Debit or credit? I still prefer credit but in the wild debit usage has exceeded credit usage in both the number of transactions and the total purchase dollars. According to an earnings release by Visa, in 2012, US consumers used debit cards 2.5 times as often as they used credit cards. The total dollars charged to […]
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 […]
Why You Can’t Upgrade Your Credit Card In the First Year
After reading my previous post on best rewards card for groceries and gas, reader Tom wanted to upgrade his American Express card to the AmEx Blue Cash Preferred card which pays 6% rewards on purchases at supermarkets and 3% rewards on gas but charges a $75 annual fee. The higher rewards make the annual fee […]
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 […]
The Credit Crunch Finally Hit Me
In last week’s post Emergency-Proof Your Emergency Fund, I said I decided to apply for an unsecured personal line of credit from Wells Fargo, where I also have a checking account. I submitted the application online. The questions were as expected: name, address, Social Security Number, employment information, income, size of the credit line requested, […]
Credit Scores After Canceling Oldest Credit Card
My mortgage lender sent me my credit scores. That’s the only time I look at them. Otherwise I don’t bother. I compared the latest scores with what I got from my last refi in February 2008. Credit Bureau Model Feb. 2008 April 2009 Change Equifax FACTA Beacon 5.0 803 794 -9 Experian Fair Isaac (Ver. […]
Standardize Credit Card Contracts
I heard law Professor Adam Levitin of Georgetown University on NPR’s Fresh Air program last week. Professor Levitin is one of the contributing authors on the blog Credit Slips. In his interview, Professor Levitin talked about the recently enacted credit card law — Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (aka Credit CARD […]
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 […]