My Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS running watch broke. It keeps resetting at random times. I refreshed the firmware. It didn’t help. Raindrops got into it some time ago. That probably messed up something. I bought the watch in July 2011. The manufacturer has a 1-year warranty. I paid with my Starwood American Express card, which […]
Not Necessary to Tell Banks About International Travel
Urban legend says you must notify your credit card or debit card banks before you travel internationally so that they won’t block your cards. I used to believe it. Every time before I left, I would religiously call the banks and tell them the dates and the countries I was going. This last time when […]
Chase Blueprint: Suggested Payment Calculator
By way of a post on the Payments Views blog, The Era of Responsible Credit Card Borrowing Begins Today, I heard that Chase recently launched a new Blueprint service for their credit cards. In a nutshell, Blueprint is a fancy suggested payment calculator. For customers who carry a balance, Blueprint lets them set up some […]
Personal Line of Credit vs Credit Card
My personal line of credit is all set up. I tested it by making a transfer from it in the morning and transferring the money back in the afternoon. I don’t think I will owe any interest that way. It worked as advertised. A personal line of credit and a credit card are both unsecured […]
Credit Card Cash Advance Saved the Day
I took a cash advance from a credit card last week. I had never done that before. I’m very happy I was able to do it. I’m also very happy with the cost and the efficiency of how it was done, even though I borrowed at 39,608% APR. I had been in the process of […]
One-Time Credit Card Numbers for More Security
The sixth largest payment processor in the country Heartland Payment Systems disclosed recently their system was compromised by hackers with a piece of data sniffing software watching credit card data pass by between Heartland and credit card networks. That system processes 100 million transactions a month. This had gone on for months until Visa and […]
How Long Can You Live On Your Credit Cards?
It’s old news that credit card companies are cutting people’s credit limits. I also read on FatWallet some banks paid people more than $500 for paying down their balance. I checked my three cards. None of them cut my limits. Maybe they just haven’t got to me yet. Besides merchant fees, they are not getting […]
Deferred Interest Payment Plans Banned
I wrote on Monday about 0% APR, Same As Cash, and No Interest No Payments. Upon closer reading of the final rules adopted by the federal regulators in December, I realized that deferred interest payment plans like “same as cash” or “no interest no payments” are actually banned after July 1, 2010. Good riddance! I […]
0% APR, Same As Cash, and No Interest No Payments
Do you know the difference between “0% APR for 12 months” and “12 months same as cash”? What about “no interest, no payments for 12 months”? If you are offered all three payment plans, which one do you prefer? If you pay off the balance within 12 months, all three work pretty much the same. […]
Maxed Out: Documentary About Debt in America
I watched a documentary Maxed Out on DVD over the weekend. It’s about debt in America, especially credit card debt. It featured people who are in debt, people who lost their loved ones to debt, a Harvard Law School professor, Dave Ramsey, debt collectors, a pawn shop owner, and many other people involved in debt […]