Cool Credit Card Designs Get You to Spend More?

Well, apparently that’s what some credit card companies are thinking anyways. They are banking on the idea that consumers will reach for a cool, neat looking designed credit card more often than they will a blah, boring design of yesterday, so they are all trying to out do one another in the appealing design department it seems.

I have to admit, I do love how now you can usually choose the design that you want to be on your card, but do I think it’s true that I will actually reach for that card more if it is eye catching and appealing? No, I don’t. Because no matter how pretty, cute or trendy my credit card looks, the first thing I’ll think of when I whip out the plastic for a purchase is “what’s the APR on this one” or “what’s my balance on this one, and can I afford to make another purchase on this”.

Either that, or I’ll break out my trusty friend who I use the most, my treasured debit card. At least I know the money is in there, and I won’t be charged an APR on my purchase. Now there are actually cards who are trying to take the cake – literally. They are making scratch and sniff credit cards cards can you believe that?

They are also making lots of credit cards for college students which appeal because they are trendy and are “luminous” looking, or use the shimmery stuff that I used to love in grade school and have extensive amounts of in my vast sticker collection. Hmm, perhaps they are using a bit of psychology on us that we’re not even aware of?? Hmm…

Wal-Mart Credit Card : Good Deal?

I was looking online for credit deals recently and came across a credit card that has the behemoth Wal-Mart name on it, but it is issued by a bank called GE Money Bank. I wanted to find out what type of deal this Wal-Mart credit card offered, so I started to read the “fine print” and what the card would offer. I was curious, would it offer points or anything like that toward Wal-Mart merchandise, or a percentage off of Wal-Mart purchases? I thought there had to be some sort of purchasing benefit for the Wal-Mart store itself, since it carries the Wal-Mart logo on it, so that’s kind of what I was expecting to see, or something along those lines. Here’s what I found the Wal-Mart Credit Card offered :

1.) The Wal-Mart GEMB issues credit card is a Discover Card it looks like, but I can’t tell what the other Wal-Mart credit card is, which are known for their cash back bonuses, but are also known for still not being accepted everywhere (perhaps their vendor restrictions or charges are too high still for some retailers?).

2.) The Wal-Mart Discover Card offers “up to” 1% cash back on all purchases. This was kind of what I was looking for, but it looks like they actually may offer it on non Wal-Mart purchases as well perhaps?

3.) When you use it at any Sam’s Club or Wal-Mart sponsored gas station, you get $.03 off per gallon (not bad!)

4.) A deal on prepaid AT&T long distance and other small deals as well.

Overall, this credit card sound fairly decent I’d say….

Is the New Bankruptcy Law Really “Good”?

The new bankruptcy law, signed in 2005, was designed to prevent something that I think would be in all of our best interests to prevent, the abuse of filing for bankruptcy, which up until then was admittedly a tad too easy for almost anyone to do.

The numbers of bankruptcies filed since the enactment of the new legislation has plummeted almost over half since it was signed into effect, but some people are now questioning whether the law is really protecting the wrong people, people who don’t need the protection as much and are possibly doing it to protect financial assets that are numerous, and leaving people who really do need it and are in desperate financial straits, out in the cold.

What do you think? I really have mixed feelings about this. While I’m sure the banking industry lawds this sort of legislation, it really boggles my mind that this sort of strict enforcement and obvious leaving out of a certain segment of the population was signed into effect so easily after years of controversy and heated discussion.

As with any other law that has to do with personal finance, I wonder if this is going too far, or if it was a necessary evil?

Do Credit Cards Try to Get You NOT to Pay Balances?

I always find it curious that if you made say a $50 purchase on a card that has a zero balance, and then you go in to your account over the next few days to try to pay that amount, it is extremely tricky to do so.

Maybe I’m just being paranoid of overly analytical, but I had this happen on one of my credit cards recently that I had paid off now for close to a year. I inadvertently made a few charges to the credit card one day, and realized it days later.

When I figured out what I had done of course I panicked because when I get this particular credit card’s invoices, I don’t pay attention to them because I know I’ve paid them off a while ago, so there was a good chance I never would have caught it, and had late fees and maybe even collection letters if I hadn’t caught it! In essence, the credit card was saying I had prepaid by making this payment.

So, I logged into my payment account and tried for about ten minutes to find where this balance showed up so I could pay it. Alas, I could not find it, so what I ended up doing was forcing a payment through, although the account insisted I had nothing due! Crazy……

Beware the Credit Card Holiday Trap!

Everyone falls into it – almost everyone who isn’t independently wealthy without a whole lot of care in the world about getting their bills paid. This does not include the majority of us, who live paycheck to paycheck, and try to find little ways to save money throughout the year so we don’t have to skimp on the things we need and like.

If you are breaking out the credit cards this holiday season, be mindful that you will be paying for these multiple purchases for a long time to come, not just a few months. The common misconception about credit cards is that a few purchases can be “paid off” in the matter of a few months, but really, since credit cards are built around the concept of revolving credit, those same purchases can take up to a whole year to actually expunge completely from your credit card balance.

Revolving credit is a big reason for the skyrocketing amounts of consumer debt here in the US, not really the regular loans, that build interest onto the principle one time, not on a monthly basis, building on itself and all of your purchases. This is why it can be deceiving how much you are paying for that one dinner, that one gift purchase, or whatever.

Holiday Scams to Rip Your Credit Off

We talked at length about the identity theft scams of phishing and other forms of identity and credit theft a few posts ago. Well, it’s been reported that unscrupulous thieves and scam artists are even more rampant to steal your money around the holidays.

More phishing emails are sent out, masked as either a charitable cause, or to get you to somehow divulge your personal information so that thieves can take your money or somehow access credit card numbers and make purchases you did not authorize.

Actually, this happened to me, even though I didn’t open any suspicious emails or anything, so that just goes to show how easy it is for hackers and other n’er do wells to get into your personal information and spend your money.

Home Construction Way Down for October

More bad news for new home sales here in the US of A unfortunately. The latest news shows that new home construction was way down from it’s usual number just this October. This was an estimated 15% drop from September home construction, which means the housing boom is definitely over and done with and needs new life breathed into it for us Americans.

This may have a domino effect on the economy as well, since new home builders and independent contractors are trying hard not to lose money in this barren time for new home sales. Might some of them be put through so much financial hardship that they have to claim bankruptcy?

It’s hard to say, but many new homebuilders are desperate for contracts and to sell homes on existing lots that have been purchased and alotted for new home construction. I told you a few months back how we were looking around at Ryan Homes, which is a contractor that builds on premade lots (what I did not like about them incidentally, although they are stunning homes). They even offered a good deal on a mortgage, but we had to pass it up unfortunately, just wasn’t the right time financially.

They were in such dire straits to sell a home it seemed, after we received several follow ups when we decided not to go with them, and got a definite feeling that desperation was playing a part in this development, since it seemed slow to fill up.

How long will this continue? It’s hard to say, but we can only hope it gets better, since home sales are a sure sign of a good economy and strong financial outlook.

Identity Theft Prevention

Identity theft is becoming an increasingly used buzzword in today’s high tech world of online banking and bill paying, and with the advent of services like Paypal and shopping cart. We hear about identity theft in the news all the time, and we think we very well may be at risk, but we’re not sure what to do to help prevent it. Well, there are some things you can do that are very simple that will help prevent you from ever becoming a victim of this potentially disastrous crime.

Unfortunately, even though identity theft is a federal crime, that still doesn’t scare theives away from bilking millions of dollars of year to unsuspecting, hard working people like you and I. It’s not something that any of us want to deal with, but it is prudent to exercise caution whenever possible to reduce your risk.

At this point, we may all have a story about a friend, acquaintance, or family member who was an unwitting victim of some form of identity theft, and the good thing is, these bring the reality closer to home, and have made more people aware that is a growing problem. There are a few types of identity theft, and I’m sure there are even more than I am listing here that not a whole lot of people are aware of.

The types of identity theft are : 1.) When one’s personal information is stolen from their person, such as a wallet with credit cards and other identity revealing financially negotiable instruments. 2.) Something called “phishing” where bogus emails are sent from a scam artist claiming to be a bank of some other type of financial institution, claiming they need you to “sign in” and provide personal information that can allow them to filter money from your account, or charge purchases to a credit card. 3.) Mail related identity theft where a thief can either intercept your mail and get your personal information or even fill out a change of address form for you so they may receive your mail and do with it what they please. 4.) Internet fraud through unsecured websites when you provide credit card or personal information, a thief may be able to hack sites that are not secured and gain your personal information.

Like I said, the four mentioned above are probably not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to identity theft, but they are the main categories of ways that savvy and increasingly sophisticated scam artists are getting away with stealing money from people. So, what can you do to help prevent being a victim of these types of identity theft? Well, the good thing is, there are several ways you can help reduce your risk, besides sticking only to prepaid credit cards.

First and foremost, make sure you do not ever respond to an email that is requesting you to log in somewhere to verify your information, even if it appears to be from a company you do business with on a regular basis. Spammers skilled in the art of “phishing” are very adept at making these emails look like the real deal, and unfortunately many people have been duped into disclosing important personal information.

What you can do to help combat this problem is visit the company’s offical website on your own, not through any links in the email of course, and report this suspicious email to them. Most large companies have measure in place to protect their clients, and they want to be aware of any bogus emails going out to people with their trusted name attached. There are also large efforts in the making to prevent these types of emails form coming through to your email inbox, and instead go to your spam bulk file, making them more idenitfiable as a potential security threat, and also reduce the likelihood that one will be defrauded by them.

I saw an improvement in this, but just recently, my inbox has been indundated with spam emails requesting personal information, so it seems the scam artists have found a loophole and are taking advantage, although it may not last long. Another important prevention measure is to not only be aware of bogus emails, but also to make sure any website that asks for credit card information for a purchase has a security seal of approval. These secured sites usually will have some sort of symbol that they are secured by Verisign or another online security system that signifies it should be safe to pay with. If the site looks fishy, stay clear.

Whenever you receive mail that has credit card information, or is a solicitation for a credit car offer, make sure you tear it up well. Another scam to gain access to your credit or accounts is for theives to go through your garbage and fill out your credit card offers with a change of address, get the new credit card mailed to them, and start using it to make purchases. Also, it is wise to always have up to date virus protection on your computer, as some viruses are designed to hijack your personal and credit information.

When making purchases with credit or debit cards in any retail establishments, if your credit card number prints on the receipt that they keep, ask to scribble out the whole thing. Workers or other people may have access to your credit card information, or have just enough information to make online or over the phone purchases with your credit, and this is yet another way your identity can be stolen for the financial benefit of thieves.

While this list of things your can do to help prevent identity theft is not all inclusive, it is a good start to ensuring your security and making sure your hard earned money stays in your pocket only. They are good principles to live by in this day and age of increasing technology and banking methods.

Interest Rates Depend On..

Looks like the Fed (Federal Reserve, chaired now by Ben Bernanke, who took over for Alan Greenspan, arguably “the most powerful man in the US”), is waiting to see how retail holiday sales go before deciding on whether to hike federal interest rates, so folks, maybe we should be spending with reckless abandon this holiday season?

Just kidding!! No, please still watch your spending this holiday season – you do not need to buy everyone the world, trust me they’ll still love you. But seriously, the Federal Reserve is relying on a few things right now to determine the direction that federal interest rates will be going for the new year, and high up on that list of determining factors will be retail spending.

After this recent election, financial analysts say “Wall Street” is still taking in the results and trying to see whether this boosts consumer confidence or not. Call me crazy, but my consumer confidence remains pretty much the same year round, depending on how much Uncle
Sam has determined may stay in my pockets as opposed to going toward taxes or something other than annual salary increases for me!

Wal-Mart Black Friday

If you’re a fan of Wal-Mart, or are familiar with their yearly holiday marketing, you know that Wal-Mart has some really great “Black Friday” deals usually. What’s black Friday?

It’s the coined term for the day after Thanksgiving, when bargain hunters and shoppers are out in full force, to get the best bargain basement deals that are being offered by the retailers near and far.

Past sales at Wal-Mart for Black Friday have been so great that there were many reports of consumers actually getting into physical fights over them due to high demand and low stock on the hot deals. One such deal was a laptop computer for about $300.

There may be some other similar deals like that this year, so get your credit cards ready – but make them a low interest APR credit card, of course.

One of the deals this year is supposed to be on a plasma or high definition TV at Wal-Mart, but unfortunately I don’t know yet whether they are having any blow out sales on laptop computers or desktop computers, although I wouldn’t put it past them to lure shoppers in with this type of high demand item.

Good luck to all you Black Friday holiday shoppers, hope you get everything you want. I myself, will be tucked safely in my bed that morning. I don’t dare venture to the malls or stores that frightful day!