this will still be a great card to use for 120 days a year (depending on fuel usage). I now have to step over to the Citi gas card for the balance of the year. Additionally, be sure to pay off the balance each month or your interest will easily eat up your savings. Best Feature: 5% gasoline or fuel rebate Overall Rating: 3.5 Geico Platinum MasterCard® Review: I wasn't going to get this card at first but the no annual fee and 0% APR inticed me. I can save money on my car insurance if I pay with this card. So far so good.... Best Feature: Can pay your car insurance Overall Rating: 4.5 Credit Card: Plains Commerce Bank Secured Visa® Card Review: I have had my Plains Commerce Bank secured credit card for 3 years. I, like many other people, did not understand credit and the consequences of bad credit. When it was time to take on responsibility, I could not get credit anywhere. I received my secured card a week and half after applying for it. It has been good to me ever since. I started with a $300 limit and have increased it to a $1000 limit. In two years my credit score went from 498 to 601. I don't understand why others are having problems with payments posting. There are times I send my payments via postal mail three days before the due date and never get a late fee. Also, they have online payments that post the next day. The annual fee is cheaper than most of the other secured cards. It is a really good place to start for credit. This is my last year keeping it, because I will be moving on to an unsecured card. If it wasn't for my Plains Commerce Card, I would still be paying higher interest rates on ther loans. Best Feature: not reported as unsecured and good for re-establishing credit Overall Rating: 4.5 Credit Card: Wells Fargo Platinum Visa® Card Review: I had a fraudalent online charge picked up by the Wells Fargo computer, and because of this they quickly shut down the card. Although it was a bother to find out my card was declined, the fact the computer caught it that fast was great, and may have prevented a full scale identity theft. Best Feature: you can get $600 cash for 50000 points Overall Rating: 5 Credit Card: Target® Guest Card Review: The intrest rate will kill you if you carry a balance. They do not report your credit limit to equifax and that hurts your debt ratio. It does help you have a good payment history if paid on time. Best Feature: Getting 10% off coupons , Easy approval Overall Rating: 3 Credit Card: American Express® Rewards Plus Gold Card Review: I used a regular Green Amex back in the mid-90's but did not keep it. I did some research in '04 and decided that it would be cheaper for my wife and I to get the Gold Rewards Plus, as it gives you up to 5 cards for the $150 fee and automatic enrollment in the rewards program. I never really cared about rewards because they tend to make you spend more. As time went on we used the Amex more and Worldperks check card less, eventually moving almost all of our bills and spending to the Amex. We're billing $2000-2500/month, much of it for double points. The website makes it really easy to check charges and pay bills, plus shop for stuff with those MR points. Best Feature: Free additional cards and Double Points Overall Rating: 5 Credit Card: Citi® Upromise® Card Review: It's great to put some money away for college just by making day to day purchases. I would like more rewards. The cap is a hindrance but I barely hit those limits. 10% for Online shopping would be great. Best Feature: Additional savings of 10% on Grocery & Drugstores and 2% on Gas with NO CAP Overall Rating: 5 Credit Card: Discover® Student Classic Card Review: I have been a Discover customer for two years. The initial credit line of $1,000 was Okay, but after two years without a credit limit increase I have closed the account. Best Feature: None Overall Rating: 1 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 more 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. 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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