Credit Card Blog

You can help your college student learn responsible credit card use with a card like the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Visa (for college students).  There is no annual fee and you can set the card limit.  You will want to set it low to begin with, so perhaps $500.

How is it risk free?  You can use Citi’s online account management system to monitor the credit usage or by calling a toll free number.  The card reports to credit bureaus which means Junior is building a credit report and you are teaching responsible credit card skills that he or she can take right into their life-after-college.  Think of it as the last opportunity to help your child learn valuable money management skills.

The card comes with a cash back offer, travel accident insurance and other bonuses that can come in handy for college students- including credit education articles.

If you’re boarding a train in Connecticut, you just might want to bring your credit card. Metro-North trains will begin accepting credit cards for onboard ticket sales in April. Passengers on the New Haven, Hudson, and Harlem lines will be the first to enjoy the new $3.6 million system.

The railroad developed its own software and hired some heavy-duty help to bring their dream to fruition. Based on cellular technology (enabled by Verizon Wireless), the new cashless option was mostly developed for new passengers who didn’t always have their tickets or cash in hand when they boarded the trains. Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker says that rising gas prices have created an influx of new train riders.

The new ticket sale system is all about convenience. Customers’ credit cards are swiped on location. Sales data is stored in a hand-held receiver, then uploaded to a central database each day.

If possible, passengers should still purchase their tickets at the terminal, not from conductors. Onboard sales come with a penalty fee of $4.50 or higher.

In an attempt to head off a recession, the Federal Reserve has slashed interest rates again. Like most decisions, this is good for some people and bad for others. In particular, consumers who carry a credit card balance might get to breathe a sigh of relief. Then again, they might not.

Says CNN Finance Editor Gerri Willis: “Credit card companies tend to move their rates on their variable rate credit cards in line with the prime rate of interest, but they don’t have to. You might want to keep an eye on that.”

The bottom line is that accounts with variable interest, including most credit cards, can decrease their interest rates at the creditor’s discretion. This, at least, gives credit card holders a bit of hope when compared to other types of accounts. For example, consumers with fixed-rate loans aren’t going to benefit from this interest cut, and folks with a lot of money tied up in savings and other interest-yielding accounts will see their returns dwindle.

Ideally, and in the perfect world, you would never have to miss a credit card payment.  Knowing that’s not the case for most families though, if you absolutely have to miss a credit card payment, is there anything you can do to minimize the financial effects missing a payment will cause?

First- make sure you really have to miss it!  Sometimes money is tight but you could steal sneak out the minimum payment for your credit card.  Sending the minimum on time is better than nothing at all and will keep you from getting a late fee or interest rate hike.

If sending the minimum is just not possible, then call your credit card company immediately to ask if there is something they can do to help you.  If you feel it’s only going to be a problem for one month, they may be able to waive the late fee and let you make a larger payment the following month.  If on the other hand, you feel your money situation is going to be tight for awhile, they may work with you to make your payment more manageable- perhaps by lowering your interest rate so your payments are lower and more of your money is going to pay off the principal balance.

Whatever you do, don’t just skip the payment.  You will see a late fee and probably an interest rate increase the following month.  What’s more- often an interest rate increase will occur on ALL OF YOUR credit cards, not just the one you were late on.

A technique that some credit companies are using- whether intentional or not- is offering a promotional or introductory offer for new cardholders.  When you sign up for the credit card under the terms of the introductory offer, you expect to get that offer of course!

Keep an eye on plain white envelopes that might soon after be delivered to your mailbox.  Often, it will have a return address but no indication of who the envelope is coming from- and because it looks like a credit card offer many people just toss it in the trash.

The problem is, many of these plain white envelopes contain updates to your credit card terms and policies in the form of “changes to our agreement”.  The grace period may be shorter,  the late fee may increase, or an annual fee may be added or increased.  If you see these changes after you sign up for a credit card, it’s probably a good idea to keep looking for some better credit card offers.

It’s January. If you’re reading this, it’s safe to assume you survived the holiday season. But how’s your financial situation? Many of us have “holiday hangover” from all the shopping we did – especially all the purchases we made with our credit cards. If your card is feeling a little thin and your statements are a bit thick, here are some good ideas for relieving the strain.

First, call your credit card company and request a lower interest rate. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask. Sometimes you have to ask more firmly, but the companies are usually accommodating to good customers. (If you have a history of late payments or defaults, this method probably won’t work for you.) Another option is to switch to a new credit card with a lower interest rate. If you’re serious about switching, let your current creditor know. When they see that you’re ready to exercise other options, they might concede to your request for lower rates.

Second, reduce your other monthly expenses so that you can afford to make more than the minimum payment on your cards. Minimum payments get you nowhere; you want to double or triple them to make headway on your balance. When next Christmas rolls around, you don’t want to still be making payments on the last one.

And finally, take advantage of a zero-interest balance transfer card. With introductory periods from six months to one year, these cards could be just the thing you need to pay down that looming holiday balance. Do a little research to find a card that suits your needs, and that hefty balance will slim down in no time.

In a blunder that qualifies for the “Oops!” of the week, GE Money announced that the personal information of 650,000 card holders can’t be found. This includes over 150,000 social security numbers. The information was stored on a tape and left in the care of data storage company Iron Mountain Inc. There are no records to indicate that anyone checked out the tape; it just can’t be found.

A spokesman for GE Money said that credit card holders of Penney and up to one hundred other major retailers could be affected. It took two months to reconstruct the tape and discover the names of all customers involved. GE Money has been sending out warning letters since December, but some card holders have complained that the letters looked too much like credit card offers, and were thrown away. Regardless, GE Money has agreed to foot the bill for twelve months of credit monitoring for customers whose social security numbers were stolen.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 125 million customer records were compromised last year in the U.S. This was a six-fold increase from 2006. Hopefully GE Money’s tape will be found safe and secure, and its contents won’t add to this already staggering statistic.

For our friends in the UK, a warning: a credit card scam is being pulled across Lincolnshire. It’s an old classic, really. Card holders receive a telephone call from somebody pretending to be with their credit card company. This caller will ask for personal information, perhaps saying that they are calling in regard to a suspicious transaction. They quote the card number and customer’s name, but ask for the 3-digit security number on the card’s magnetic strip. Once they get this number, the thieves can use the card to make purchases.

No matter which country you live in, you should never respond to requests for financial information over the phone or Internet. Scammers often pose as bank employees, or representatives of online companies like Paypal. If you receive a suspicious phone call or e-mail, report it to the company in question. Never follow links in e–mails, as they might take you to fraudulent web sites. Instead, call the company or type their URL into your web browser bar yourself.

Targets of the Lincolnshire scam are encouraged to report the calls to Consumer Direct, tel, 08454 040506.

Identity theft can happen to anyone. Just today, it was reported that Barclays bank chairman Marcus Agius fell victim to an imposter who sweet-talked call center staff into issuing a credit card in Agius’ name. The thief is thought to have researched Agius online, looking up personal information that allowed him to present a credible story to bank employees. When he received the newly issued credit card, he walked into a Barclays branch and withdrew 10,000 pounds (about $15,000 US). Ill-gotten gains in hand, the fraudster simply walked away.

The incident has led Barclays to review its security procedures. But they’re not alone; some speculate that the same professional thief, or his conman cohorts, could be behind a rash of identity thefts at other leading UK banks.

Now consider the young couple in Texas who found out that someone had stolen their two year old son’s identity and used it to open lines of credit, purchase a home, and turn on utilities. From the great to the small, anyone can be a target of identity theft. Make sure you guard your personal information, and take advantage of extra security measures offered by your credit card company.