Good Morning Everyone.  Today we are following up on yesterday’s post about How Students Can Live on a Budget during the Holidays.  We should try to stay on a budget while shopping during the holidays; and to avoid overspending we should try to pay with cash instead of our credit cards.  Today we are helping everyone try to avoid the temptation of using their credit cards while shopping during the holiday season and all year round.

I know that we may want to buy nice gifts for our family, and we may also be tempted to buy gifts that we can’t afford.  But at the end of the day there is no use in paying for our purchases with our credit card if we can’t afford to pay off the balance at the end of next month.

Here are 5 Tips on How to Avoid Temptation When Using our Credit Cards:

1. Cash is Easy to Budget. If we only have $40 in our wallet then we can only spend $40.  There is no chance of us overspending if we always live on a cash budget.  We can keep money in our bank accounts and earn interest on our money, instead of paying interest on our credit card balance.

2. Think About Saving Money.  It is no secret that not using our credit card can save us money.  We may be tempted to spend money just because we have an available credit card limit. When we spend money on our credit cards we have to repay the money that we spent and we will also be charge interest on our credit card balance.

3. Cash Advances Can Be a Killer. Interest is charged on our cash advances from the moment we withdraw the money, there is no interest free grace period on cash advances.  When we make payments to our credit card the money is used to pay off the oldest transactions first, in the meantime we are still being charged interest on our recent cash advances.

4. Carrying a Balance Can Hurt Our Credit Score.  We should use our credit card to help us establish a good credit score.  When we use our credit card and pay off the balance each month we establish a good credit score.  However, if we continue to carry a balance on our credit card each month we can actually be hurting our credit score.  When we apply for a car loan or a mortgage the bank is going to look at our credit payment history, our credit score, as well as our current credit card balances.  If we owe too much money on our credit cards then our mortgage application may not be approved.

5. Cash is Hassle Free.  If we pay for everything with cash there is no need to worry about identity theft or about fraudulent charges. When we pay with cash there is no chance of being charged extra, overspending, or worrying about keeping track of our budget.  If we withdraw the maximum amount of cash that we want to spend from the ATM before we go shopping then we can never overspend.  Having unlimited access to money via our credit card causes the temptation to spend, but we are trying to avoid it.

Photo by Bulinna

It’s Tuesday morning and today is the last post in our Credit Card Management Series. During our Credit Card Management Series we have discussed The Myths About The Amex Black Card, Good Credit Cards for College Students, Paying 0% Interest on Your Credit Cards. We have reviewed the Citi Thank You Preferred Card, and the TD Bank Payment Plus Card.  We have learned about Prepaid Credit Cards, The Best Solutions to Credit Card Debt, and if Credit Cards are Good or Bad.          

Today we are going to discuss an unfortunate side effect of having credit cards.  Unfortunately every single time we apply for a new credit card, or we swipe our existing credit card, we take the risk of becoming a victim of identity fraud.  If we lose our wallet there is a risk that someone will find our wallet and gain access to our credit cards along with all of our personal information.

 HSBC is currently featuring an article on their website YourMoneyCounts.com that discusses ways to prevent Identity Theft and what to do if our identity is ever stolen.

How Can We Prevent Identity Theft?

Safeguard Your Personal Information.  It is important to keep a close eye on all of our personal information to prevent identity theft.  Ways to safeguard our personal information include having our monthly bills delivered online instead of having a paper statement delivered by the mail.  Accessing our account information online ensures that our information remains confidential, and the risk of anyone else finding our information is minimized.

Review and Shred unnecessary Documents.  We should shred all unwanted personal information including bills, statements, and other confidential information.  We should never throw out personal information in the garbage.

Be Safe While Online.  We should never use a shared computer to access our personal information such as our PayPal account, our Online Banking, and our Credit Card information.  Whenever we access our personal account information online we should not have other websites open such as Face Book and Twitter.  There is always a risk that our information can be transmitted.

Keep Organized.  If you do keep paper copies of personal information, statements, and receipts it is best to keep them safely organized in a filing cabinet or binder.  If we keep our information neatly organized we have less of a chance to lose it.

What Should We Do If We Become a Victim of Identity Theft?

Contact all of our Financial Institutions.  The first thing we should do if we become a victim of identity theft is to contact all of our financial institutions and credit card companies.  We should cancel all of our debit and credit cards immediately, as well as put a freeze on our accounts until the cards are replaced.

Contact our Credit Bureaus.  The second thing we should do if we become a victim of identity theft is contact all of the credit bureau companies to flag our accounts in case someone (other than us) tries to apply for credit or open an account in our name.  The three national credit bureaus are Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian.  If we flag our credit bureau the companies will alert us any time that someone applies for credit in our name.

We should file a police report.  When we call our credit card companies or financial institutions to report our credit cards lost and stolen they will ask us if we have filed a police report and they will ask for the police report number.

We should also file a complaint with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).  The FTC maintains a database which is used to keep track of identity theft cases and prosecute identity thieves.

Photo by CarbonNYC

Good Morning Green Panda. During our Credit Card Management Series we have discussed several different aspects of Credit Cards such as The Myths About The Amex Black Card, Good Credit Cards for College Students, and Paying 0% Interest on Your Credit Cards. We have learned about Prepaid Credit Cards, The Best Solutions to Credit Card Debt, and if Credit Cards are Good or Bad.  We have also reviewed the Citi Thank You Preferred Card, and the TD Bank Payment Plus Card.  However, none of this information matters if our credit card is not approved.

How to Get Your Credit Card Approved

Today we are going to discuss how to get your credit card approved when applying for your first credit card.  If we have never had a credit card, our financial institution will still perform a credit check to get our credit card approved.  Any other bills that we pay on a monthly basis such as our cell phone bill, our cable bill, or our monthly hydro bill are regularly reported to the credit bureau.  It is very important that we pay all of our monthly bills on time, because this will determine if our credit card is approved.

If we have never been granted credit in the form of a credit card, a student loan, or a cell phone we may be required to make a deposit to have our credit card approved.  This is also true for a new cell phone contract, or if we are registering with a cable company for the first time for cable or internet services.  Our deposit is for security purposes in case we don’t have the money to pay our bill.  Our security deposit is returned to us once our account is closed or our contract is terminated.

Pre Approved Credit Cards

If we have established a good credit history we may receive offers in the mail for Pre Approved Credit Cards. A credit card Pre Approval simply means that we have met some preliminary criteria as established by our financial institution.  Pre approval criteria can include our age, our annual income, and the current amount of deposits that we currently hold with that financial institution.

A Credit Card Pre Approval is not based on our credit history and therefore a Pre Approval is not a guarantee that our Credit Card will be approved.  If you have ever received a Credit Card Pre Approval offer letter in the mail I suggest that you read the fine print.  If you do, you will notice that it states something similar to “this offer is conditional based upon on a successful credit check verification.” 

If we sign the Pre Approval offer and return it to our financial institution they will perform a credit check.  When we sign the Pre Approval offer we are actually giving our consent for our financial institution to run a credit check. 

Once our Credit Card is approved, we will have to sign again to accept the terms and conditions of our Credit Card.

Photo by Striatic

Good Morning Green Panda Friends. For today’s post in our Credit Card Management series I wanted to review the famous American Express Black Credit Card.  However, I couldn’t find any information on the American Express website about this infamous card, which is better known for its famous card carriers and limitless spending ability. 

Since I couldn’t find any information about the American Express Black Card, I decided to discuss the myths that I have heard about this mysterious Credit Card from television shows, music videos, and other general myths that I have heard while working in the financial services industry.  As there is no way for me to confirm the information I have heard, read, and seen, the information will remain as myths instead of facts.

What have you heard about the American Express Black Card?

Myth # 1 – Kim Zolciak, the reality star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, said that cardholders are required to spend a minimum of $100,000 per year on the American Express Black Card.

Myth # 2 – After a Google search I read on Love to Know Credit Cards that the American Express Black Card is also known as the American Express Centurion Credit Card.

Myth # 3 – Wikipedia says that the American Express Black card was created in 1999 and the benefits to cardholders depend on the country of origin.

Myth # 4 – A general bank myth is that cardholders are offered the American Express Black Card by invitation only.

Myth # 5 – The rapper Fabolous refers to the American Express Black Card as the “throw it in the bag” card which implies it doesn’t have a spending limit.

Myth # 6 – Another general bank myth is that the American Express Black card offers cardholders a private concierge service to run errands and make purchases for them, as long as they are paying with their American Express card.

As I was hopelessly browsing through the American Express Website and searching for information on the American Express Black Card I found several interesting facts about American Express and their Credit Cards. 

What Do You Know About American Express?

Fact # 1 – The American Express website is very user friendly.  American Express is socially active on YouTube, Face Book, and Twitter. They also post links to their latest advertisements.  There is an American Express application for the iPhone called the Social Currency app.

Fact # 2 – American Express is the world’s largest card issuer by purchase volume.  There are 87.9 million cards currently in force, and they have $620 billion in annual purchase volume.

Fact # 3 – American Express cardholders spend four times more than MasterCard users and three and a half times more than Visa cardholders.

Fact # 4 – American Express offers PASS from American Express which is a Prepaid Credit Card.

Fact # 5 – American Express has several different partners with whom they offer rewards programs. American Express partners include Jet Blue Airlines, Delta Airlines, Hilton Hotels, and The Starwood Hotel Family.

Fact # 6 – American Express does not offer Student Credit Cards for College Students. However, they do recommend the Blue from American Express Card or the Zync from American Express Card if you are a student.

Photo by Clemson

Good Morning Everyone! It’s time for another post in our Credit Card Management Series.  Whether you are starting college or finishing college, it is important to have a good credit rating.  A good credit rating can help us get a mortgage, get a job, get an apartment, and also get a lease on a car.  The best way to establish a good credit rating is to start building a credit history early, use our credit card for the right types of purchases, and make our monthly payments on time.

There are several good credit cards available for college students.  Most financial institutions offer student credit cards as a part of their student banking package.  I definitely recommend that students apply for their first credit card with their primary financial institution.  Financial institutions offer student credit cards to their clients based on their existing relationship because college students usually don’t have an established credit rating.

There are credit card finance companies that offer credit cards for college students based on their school.  We can often find credit card finance companies on college campuses giving out brochures, and signing up students for their credit cards.

Student Credit Cards are usually offered with a $500 or $1000 credit limit.  If used correctly, our student credit card can help college students establish a good credit rating which will help us later in life.  Since students have little or no income during our college years, I suggest that we don’t charge anything over $100 on our credit card.  This will make sure that we are using our credit card to establish a good credit rating as well as keep our spending within our repayment limits.  It is not enough to have a student credit card, we have to use it and make payments on a regular basis.

Students should use their credit card for everyday purchases such as buying books, and grocery shopping.  College students should not use their credit card for personal shopping, dining out at restaurants, and partying or clubbing.  We should also not use our student credit card to buy coffee or fast food because it creates bad habits.  If we charge $5 to $10 on our credit card for meals once or twice a day it can definitely add up to a lot of money on our monthly credit card bill.

Good Credit Cards for College Students should have no annual fee and a low annual interest rate.  Student credit cards should offer a rewards/points/cash back program, as well as student discounts at local retailers.

Bank of America  offers their Student Platinum Plus Visa Credit Card with no annual fee and a low interest rate of 14.24%.  Bank of America encourages students to “Build your credit with a card designed around you.”

Citi Bank offers 4 different credit cards for college students. Citi Bank offers their student credit cards “with no minimum income or co-signer required, (they also) have low introductory (interest rates) on purchases.”

Chase offers college students a credit card that allows us to “benefit while you build.”

Photo by Smemon87