Don’t Leave Home without it
November 11, 2005
Back in 1990, I was attending field school in Italy and took a weekend break to visit Rome. The tourist guide suggested to stay away from a certain bus #, but I had to use it because it was the only one going to the location where I needed to go. Well, I sat on the bus holding my wallet in my front pocket the entire journey … my stop came up, and I reached up to grab the bar to swing up and immediately got off the bus. Instantly my pocket felt lighter … and there it was, a knife slash where my wallet used to be. They had my visas, my mastercards, and my American Express. I reported them stolen, luckily quick enough that they were not used by the thief. But the catch … American Express issued me a new card within 30 minutes and spotted me cash … while the Visa and Mastercard companies, said it would take “weeks” to get me a new card in Rome. I would have been stranded in hard times without American Express.
Want to Compare Credit Card Offers?
November 10, 2005
Don’t know which card to go for?
There are a bunch of sites out there that give you information on credit cards, but many of them rely heavily on advertising. If you don’t want to be blinded by psychedelic banners and annoyed by insistent pop-ups, then try MyRatePlan.com and CreditCards.com — two very helpful and professional-looking sites.
MyRatePlan.com allows you to easily compare features of various cards and even gives them ratings (hence the name). Other sections of the site (comparing flights, loans, hotel rooms, insurance, VoIP, etc.) are also worth investigating.
CreditCards.com might be even more comprehensive — it covers all sorts of credit card categories (low interest, airline miles, balance tranfers, instant approval, etc.).
Free Credit Report!
November 1, 2005
Did anyone know that you can get a free credit report? By law, people in the U.S. are entitled to one free credit report per calendar year. You can order the report online or via phone or mail. Each state implemented this policy at a different time, but as of now, all persons should be eligible. I haven’t signed up for my free report yet, so I’m not positive that each and every person can get one. But you can check out the web site. If anyone successfully gets their free report, let me know.
Check out the site’s homepage.
They also have some FAQs here.
