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A credit card is a life support system for a shopaholic! Everyone is now taking advantage of credit card these days. It is made of plastic and has magnetic stripe. The purpose is to facilitate its customers by lending money to them when they are out of cash for their expenditures on the behalf of promise of future payments. Whether it’s shopping or for some emergency purpose, customers can always take advantage of this plastic money. It has simplified the transactions in every walk of life. As the name implies, the banks and private organizations give credit to customers.

Credit Card! A Big Responsibility

Where credit card is helping people in many ways on the other hand credit card debt payments is a big responsibility for everyone. Credit card has surely made our life much easy as we just need to show the card to the intended person and we are done with our work.

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Depending on just how old you are, you might remember a time when credit cards didn’t exist.  The world revolved around a cash and carry system, one that didn’t provide rewards or security on purchases.  Once the cash exchanged hands, that was that.  These days however, consumers expect to be rewarded for buying things and one of the cards they can do that with is the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card.

Rewards points are earned using your Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card for every purchase made.  Depending on what you buy, Chase can provide up to 5 points per dollar spent.  The current breakdown of rewards points is as follows:

• 5 points for every dollar spent at Marriott locations
• 2 points for every dollar spent on airline, restaurant and car rental purchases
• 1 point for every dollar spent on everything else

With rewards cards, the APR is usually pretty high, however the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card offers a reasonable 15.24% variable APR.  This card does not include an introductory rate for purchases or balance transfers, and it does have a $85 annual fee; waived during the first year.  A free night each year should make up for that cost but sometimes paying an up-front cost is not ideal.

Earlier this year, we wrote about the standard version of the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card and the four free night stay at select Marriott locations.  That credit card included a low purchase APR, good rewards program and low annual fee of $30, which was waived during the first year.  An excellent card for travelers to say the least, however for anyone in need of something even better, albeit for a slightly increased fee, consider the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card.

American Express has claimed an impressive five out of 11 prizes in this year’s uSwitch Credit Card Customer Satisfaction Awards.

The firm, which slipped from top spot last year, has reclaimed its crown with 92 per cent of its customers happy with its overall service.

Jose Vazquez-Mendez, VP Customer Service UK, American Express, remarked: “Customer satisfaction has always been a top priority for American Express and it’s good to see that our Cardmembers are happy with the service we deliver them.”

He added: “However, it’s important that we do not rest on our laurels and that we build on this success so that our customers continue to receive the level of customer service expected of us as one of the largest card providers in the world.”

Founded in 1850, American Express is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City.

It is best known for its credit card, charge card, and traveller’s cheque businesses . Read full post…

It’s so easy to never use cash nowadays. Banks and credit card companies make it easier and easier to complete quick transactions using fast passes or check cards or all sorts of new inventions and gimmicks. However, it is important to still use cash because it makes the spender more aware of their spending habits, and therefore a more responsible spender.

Using cash for small purchases such as coffee and lunch makes the spender more aware of how they spend on a daily basis and how much money they have left. With credit and debit cards, these small transactions lose value as only a number lessens in each value each time it is swiped. The user may keep a receipt, but more often than not any further bookkeeping is ignored. These small transactions add up; buying a $2 coffee every morning equals $10 a week, which adds up to $560 a year. T

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The latest round of new rules for credit cards takes effect August 22. Those rules were made to protect consumers, so each can be taken as an indicator that Credit Card Debt Management is an issue in that area. With a little education, credit management becomes fairly simple and is a very important skill to have. Here are the four changes and what they tell you:

• Penalty Fees: The new law sets a lower limit of $25 as the maximum you can be charged for a late payment. Until now the max was $39, regardless of how low your minimum payment was. For example, you could be charged a $39 late fee for being a day late with your $10 payment. The other part of the new rule is that the late payment penalty fee cannot be more than your minimum payment, i.e. You can only be charged a $10 late fee for being late with a $10 payment. The red flag here points to Late Payments. C

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Many of us today have a credit card and if you find one in your wallet, there’s a good chance that you’re going to use it.  Now, what happens if you fall down on hard times and you just can’t pay off your credit card bill?

Yes, there are going to be consequences, but like many people on this Earth, you’re going to have no idea what happens when you’re doing it for the first time.

To make things easy for you, I’ve compiled a simple list of things that are going to happen when you’re thinking about bailing on your credit card bills.  Obviously, why I don’t recommend it, you have to feed your kids before you pay the minimum on your card.

Interest rate will rise: Once you skip on your first payment, the credit card companies will more than likely jack up your rate.  Generally, they will give you 60 days to pay at first, but if you continue to do this, you’re going to see a significant rise in your interest rate.  This is something that you don’t want.

Minimum payment will get larger: Chances are that your minimum payment today is rather small.  It should be fairly affordable to pay at least the minimum.  By doing so, you will save your credit and keep the companies off your back.  With the new credit card ACT, you should be able to see right on your statement on how long it is going to take you to pay it off.

Getting phone calls: After about 60 days of non-payment, you’re going to get emails, phone calls, as well as letters in the mail.   Trust me, as long as your bill isn’t being paid, you’re going to get harassed by these people.  If you wait long enough, they will sell your debts to a third party.  This is something that you don’t want.

Credit score drops: This is an obvious one, but as your credit score drops, you’re going to have a harder time getting a loan, mortgage, or any other type of credit.  Every 30 days, you can count on a big drop regarding your score.

Garnish your wages: Every state is different in regards to this with their law, but you will find that if you don’t pay after a particular period, the company can dip into your paycheck and take out a certain percentage.

After about 6 months, you can count on your debt going to a debt collection company that is going to hassle you until the bill is paid.

If you can, always make sure that you can at least pay the minimum.  By doing so, you’re going to save yourself a lot of stress, as well as help your credit score.  As you can see, you probably don’t want to go down the “not paying” route, but rather stay on the “smarter route.”