Targeting Campuses
October 23, 2008
It’s no lie that credit card companies target university campuses for new students that have just come to legal age of obtaining a credit card. I still remember my first credit card. I remember it was sponsored by MTV. I believe it was a Mastercard. I was walking from class to class one day with a classmate. We passed a booth where the companies asked if we wanted a free pizza. We’re poor college students and it’s lunchtime, of course we do! We filled out our applications for credit cards, got a box of pizza EACH and some other MTV goodies, I believe. It was exciting. I also couldn’t believe I would soon own my very own credit card. My, oh, my!
Throughout the years, my university continued with their booths on campus. I loved getting free stuff so I continued signing up for cards. The best part? They were all 0% APR for 6 months to a year! This was nice. I was using my card for small purchases all around town. I used it at McDonalds, the gas station, Borders, and Taco Bell. For the most part, my other friends didn’t have credit cards. I had one friend who did and we would go bargain shopping all the time.
I bet you think I’m going to tell you I think targeting college students is evil and I wish I never got them. NO WAY! I love them. I was able to enjoy things in my undergrad days I normally couldn’t afford with a work-study job. I was always, and still am very responsible in making timely payments as well. Want to know the result of years of accumulation of using credit cards? An EXCELLENT credit score I could frame and hang on my wall.
I recently bought a new car and I know this wouldn’t have been possible without my years of credit card usage building up a great credit. I also attribute it to my responsible skills. No one taught me how to be responsible with a credit card, I just was. It’s in my nature to be. To this day, I will get a credit card for the trial 0% APR then drop it and get a new one. It means my purchases are always interest free.
Those friends that thought credit cards were evil back in college? Well, they now have NO credit and can’t do the smallest financial things on their own because they have no credit history whatsoever. Oh well, I know I do 
Credit cards are not that bad
October 20, 2008
Having a credit cards does not only denotes negativity. Of course it has a good side too. Having a card will save you some money when you know how to handle it well. You will also be saved to those holdups cause will no longer carry a big amount of money. Besides having a card will also allow you to prioritize your money needs. On what needs you should give your money a big amount. Another good reasons of having a card is that it will save you from borrowing to a friend or relatives once you are short on budget. You just have to swipe the card and you’ll have the things you get. It is just a matter of handling a card well for you not to be that problematic to your debts. Just borrow the amount that you can pay on your cards that is one simple rule to remember when having a card.
Borrowing Cards
October 19, 2008
Have you ever tried to lend your card to a friend? If you haven’t experience this try to be careful on lending your card to anyone. Some people were asking to borrow or let him use your card cause of some alibis that they have. Some of these alibis sounds good but some only are true. They also would promise to pay you before your due date comes but when it does comes you will sure have a hard time to collect their payments. So you are being tied on paying their purchases using your card or pay only your purchase but you suffer the finance charge that the card company will charge you. So if you don’t want to have that kind of headache better not let anyone use your card or borrow it. Unless you are sure that, that person will be paying you right in time.
What credit cards are for
October 19, 2008
Credit cards are not evil. They are not bad. Credit cards can actually do good things for you if they are used correctly. Having a few credit cards with high limts and very low balances can give your credit score a good boost. Paying your credit cards on time and not using them until you have reached your maximum limit can help you get better interest rates on large ticket items like your vehicles or your home mortgage.
Credit cards should be used wisely and are best used for emergencies only. While most of the time you should never charge more on your credit card than you can pay off in a month this is not always possible. An unexpected medical bill or if your car breaks down and you may have no choice but to charge more on your card than is possible to pay off in a month. This is why it is wise to keep a very low balance on your credit card. If that emergency does arise you want to be able to use your card.
Credit cards should not be used for vacations, clothing, eating out or other non-essentials. These things can be saved up for and do not constitute an emergency.
Use your credit cards but use them with care.
In these tough economic times
October 14, 2008
In these tough economic times the best thing you can do for yourself and your families finances is to pay off your credit card debt. Cut back your finances as if you have lost your job and spend every bit of what is left over to your credit cards. You do not want to get in a situation where you actually do lose your job and then you must figure out how to pay your mortgage bill, put food on the table for you and your family, and have to come up with a way to then make minimum payments on all of your outstanding debt.
What could paying off your credit card debt mean to you? How much money would open up in your monthly budget if you had a zero balance on all of your credit cards? Could the amount of money you send to your credit cards every month cover your car payment if you lost your job? Your utility bills?
Pay off your credit cards and you’ll be better prepared to weather the tough times.
Collection Agency Harassment
October 14, 2008
I’m sure most of the people has experienced being harassed by some collection agencies were these card company has gave you unsettled account. They may say lots of not so good words to make you feel ashamed and sends you lots of collection letters. While some even claim that they will soon gave you account or put your account to the court to make you pay for it. Anyway, whatever actions or harassment they will do to you make sure that you are well fit and you don’t have heart problems cause some who does have this suffered from stroke or heart attack. I know someone who gave some advices about this card company and collection agency and I was really thinking that he has a good sense about the topic. Just like what he always says, if you can’t pay your debt just prioritize your need and not their greed.
ring! ring!
October 11, 2008
Once you failed to pay your monthly amortization on your credit card some agents will going to call and remind you about paying your debt. So here you are again and problematic and looking for some money to pay your debt. Of course, time will come again that you will realize that you can’t just pay that debt of yours cause you need to use the money you have in some other important things. So what did you expect? Another agent will bug you again! This is really something funny about card company cause before when you don;t have their card they are bugging you to get one and once you did and can’t able to pay they will again bug you over again. Huh! What a kind of work those agents has?
No payment, no interest
October 10, 2008
No payment and no interest, whether for 90 days, six months, a year or even a couple of years. It all sounds good at the time. Unless you have a plan, it could put you in great danger.
I think you must have an idea as to when you intend to pay that credit card off (within the time period given with no interest). If you let the time given go by, you could be stuck with unbelievable high interest rates. If that is the case, the credit balance would probably never get paid in full. If it does, it will take a very long time because of the accruing interest rate.
If one does not have a plan when making such a purchase, it may not be in their best interest to purchase under a no payment, no interest plan.
If one is able to pay the balance off with in the time frame given, it’s a very good offer to take on. One is able to get what they want on credit and because it has to be paid off within a given time frame to avoid interest, they will not be faced with getting into debt over their heads!
Privacy Problems with Card Company
October 5, 2008
Once you apply for a credit card you are also needed to give some personal information about yourself. That is one way to know if you can afford to pay for the monthly dues. But sad to say there are places wherein privacy of the information you have given them. Like here in our place many of us here got a credit card without applying for one. Besides there are also some card company who will call you anytime and will say they will have to confirm some details about you. This trick is really something that bothers some people. Why? How come they know almost everything? Like your full name, address, contact details, the company that you are into etc. These information should be private and not known by anyone. So once these information was out to card company its no wonder that any card company will call you or even just give you a card at your doorstep.
Credit card settlement
October 5, 2008
My husband and I were once in credit card debt for over $60,000 dollars. We could barely make the minimum payment on all of the credit cards we had. We were at our wits end!
We went to a credit counceling company. They didn’t get our payments lowered much…they were just able to get the interest lowered and had we gone with their plan, we would only have about $15 per pay period to spare. Get real!
We then looked into companies that settle your credit card balance for a lower amount with your creditors. The key is, you would have to pay them a fee (a pretty large fee!). They would settle your account for an amount lower than the balance on the account and you would give them X-amount of dollars and they would pay one account of at a time. Meanwhile, the other credit card accounts would go delinquent until it was their turn to get paid.
We thought about our options and determined that we could settle our credit card debt with every creditor we had an acount with ourselves.
We did it, received settlement letters from all of our creditors and now we’re debt free in regards to credit cards. I keep a credit card strictly for emergencies (thank God we haven’t had any….yet) and we’ll only use credit to purchase something that we don’t have to make payments or interest payments by a deadline date and we’ll pay it off before that deadline.
In today’s economy, the last thing you want or need, is debt up to your ears!
