Prime Rate Credit

There are a variety of ways to mitigate your “losses” from using traditional credit cards. When I say losses, I mean the interest you invariably will pay for the right to charge things that you don’t actually pay for up front or in full.

As far as actually “mitigating” your losses, what I really mean is getting benefit, in some form of compensation, for paying that higher than average interest every month. By higher than average, I mean that you are paying that interest on a revolving basis, which means that any balance that carries forward month to month will also be charged interest, not just the initial, or principle balance. Hopefully there are some months you can pay the balance, but we all know that is not always possible.

Perks like money towards flights with the all time popular airline miles credit cards, or even points toward Disney products as offered by some Disney sponsored cards are options. There are also credit cards for gas that will help you build up “points” toward free gasoline, which is quite the hot commodity these days when gas prices seem to be as unstable and unpredictable as the economy.

If you sign up for a rewards credit card, just watch the types of annual fees you are signing up for, as some may be a bit excessive when considering what you’re getting in return. I’d say the higher fees are really only justified by cards that offer airline miles points with purchases, since airline miles are a significant monetary benefit that can really accumulate to your benefit. Free travel is always good!

I’m not sure if they have this in all states, but sometimes this program really saves me a lot on gas money for my car, which happens to be a small SUV. It is smaller, but it still gobbles a little more gas than your average sedan, so I do try to find gasoline deals whenever I can so I have extra expendable income on things I actually want to buy, instead of things that are a necessity (who likes spending money on that, it’s no fun!)

The card I’m speaking of is the Giant Eagle grocery store chains’ “Advantage card”. It’s just like all the other major grocer chain’s member cards, in that you present the card when you are buying your groceries, or scan it in when you are going through self checkout lines, and it keeps track of how much you are spending with each trip. The bottom line is, for every fifty dollars you spend, you receive ten cents off each gallon of gas at their special Giant Eagle sponsored “Get Go” gas stations.

It may not seem like a lot, but when you have a family or you just consume a lot of groceries, it sure does add up. Once I went to get gas and found that I have a whopping two dollars off of each gallon! Of course, that was after a few months of heavy shopping, but you get my drift - it’s worth having and is probably one of the most genius marketing ploys I’ve ever heard of.

I often wonder how they even make money off of it, but they must somehow, because their gas stations are always packed every time I go to get gas at one of their gas stations. I bet many of the gas credit cards that are out there offer similar benefits, I just have yet to look into that because I happen to have the special Giant Eagle gas station right by me, and a Giant Eagle right by me as well, so convenience is a huge factor in this case.

Another cool thing about the Giant Eagle advantage card and gasoline program is that many times they run promotions where if you buy a gift card through them (they sell many, for many stores from Best Buy to Toys R Us), they will double your gasoline points, so you end up really making out if you end up purchasing your gift cards for people as gifts from them.

The best gas credit cards out there (do your research) are probably the way to go these days while the gas prices are so high, you just never know how much you’re saving until you really sit down and add up how much you spend on gas each week, especially for those of us who have long commutes to work (like me).

Are you an online shopper like me for the holidays? I’ll tell you what, I didn’t used to be, until the long lines, and hot malls with overcrowded walkways and even more crowded, stuffy stores, was enough to make me into an online shopper/connisseur quicker than you can say “Cyber Monday”. Anyways, that’s what today is called, or has been cleverly coined by the marketing industry, as a day that people shop online, or the biggest retail sales day of the year - online that is.

I’ve heard both ways though. I’ve heard that it’s just a myth that today is Cyber day, the biggest online shopping day of the year, and I’ve also heard that it’s a myth that Black Friday, that infamous Friday after Thanksgiving when everyone rushes the stores for those early bird specials and other deals, is also a myth, and the biggest holiday shopping day is actually one that is usually closer to the big day itself.

Either way, there were apparently some great deals to be had online if you’re an avid holiday online shopper, but I wouldn’t know what they were because I was at work, and it doesn’t exactly bode well if the boss goes by and everytime sees you on Amazon.com or some other such site.

Keep your credit cards in check, remember, but if you must, at least use something like one of your best airline credit cards, so you can earn those airline miles while making purchases for family and friends, or even better, load and use a prepaid credit card, so that you have all your spending planned out in advance, and this way you can be sure not to go over your credit card spending budget for Christmas, as so many people unwittingly do, uh, including me!

You know, as with everything else, they just had to make credit cards that would appeal to that small segment of the population that wants everything to be a status symbol, and a super-high end testament to the high lifestyles that some of us like to live. Credit cards are no exception. We have “Gold” status credit cards, Platinum status cards, and others that imply that we somehow are a better, more educated and higher faluting card holder than someone who has just a plain out airline miles credit card or some other sort of average joe card.

But now, credit cards are crossing an even bigger threshold in the outdoing factor, and have come out with newer credit cards for the “elite” segment of the population that demands high limits and better quality in these new higher stakes credit cards that offer excellent service, even called a concierge service by some higher end cards, very high credit limits and other perks that are limited only to one’s elite customers. One such card, by American Express, is simply called “Black”.

The black card, which is actually made of titanium (overkill, I know) is a card by American Express that is actually called the Centurion, and it is a status symbol for the rich and high spending everywhere just by the mere production of one such card from one’s wallet. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t know it if I saw it being produced from someone’s wallet from a hole in the wall, but apparently some people keep up on such things!

Here’s the crazy part about the Centurion card by American Express though. You have to have a minimum net worth of five million dollars, and the rules are that you almost must charge at least $250,000 each year to keep qualifying for this coveted instrument that many recognize as the highest stature when it comes to credit cards. No thanks, I’ll stick with my average joe cards, which are the best gas credit cards, prepaid credit cards and airline miles cards of yesteryear. Call me a chump, but I don’t plan on having five mil in the bank for quite a while folks!

We recently purchased a house, and on top of all the abundance of mortgage information, there are other financing options that you have to look into when buying things that are necessities or “home improvements” for you new home. One of those necessities is furniture and electronics such as TV’s, DVD players and stereos, and also outdoor stuff like riding lawn mowers, and gardening tools.

All this stuff really adds up cost-wise, as you can imagine, so most people opt to either put it on a credit card or use an available financing option that the place they are buying the product from either offer in-house, or through a secondary broker.

For example, we purchased a lot of our furniture through a local and huge furniture store that’s been in business for over sixty years, and they offered a six months same as cash financing option that we were more than happy to take them up on, considering the decent chunk of change we spent in the store.

However, when you read the fine print, you realize that you really have to get the thing paid off in six months or else you get charged retroactive interest to the date of purchase, and the interest rate is sky-high for this particular line of credit.

Most of them do work in some way where it benefits the purchaser to definitely get this paid off in that six month time frame, or in the end, they are paying much more interest, sometimes even more than what the actual goods they bought are worth!

You may want to look into balance transferring any high interest debt that’s left over if it’s through a bank of line of credit that a lower interest balance transfer credit card will take as a balance transfer, if for some reason you don’t get it paid in those six months or however long the interest free grace period happens to be. Or, you may want to see if you qualify for a longer grace period if they have the option available, say one year or two years, then you can budget yourself a little better with the payments.

This is a website I’ve really come to enjoy lately. It’s called Bankrate.com, and it offers objective information on the latest in mortgage loan news, credit card information and generally keeps a consumer informed of any changes in the huge and often confusing world of personal finance, equity and financial gains.

Among their offerings are a continuous monitoring of mortgage rates, information on the latest in CD’s and other shorter term investments, college loans and student financing, mortgage calculators, and deals and news in savings and loan accounts.

I’m sure they make a lot of money in advertising, but rightly so, since they do provide a myriad of financial news and resources for the average joe who is looking for objective information on these types of things and doesn’t just want to jump blindly into choosing a certain loan, type of credit card, or small investment without having some background information and a working knowledge of the products that are available, and what would fit your financial situation and goals. I’d recommend checking it out sometime, good stuff.

This is an interesting spin on credit card debt. Some people are taking their high interest debt, in the form of high interest mortgages or ARM’s, which are Adjustable Rate Mortgages, which tend to be adjusted to the detriment of the home owner when the financing interest rates are going up in general.

Some people are taking their home equity loans and transferring them to low APR credit cards or special credit balance transfer card offers so they can both save money on their interest rate (if that’s the case, it’s not always the case for every mortgage loan necessarily).

This type of practice may become more common as the prime rate for mortgages shifts and banks and mortgage lenders are forced to increase the rates, especially on adjustable rate mortgages. Heck, if you have an offer for a low apr balance transfer credit card, and you’re looking at a low apr versus paying thousands of dollars in interest, then I can’t blame you for picking the card over the equity loan!

Have you ever had an in-store credit card, like a Kaufmann’s charge card, or a smaller retail establishment’s credit card before that offers incentives for buying more of your retail needs there? I recently gave in and signed up for an Express credit card, because I buy quite a few of my professional and casual clothes there. I was enticed by the fact that they gave me $15 off my order with sign up, and the fact that with each purchase, I earn points toward what they call “velvet rope rewards”, which is a point system you rack up by making purchases.

When you achieve a given amount of points, you get a card in the mail that is good for various increments of money off of your next purchase. For example, I just got a “velvet rope reward” card good for ten dollars off my next purchase. Not bad, huh? I’m usually against getting retail credit cards, but if you can make sure you pay them off every month, and the incentives are enticing enough, it actually could save you money in the long run. Oh yeah, be careful, the interest rates are usually not good on these types of credit cards, that’s why I say, try to pay them off monthly if you can.

I recently got myself a Key Bank Continental Airlines rewards airline miles card (about six months ago), and am well on my way to earning myself a free ticket to anywhere in the continental US right now! I figured that since I use my credit/debit card so much - I rarely use cash any more - I might as well earn free airline miles while I’m in the process.

Since I’ve gotten the card, which has an annual fee of $30 for the priveledge of earning free airline miles, which believe me, are at a premium these days, I’ve earned at least half of what I need for a full priced ticket to anywhere in the continental US. Does this exclude places like HI and other far off destinations?

Probably, to be honest I haven’t really read the fine print on my card yet, but I do know that flying anywhere in the continental US just for using my debit card for a year would be a great deal to almost anyone!

I do use my debit card quite a bit, so I may be a little out of the ordinary user loop, but I do know a lot of other people like me! One thing’s for sure, there is a reason why these airline miles rewards credit cards are so popular today for the travelling crowd!

A credit card company known as “Buy Right” offers fast approval credit cards specifically meant for people with bad credit, and I believe they particularly specialize in prepaid credit cards as well, since prepaid credit cards minimize the risk that a company will not get the money they need to remain profitable out of their high risk (bad credit) credit card customer segment.

The Buy Right credit card offers the following features for those with not the greatest credit :

1.) No credit check, since they specialize in high risk credit, this would kind of defeat the purpose, and alienate potential customers who are looking to repair their credit through securing credit lines and regaining financial independence.

2.) The Buy Right bad credit program features a credit rebuilding program which boasts many products for sale online for purchase which are specifically in their credit rebuilding program to help those in need of credit repair build a credit history back up.

3.) The special bad credit credit card program also offers people with bad credit the option to do direct deposit to recharge the prepaid credit cards so that they never run out of credit on this credit rebuilding program.