Credit Card Blog

Okay, all credit card fraud is pretty heinous. But some thieves go over the top. Here are some of the most outrageous cases of credit card fraud from July 2009:

El Paso, TX: Jose Adrian Castillo was arrested and charged with fraud. His method? Playing on the sympathies of elderly women by telling them he was dying of cancer. Of course, the ladies couldn’t deny Castillo’s dying requests, so they let the con man borrow their credit cards. He ran up tabs as high as $25,000 on these ill-gotten cards before police finally caught up to him.

Vermilion, OH: Jason Truxel was the victim of identity theft. Someone had used his personal information to open up lines of credit, obtain a mortgage, and even receive tax refunds. Imagine Truxel’s shock when he learned that the fraudster was his own dad! Sadly, statistics show that parents frequently steal their kids’ identities.

Cross Lanes, WV: A computer programmer named Martin Bowling decided to go on an identity-stealing spree. His target? The subscribers of ‘Woodcrafters Magazine’. He made off with $4,500 and purchased - among other things - an automatic litter box.

Remember: identity theft and credit card fraud happen every day. You can protect yourself by using Smart Cards, keeping your passwords safe, and never clicking on links contained in e-mails - no matter how official they seem.

This prank has been around awhile, but it’s an entertaining read. An individual who uses credit cards for just about all of his transactions gets very annoyed about having to sign for every last purchase. He figures no one really looks at the signature anyway, and that it serves no purpose and slows the process of paying for items by credit down unnecessarily.

He goes on to prove his point by embarking on a credit card prank in which he makes crazy “signatures” whenever he’s presented with a receipt to sign. Some of his signatures are doodles, some are drawings, some are simple marks on the paper. How many do you think he signed in this manner before getting caught? Are the purchases valid with these prank signatures on them?

Read more on the credit card signature prank.

By now, you might have heard of the ‘Tennessee Credit Card Massacre’, one man’s attempt to destroy his credit cards in the most satisfying ways possible. In the video, Fred Wilharn of Franklin, TN, dons a familiar hockey mask and disposes of his credit cards by slicing, shredding, blending, drilling, and even electrocuting them.

What could drive a man to such vicious acts!? Wilharn had just paid off his credit card debt following a series of rate and fee increases. Rather than celebrating by simply cutting up the cards, Wilharn got creative and decided to commemorate the occasion with an entertaining horror movie spoof. The video has gone viral, and has been featured on ABC, Fox News, and in the Wall Street Journal.

Do you sympathize with WIlharn? Millions of cardholders have been stressed out by rising interest rates. Even folks with good credit standings have felt the pinch of lower credit limits and higher rates. If you’ve ever felt like cutting up your own cards, be sure to watch Wilharn’s YouTube video.

Fortunately, there are still some decent interest rates to be had. Take a look at our low interest credit cards to find one.

A 29 year old engineer from Massachusetts has taken a novel approach to getting rid of his credit card debt: he’s selling it on Ebay! The seller, who goes by the nickname ’speedwerx’, has fallen on hard times. Both he and his wife have recently become unemployed, and they have $22,000 in credit card debt - on top of a mortgage and college loans.

The family is hoping to find 2,500 Ebay buyers willing to pay $10 apiece. That amount would get the couple out of credit card debt and help them get current on their mortgage payments.

How did the family get in such a mess? The comatose economy is partially to blame, but ’speedwerx’ also recognizes how his family’s spending habits contributed to their current situation. Fresh out of college, the couple bought a house and started a family. Now they realize that they took on too much debt too quickly.

Says ’speedwerx’ on his Ebay listing: “This is a very humbling time for me, and I’m looking to do everything I can to support my family.”

Unfortunately, as of today, the listing had been removed from Ebay. Creativity is an asset, though, so hopefully this family will be able to come up with a debt solution that works for them.

Kids do the darnedest things.

For example, six-year-old Bennett Christiansen of Aurora, Illinois, managed to get his own credit card from Bank of America.

Amy Christiansen, the child’s mother, said that all of her family members had been receiving offers of credit in the mail - including Bennett. For a bit of fun, she allowed Bennett to fill out and send in one of the applications addressed to him.

In a totally unexpected development, Bennett soon received a credit card with his name on it, even though he’d listed his birth date as 2002 and his income as $0. The child’s card carried a $600 credit limit.

Bank of America insists that they do not target or give credit to minors, but Mrs. Christiansen was understandably concerned about the ease with which her child obtained his first credit card. She’d better stay on her toes; Bennett’s 3-year-old sibling has also received offers of credit.

When a father of a Texas 13-year-old forgot to get his son a birthday present, the boy took matters into his own hands and order an additional card from his dad’s credit card company.  Apparently, if you know the answers to the security questions, anyone can get an additional card sent out in their name.

The teenager took a few buddies out on the town and charged $30,000 on his dad’s credit card account.  They capped off the evening in a motel room, where they ordered two female escorts, at just $1,000 a night (each).  The girls thought their clients appeared “young”, and so instead of their typical job duties, they played “Halo” on the Xbox with the boys. 

The call girls were released without charge, and the boy was sentenced to three years community service and convicted of fraud.  According to an article on Money.co.uk, when asked what the boy aspires to be when he grows up?  A politician, of course.

In the spirit of the Halloween season, we’ve dredged up information on one card that should be avoided at all costs. Consumerist.Com recognizes the Continental Finance MasterCard as the worst credit card in the world.

How did this card earn such a dubious honor? It was designed for high-risk card holders with bankruptcies and poor credit histories, but those things alone do not a scary card make.

The terror is in the details: a $300 credit limit that costs $247 to set up. Plus a $10 monthly account maintenance fee. Plus 20% interest on all purchases. Plus a $4 charge whenever you make an online payment. Card holders do get automatic upgrades to their credit limit when they qualify for such, but the upgrades come in $100 increments, each tagged with a $25 fee.

There are so many better alternatives. For some helpful advice, check out our articles on credit cards for consumers with poor or no credit. There are some scary cards out there in Low Credit Land; when confronted by them, make information your weapon of choice.

This is a nice little “diddy” of a song, found it while browsing around youtube. It basically describes the problem many people have with credit cards. It’s not that credit cards themselves are all that bad, it’s that most people don’t really know how to use them responsibly. We get caught up in the “gotta have it” and spend more than we should because let’s face it, it’s just so much easier to swipe the card than to worry about setting aside cash to save for the latest “gotta have it” item. I wonder how many of us would actually save up for that pair of shoes or new phone if we had to save for it BEFORE we bought it?

Click Here to watch video

We might actually benefit more from credit card rewards programs and benefits if we were able to use the cards more responsibly. So I hope you enjoy this video and that it inspires you to use your credit cards more appropriately!

Here at Creditor Web not only do we receive hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every month, we also receive our fair share of visitors from the World of Warcraft. Our ongoing goal is to serve you, the consumer, and we do not feel we have done a fair job giving our WoW visitors the advice they need. To correct this problem we have scoured our log files to find the most popular credit cards among our visitors from the World of Warcraft.

Although we do not like to group our visitors into boxes, in this case we’ve noticed an overwhelming trend of what cards are chosen based on class, and we thought it would be helpful to share. So without further ado, here is the list of our most popular credit cards our visitors from the World of Warcraft choose, broken down by class.

Druid Druids are the shape-shifters of Warcraft. We don’t know if they are indecisive or just like variety. Either way, one thing is clear, they don’t like being locked into any one form. As druids shift forms to assist them with common tasks such as travel, and trade they need a credit card that will do the same. That’s why they choose the Chase Freedom Card. It allows them to easily switch between points, airline miles and cash in order to keep up with their ever changing lifestyle.

Hunter Hunters only have two true friends in the world: their weapon and their pet. They are passionate about animals and want to make sure they are well cared for; that’s why most hunters choose the PetRewards Platinum Plus Visa Card. While spending money on weapons and repairs, they earn points that can be used to feed and care for their own pet, or can donate to shelters that care for others. They can even place a picture of their pet on the credit card.

Mage The mages are a magical class. After Dalaran was destroyed, they spread to the far corners of the world. Among their most popular destinations are Disney Land and Disney World. The combination of being the most magical place on Earth, and the mages’ superior skills in dealing with crowds makes these resorts the ideal second home for any mage. For most mages the Disney Rewards Visa Card is the obvious choice. It allows them to save money and reap significant rewards at their favorite destinations.

Paladin Paladins are somewhat a jack-of-all-trades. They fulfill a number of roles and frequently find themselves performing a different job, depending on the situation. An unfortunate side effect of constantly switching jobs is that they find it hard to build a good credit history. Because of this, the majority of paladins who visit our site apply for a secured credit card. Their top choice is the Orchard Bank MasterCard Secured. Paladins posses some healing skills and their weapon of choice for healing bad credit is a secured card.

Priest The priests are a noble class who are more focused on the healing of others than their glory. Because of this selfless nature and their interdependance on those around them, many priests who visit our site choose to apply for a charity credit card. Being long time followers of the Holy Light, they love hearing others’ “Stories of Light”. That’s why the most common choice among priests is the Make-A-Wish Platinum Visa Card. With this card a portion of every dollar spent is donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation that has been providing healing to families of sick children since 1980.

Rogue Rogues prefer the cover of night, and are highly skilled at disappearing from sight. They are known to be manipulators who are full of cunning tricks. They often find employment as thieves, cutthroats, spies, and assassins. There is only one place where these creatures of the night feel at home: New York City! That’s why 8 out of 10 rogues choose the IN:NYC Card from American Express. Not only do they save money on everything they need in New York — a very important factor for any rogue — but with six months of no interest, no fees and a low interest rate this card is virtually a steal.

Shaman Shamans have traditionally been a passive class who tend to spend their time meditating and seeking higher knowledge. They have developed a bit of a reputation as tree huggers over the years due to their intense love and respect for nature and with the help of certain “herbs” they’ve even been known to give visions of the future on occassion. They prefer to stay among their own kind which has made the Starbucks Platinum Duetto Visa Card a very popular choice with them. There’s a Starbucks in every trade district, and with this card shamans can afford to share a brew from an artisen barista with their fellow visionaries more frequently.

Warlock The warlocks were once mages and as such share their deep interest in magic. However, they delved too deeply into the dark side of magic and have turned to the forces of evil. They are frequent travelers and one of their favorite destinations is Las Vegas. When looking for evil and magic there’s no better place to go then Sin City. However, there’s no Gryphon service available so you have to take a plane. For this, our warlocks prefer the No Hassle Miles Rewards Card from Capital One. It offers 1.25 points for every dollar spent, no blackout dates, limits, expirations dates or other restrictions, and can be redeemed with any airline. It also offers 24-hour emergency assistance which can come in handy in the World of Warcraft.

Warrior Warriors don’t mess around. They’re all about one thing; combat. As such they insist on having the best armor and weapons — nothing less will do. That’s why they choose the Amazon Platinum Visa Card. This choice may not seem obvious at first, but when away from home where else will you be able to find a large selection of shields, swords, bows, maces and helms? With the added savings this card provides you when shopping at Amazon, the prices are much better than anything you’ll find at the auction house.

We hope we have helped all of our visitors who live in the fantasy World of Warcraft. Those who live in the real world but have been known to frequent WoW on occassion, may be interested in the World of Warcraft Visa. It offers rewards that can be redeemed for free months of WoW and comes in 13 incredible designs.