Credit Card Blog

If you have a credit card, there’s a good chance you’ve been asked if you would like to add credit card insurance. Sometimes it’s offered when you first sign up for the credit card, sometimes it’s when you call the number on the card or visit the website to activate the card, or sometimes it’s by a telemarketer. Most of the time, the insurance coverage is offered for a free trial, for 30 or 60 days, which will continue unless you cancel it.

Credit card insurance is meant to cover your monthly minimum payment in case you lose income from illness or job loss, or to pay your balance in full if you should die. Credit card insurance coverage sounds good in theory, but there have been many people who have reported trying to put a claim in for insurance coverage when they’ve lost their job who discovered their job loss wasn’t eligible for coverage. Others tried obtaining insurance coverage when they became too ill to work, and discovered their illness wasn’t covered. If you are considering card protection insurance coverage – first make sure it covers what you think it covers! Additionally, most insurance plans will not cover job loss for self-employed individuals, so if you are self-employed – better check on this before purchasing.

Most people have disability insurance and/or life insurance which will cover your credit card payments, which makes having a separate credit card protection insurance policy unnecessary. If you don’t have a disability insurance or life insurance policy – you may want to look at these options prior to signing up for credit card insurance, as you may find you get more coverage for your money through those options.

Credit card protection insurance only covers you for one credit card – so if you have multiple cards you would need to sign up and pay for it on each card. The typical price is around $0.89 per $100 you spent each month. It may not sound like a lot, but can add up to thousands of dollars over the years.

If you already have protection insurance and you want to cancel, be prepared to speak with a pushy sales person. They will try to convince you that the product offers so many benefits that you are crazy to cancel, but if you’ve made your decision to cancel simply be firm and demand that they stop billing your account immediately and cancel the coverage. Most people aren’t even aware they have insurance protection, but you can see it listed on your statement if you’re being charged for it.

Swipely is a new twitter-like social network, however instead of tracking your status, it tracks your purchases. It launched with venture capital of $8.5 million dollars.

What does Swipely do? You simply link your credit card to your Swipely account, and any purchases you make will appear throughout the day, similar to a tweet. For instance, if your friend purchased a McDonalds meal, it will simply show up as “Andrea just purchased a meal at McDonalds” on her Swipely account.

The first thought through your mind should be about the security of the network and access to your credit card information. Swipley promises that third party security specialists protect your credit card, so your credit card information will never show up anywhere, just announcements of what you‘re buying.

Unlike a similar Facebook application, this one won’t post how much you spent, just merely the services and where you purchased.

The idea behind it is to give your friends something to talk about. They may find they have more in common with you or vice versa based on purchases made. Or more commonly it’ll give you something to tease them about or vice versa. It’s just another way to start a conversation, or share interests. It’ll allow you to share more details about what you do in any given day with your friends and family.

Of course there are people who will say that this is way too intrusive, and people who feel that way don’t need to use the program. Most bloggers discussing Swipely don’t understand the purpose or need to share credit card purchases with friends and family in order to generate conversation.  But, maybe Swipely will be used by parents who give their teenagers debit or credit cards to monitor their kids spending habits as it happens – rather than waiting for the statements to arrive?

Will you use Swipely?

There is a new application available for the iPhone and the iPad that will make it easier for companies and businesses to process credit cards on the go.  The app is called “Square“. From the mind that brought us Twitter comes this new application, free for the iPhone but it does requires a device that plugs in that will actually “swipe” the credit card. It will have some other features like saving recurring purchases and frequently visited clients or consumers.

The application seems geared to traveling businessmen or any one who may need to process credit card sales on the go. It has great potential for street vendors who previously could only handle cash transactions, direct sales representatives doing home parties, or any other retailer that was primarily cash only (or who had to wait until they returned home with their credit card purchases filled out on paper to enter into their computer-based credit card processing software).

Taxis will now be able to charge for the cab with debit or credit transactions, which may also add to the safety of the drivers, who are all too often targets of robberies.

People trying to make extra money at garage sales and flea markets may still tap in to the potential of the “Square” application, allowing them to sell things to  people who don’t carry cash on them, but have their debit or credit cards.

This is a great application for any one who is in business that would like to expand out of the cash only situation and not be limited to a store front or their computer to process payments. Flea market vendors, street vendors, livery personnel, on the road salesmen and others will see a great use out of this product. The best part is the only investment, if you already have the iPhone or iPad, seems to be the purchase of the plug-in device, as the actual software is free.

Network marketing businesses, also commonly called Multi-level Marketers, have been successful for many decades. Some of the best known are Melaleuca, Amway, Tupperware, Pampered Chef, and Tastefully Simple. The majority of these organizations have websites that are setup to accept credit card purchases, but that’s not so simple when you’re doing a Pampered Chef or Melaleuca Demonstration in-home party. Here are some options to make the process much less of a challenge.

Network Marketing businesses such as Melaleuca, Pampered Chef, Amway, and a majority of others have websites. These websites give consumers the opportunity to finalize their orders online with the use of a credit card rather than limited cash at a party. For the Multi-level Network Marketers whose largest area of sales is through in-home parties, like Melaleuca, renting a wireless credit card payment processor can be a priceless investment, considering the dramatic increase in sales results in your promotion and bonuses.

Organizations such as Tupperware, Premier Designs Jewelry, Avon, and Mary Kay are very popular career choices with stay at home moms. Representatives are often assigned codes for online purchases and may encourage those in attendance of their parties to make their purchases online to receive exclusive discounts. Considering not everyone has a computer with Internet service, wireless portable processors are a good choice for these particular Network Marketers as well. Your number sales can be doubled simply by making available the option of purchasing with a credit card.

Another option is accepting wireless credit card payments via cell phone with Internet access. Merchant Commerce and Total Merchant Services are two of the industry’s most reliable providers of wireless credit card payment processor services; such as using a wireless Verifone mobile credit card payment processor. Offering the option of paying with credit cards will almost immediately increase your level of sales and success.

Today, entrepreneurs have a vast array of business credit cards and options to choose from, yet only 40% of the 2/3’s of small businesses take advantage of benefits by using a business credit card. It’s imperative that businesses account for each expense, whether it’s for quarterly inventory, tax purposes, or expense reports. Here are just a few ways entrepreneurs can benefit through the use of a business credit card.

A monthly itemized statement is provided that makes it easy to track expenses. With this, the business isn’t doing a last minute scramble, hunting down receipts and expense reports. Using a business credit card also gives the entrepreneur the opportunity to quickly build their business’s credit. This is especially beneficial when a need arises to apply with a local lender for a line of credit for inventory or larger office space.

Monitoring employee purchases is no longer a dreaded hassle. Since there are usually just a few designated employees with purchasing privileges, tracking is now simplified and removes the time-waster of filling out expense reports. It’s still a wise practice to require employees keep and submit their receipts.

Put rewards to good use for business travel for seminars & meetings, office supplies, and discounts on services such as internet or phone.

When applying for a business credit card, entrepreneurs should apply with the financial institution they personally deal with and take advantage of their existing relationship.

Take advantage of the 21-day grace period for payments, offered by most business credit card companies. This is important when an entrepreneur is building initial cash flow.

Pay card bills on time to build your business’s good credit. Also, consider paying those bills online, thus avoiding the ever rising cost of stamps and post office hours and lines.

When entrepreneurs fully take advantage of the many benefits of using a business credit card, their financial management stress lowers significantly. Using a business credit card to track expenses, obtain useful rewards, and establish good business credit are just the immediate perks with many others to follow.

Transparent Financial Services, of Chicago, IL was awarded a grant from CEC (Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center) to support TransFS’s rapid national growth. Clients of TransFS are businesses in need of financial services, such as locating a dependable credit card processor. Transparent Financial Services are recipients of this grant through the CEC’s Entrepreneur in Residence program. This program places startup companies displaying significant growth-potential with entrepreneurs who are experienced with business success.

Transparent Financial Services now have over twelve markets in the customer base of their comparison-shopping site offered to their clients through their credit card processing services. TransFS has a wide network of credit card processors bidding on each merchant’s services but, they are all bound by strict contractual stipulations. The system is carefully designed so that a client is not contacted by or connected with a credit card processor until they have officially chosen one through the services of Transparent Financial Services.

TransFS was established in 2008 and their client base of businesses now includes more than twelve various industries. The owners founded Transparent FS, while in Business school, after their many challenges as entrepreneurs trying to choose the best credit card processor and locating top quality financial service providers. They have developed a unique strategy which enables them to locate processing fees that are about 40% lower than average. TransFS has already saved some of their clients well over $72,000 per year in credit card processing server fees. Even their processing providers are rewarded when they adhere to contract regulations and earn TransFS certification, by becoming eligible for quicker contact with clients at reduced costs. Transparent FS also offers their services to all business clients free of charge.

Small business owners often complain about the time consuming task of keeping track of their finances and purchases for tax time. It’s imperative that a business can account for each of their purchases – both for tax purposes and for strong management of their business.Using a business credit card can eliminate some of the time spent categorizing and tracking each of your expenses and purchases.

When you use a single credit card for all business purchases, your monthly credit card statement will give you a record of all of your expenses by the month, broken down by individual purchase. You can often get a year-end statement from the credit card company as well, with purchases already categorized by type and by month which will make your job (or your accountant’s job) of balancing your books much easier.For businesses that have a key employee or two, using business credit cards allows you to keep a close eye on the items they’re purchasing or paying for on behalf of your business. You can issue your key employees a card in their name, and then review the purchases made to each individual card on a monthly basis.Additionally, many credit cards designed for business use offer discounts for businesses – from office supplies to travel discounts to merchandise discounts or rewards. Select a card based on the type of purchases you need to make most often for the most benefits.

Did you know that merchants pay a fee to process credit card purchases when you shop in their stores? These are called interchange fees. They are represented by a percentage of all of the sales that are charged onto credit cards which is only several points. But it adds up quickly for merchants. There are a few things you need to know about interchange fees and how they affect you as a credit card user.

Higher prices

Interchange fees are one of the highest expenses of a merchant right behind payroll. In fact, they are more than rent most of the time. That creates a situation where merchants are forced to raise prices as an off-set to these fees. They will say otherwise, but it has been all too often proven otherwise. Take away: merchants that do not accept credit cards might have lower prices.

Convenience to you

Merchants do not have much of a choice in accepting credit cards if they want to remain competitive in today’s retail market. Not doing so puts them at a disadvantage to their competition. Take away: it is easy for you to walk in and pay for your purchases with credit or debit cards because of this system.

Pending legislation

There is a law pending that will likely create a higher fee for interchange rates for merchants. This law will allow merchants to charge higher prices specifically when you use credit cards for your purchases. Take away: higher interchange fees means higher prices for you at the register.

There are different interchange fees for different merchants from card issuers. For example, MasterCard has over 120 different rates for the various kinds of retailers. Supermarkets have the lowest rates, while Internet based retailers pay the highest.

Knowing the above information can help you be a wise shopper and user of credit cards.

Travelers who are used to using credit cards to book flights, hotel rooms and rental cars will not flinch when it comes time to make in-flight purchases. United Airlines is imposing the credit card-only transactions on all trans-Atlantic flights as well as those to Brazil and Argentina. Now, there are few flights with this carrier that do accept cash as they already rolled out this same program on domestic flights.

Avoid Debit Cards - Either credit cards or debit cards are allowed for purchases on these flights, but if you are travelling abroad, you need the added protection of credit card services in case of theft of your cards, so taking along debit cards is not a good idea.

Use Travel Rewards Cards - Add to your points and miles totals by making purchases during flights. It’s a great reason to use your card in this way. The

Security Assistance – Using your credit cards on international flights also helps keep your money secure as there are card protection programs in place by most all card issuers.

Using credit cards for travel purposes is probably the best fit for the two entities that can be found. Add to that the travel rewards programs, and you have a marriage made in heaven. Be sure to keep your cards safe and carry a back-up card in a different location in case your primary card gets stolen or lost. Using common sense approaches like these will help your travel be more enjoyable – even when using your card for in-flight purchases.

If you’re a fan of credit card travel or dining rewards programs, you’ll want to become a member of the FlyerTalk forums. It’s an interactive community that lets people share information about rewards programs and travel perks they’ve gotten from various rewards cards.

In the forums, you can read from real people how they’ve been able to maximize their points and miles. Some people discuss credit card retention benefits – where they’ve been able to get extra rewards or points by calling a certain phone number or telling a customer service representative they planned to cancel their credit card account.

Unlike the credit card websites and blogs, this forum is made up of real people who use the various credit cards and participate in the rewards programs. The information you gain from these forums should be without bias or sales agenda, which makes it a little more trustworthy than information you find on a credit card company’s website.

You can use the community for free by creating an account. They welcome you to read the posts and get comfortable and then begin asking questions or sharing information as soon as you feel ready. While they can’t guarantee the information found on the site is 100% accurate all the time (after all, people are posting it and there is a potential for error), you can find out about some great deals, contests, and offers for reward program benefits by becoming a member.