The Benefits of Contactless Payment Technology

Published: October 3rd, 2011 | Categories: Credit Card Articles | 0 Comments

Contactless payments are a relatively new development in the world of credit cards that are starting to become more and more popular. This article looks at exactly what contactless payments are, as well as some of the most important benefits associated with them.

What is it?

Contactless payment technology is something that can be made use of with all types of credit card, from balance transfer credit cards to interest free cards. The cards use a special chip that allows them to make the payments. This is an extension of the current, very popular Chip and PIN technology, that allows credit card users to make payments using a Personal Identification Number rather than signing for purchases as used to be the norm.

If you want to make contactless payments, you need a card with the special chip in it and you also need to be in a retailer that uses the technology. Read more…

Online Versus Traditional Forms Of Auto Credit

Published: January 21st, 2012 | Categories: Credit Card Best | 0 Comments

Millions of consumers worldwide are moving into the cyber space era, where millions of transactions between a seller and a buyer are conducted online without the either of the parties ever meeting. The internet has made it possible for buyers and sellers in different parts of the world to carry out business as though it were really over the counter, and not overseas. This trend has impacted too the auto credit sector, where a consumer now has the option to apply for some form of auto credit online, then on approval receive the funds to purchase a car.

Most consumers prefer to deal with online auto financers because there is some level of anonymity. As much as the borrower would provide the required documentation and identification details, they would not have to sit face to face with the lender and suffer the public humiliation of being denied a loan.

Read more…

Tax avoidance is rent seeking, not productive activity

Published: January 18th, 2012 | Categories: Credit Card Reviews | 0 Comments

From the Treasure Islands blog:

It’s a point I’ve made repeatedly, in Treasure Islands and elsewhere. But I just looked up ‘rent seeking’ and this is Wikipedia’s contribution:

In economics, rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth . . . attempting to enrich oneself by increasing one’s share of a fixed amount of wealth rather than trying to create wealth . . .the extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution to productivity . . . people accused of rent seeking typically argue that they are indeed creating new wealth

Goodness me. Tax avoidance and evasion: doesn’t the shoe just fit perfectly?(And for those who aren’t familiar with ‘rent-seeking’ – economists regard it unequivocally as a bad thing.)

Loan Sharks – who and what are they?

Published: January 18th, 2012 | Categories: Credit Card Articles | 0 Comments

Over recent years, borrowing from traditional lenders, banks and credit card companies, has been harder and hard to do. As a result we have seen a rise in the number of people turning to payday loans and illegal loan sharks.

A loan shark is someone who will give a person a loan, charging them a high level of interest and short repayment terms. Loan sharks are unlicensed and operate illegally, as well as being unregulated from any governing financial body.

Loan sharks commonly prey on the most vulnerable people who have nowhere else to turn. When people struggle to pay them back, loan sharks often turn to threatening tactics to get payments from the debtor.

With many finding it more and more difficult to borrow in these tough economic times, increasingly people are turning to loan sharks. Figures released in 2009 by research agency, Debt on our Doorsteps, showed an estimated seven million people have borrowed from loan sharks.

If you have borrowed from an illegal loan shark and do not know what to do next… firstly you need to report them to the police or the Illegal Money Lending Team, details can be found on Direct Gov website by. Once you have done this you many want to look at your finances and seek free and impartial advice from Payplan to help you arrange your finances.

Have you had experience with a loan shark? Would you like to share your story and help others? This is the place to do it.

This is a huge problem, as is the confusion between these people and the legal loan sharks that MP Stella Creasy bangs on about.

The problem is that many people (not necessarily those that get pay day loans many of those are on average incomes, have lots of sources of credit and should know better) who are in poverty or close to it only have access to high cost credit (and only use it when the absolutely have to).

The best high cost credit providers dont make stupid profits, because they have to absorb the cost of failing clients. But the cost of legit, legal credit for the poorest in society is still, in my view, too darn high.

The only solution, I think, is to force mainstream banks to lend socially. 2% of the profits wouldnt be missed.

   

Dude, Why’d My Score Drop?

Published: January 13th, 2012 | Categories: Credit Card Best | 0 Comments

If youve checked your credit score lately and found it to be lower, there is probably an explanation. Even if you havent checked it, youre better off knowing about the things that can lower your score. At the top of the list is paying bills late, keeping high debt levels, owning too many credit cards or not making minimum payments. Here are a few more mistakes that can affect your score for the worse:

Mistake: Closing some older credit card accounts. 
If you close a credit card account with a low balance and high credit limit, you could be throwing off your overall credit to debt ratio. Fix: Look at your debt to available credit ratio before closing a card.

Mistake: Applying for too many credit cards. When you apply for a new credit credit, the lender will generally run an inquiry on you, which can lower your score 5 to 35 points. <

Read more…

Passing an American Express Financial Review

Published: January 11th, 2012 | Categories: Credit Card Reviews | 0 Comments

Loyal customers of American Express have, on occasion, found that their accounts in good standing have suddenly been suspended. Only later have they learned that they are the subject of American Express’s financial review process. In order to have their accounts reinstated and to receive any pending rewards, it is imperative that cardholders succeed in satisfying American Express.

The first step to passing an American Express Financial Review is to take the procedure seriously. In some cases, cardholders are initially informed of this process by a poor quality call from an overseas representative. That person claims to be from American Express and asks cardholders to verify personal information. Understandably, cardholders are reluctant to divulge this information to unverified individuals. Nevertheless, cardholders should hang up, and call the number on the back of their card. W

Read more…