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Free Content Library |
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Book Review: "How You Can Profit From Credit Cards," by Curtis Arnold (425 Words)
by Scott Bilker
Curtis Arnold is not only a contributor to DebtSmart.com but also a contributor to consumer awareness. He's the founder of U.S. Citizens for Fair Credit Card Terms, Inc. and CardRatings.com. Curtis has been helping people save money money by promoting financial education since 1998. His latest project is his first book, How You Can Profit From Credit Cards: Using Credit to Improve Your Financial Life and Bottom Line, and as you may guess, I loved the book! The book has been available at Amazon.com since its release date of 6/22/08.
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Switching heads and bodies (646 Words)
by Scott Bilker
Have you heard this one? A graphic designer working on a high school yearbook mixed the heads and bodies of students. The yearbook company said that it was an honest mistake. They said the high school required them to make heads the same size and eyes at the same level in all photos. This is a case where digital switching didn’t turn out to be profitable because they had to pay to reprint all the yearbooks. So what does this have to do with your credit cards?
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Getting Rid of Annual Fees (570 Words)
by Scott Bilker
I'd like to get rid of the annual fee, so I tried calling them and asked them to waive it. I used your technique and said that I would cancel it if they did not, and they didn't budge. What do you think? Should I keep the card and pay the $60 per year? Should I cancel the card completely because I don't technically need it? Or should I ask them to give me a new card with no annual fee, which would retain the 28K in available credit, but which would remove my 18 year relationship with that account?
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Capital One's Brilliance (599 Words)
by Scott Bilker
Like all of Capital One's customers, I was hit with an interest rate hike from 9.9% (purchases and advances) to 15.4% and 22.9% respectively. I didn't see the 'notification' they sent in the mail (I assumed it was some sort of solicitation), so it caught me by surprise. I contacted them and asked if they could adjust the rate back to what it was. My husband and I have perfect credit, never a day late and did carry a balance (we used the card for all purchases so we could get the frequent flyer miles but we never let the balance get out of control).
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Money Saving Holiday Gift Ideas (601 Words)
by Scott Bilker
The holiday season is here! If you went shopping last Friday, Black Friday, then I’m sure you noticed the rush to spend money! Since you will have to spend, you need to spend smart. Spending smart to me means getting a high quality gift at a great price. You don’t have to empty the bank to deliver expensive gifts to family and friends. It is the thought that counts. That being said, here are some suggested gifts for this season.
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I've been gouged for $99! Are bank charges negotiable? (646 Words)
by Scott Bilker
Hi Scott, This just happened to me in the last few weeks. I spoke to my bank (Bank of America aka BOA) about overdraft protection, which they said was a free service. I wrote a check, which would have caused an overdraft but since I had the overdraft protection, they took out 3k on our Visa account. Now we got the bill from Visa, which has both a transaction fee finance charge of $99.00 and a periodic rate finance charge. Is this a charge that I might successfully have waived?Thanks in advance. Marv
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Where did that fee come from? (576 Words)
by Scott Bilker
Howdy Scott, I am writing to you about a unique situation that occurred to me about two weeks and I was wondering if anyone else you know of and/or subscribes to your newsletter might have had this happen to them...there was an added $1.00 fee for processing the payment. I told the rep I was ready to close the account, since I considered this a money grab. Any thoughts? John, The Twin Cities of Minnesota
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What should I do with my money now? (568 Words)
by Scott Bilker
Dear Scott, Through the sale of my previous house, I will soon have just enough money left over ($100,000) to pay off ALL of my loans and credit card debt. Question: is it a good idea to pay off ALL of my debt? Or should I perhaps keep some on the accounts? Or what? Your advice has always helped me in the past, so I really wanted to ask you what you think. Thank you, Rodney
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MBNA reduced my limit for no reason! (477 Words)
by Scott Bilker
A manager got on the line and proceeded to ask me if some questions to verify the credit limit. He then told me that he was reducing my credit limit based on the amount of outstanding credit my husband had. I told him that I was not interested in the balance transfer after all because he decided to reduce my credit limit just like that.
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