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Discover® More Wildlife
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 12 Months, APR:
10.99%. |
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Capital One® Business Platinum with Preferred No Hassle Miles(SM)
Intro Rate: 0.00% until Jan 2010, APR: 14.99%. |
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Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: Up to 12 Months,
APR: As low as 6.74%. |
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Blue from American Express®
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: Up to 12 Months on
purchases, APR: 2.99% for 12 months on transfers. |
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TrueEarnings® Card from Costco
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 3 months on
purchases, APR: 1.99% for 6 months on transfers. |
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IberiaBank Visa® Classic Card
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 6 Months, APR:
7.00%. |
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Discover® More Card
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 12 Months, APR:
0% for 12 months on transfers. |
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In This
Issue
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Cool Quote |
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Capital One, and other, banks' tactics that
might shock you |
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STATISTIC: Borrowing Down |
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Virtual Assistant |
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The Cost of Clutter |
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"Needless to say, I was pleased." |
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How Real People Grow Their Wealth |
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Household Math™: Compounded Daily vs.
Monthly |
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Is your credit score costing you a fortune? |
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A dozen ways to save after wage cuts or job
loss |
Cool Quote
"When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of
two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity."
--John F. Kennedy
More cool quotes from past issues
This article is aimed at Capital One because I have a
great inside source who has been working as a customer representative for a
while now. He recently sent me an email outlining many tactics that Capital One is
using when you call in. However, this has come to the forefront because many
banks have been closing accounts and reducing credit limits of even their best
customers. I've had maybe a dozen accounts closed so far myself including a Capital
One account. I called the bank to try and keep the account open and, for the most
part, the banks are not agreeing. They tell me that, "these decisions are in
response to the current credit crisis." Gee, I'm thinking that, "huh, the banks
blew it to the tune of $300 billion because of bad decision making and now,
they're next move is to close the accounts of their profitable, and
potentially profitable customers." Yeah, that's a good move--duh! What are they
thinking! Talk about cutting your nose off.
Finish reading the article
Consumer borrowing dropped by a record $7.9 billion in
November as Americans scrambled to boost savings in face of the deepening
recession and amid an investor exodus from securities backed by credit-card and
other loans. The slump brought consumer credit down to $2.57 trillion, and
capped the first back-to-back monthly decline since 1992.
More credit card and debt statistics
Virtual Assistant
Definition: A Virtual Assistant (VA) is, in most cases, an
entrepreneur who works from their home office. A virtual assistant usually has
had experience working in the real business world as an administrative
assistant, office manager, paralegal, etc. Virtual assistants provide
administrative, secretarial, and clerical support, as well as creative and/or
technical services for a client.
There are online associations which provide educational
opportunities for virtual assistants, lists of virtual assistant...
See story here
We live in a society of extremes. People seem to be
extremely in debt, extremely overweight and extremely disorganized. People
everywhere are trying to come up with new and better solutions to solve these
problems but not many of their ideas are working.
It's because they are focusing on the wrong problem. For
example, if your child comes to you and says "I have a drug problem," you don't
sit them down and say, "Well let's work on a way to get your grades up, and then
we'll work on your drug problem." How foolish that would be. The real problem is
not the grades but the drugs. You take care of the drugs and the chances are
pretty good that the grades will come up.
For some of us, instead of focusing on getting out of debt
or losing weight, we need to first give more serious thought to becoming
organized. Does that sound crazy, almost laughable? Before you start laughing
too hard, look at these examples and see if you can relate.
How often do you go out to eat because your kitchen is a
mess? If your kitchen is clean, chances are you would not only be more willing
to fix dinner at home but in the morning you would fix breakfast and pack
yourself a lunch too.
Finish reading the article
"I wanted to pass along a positive experience with the
Discover card people. Recently I missed a payment and only discovered it upon
opening my next statement the day after Christmas. Interest rate went from 4.99
to 23.99% $30 worth of finance charges staring me in the face!! I called the
customer service number and was surprised and pleased to find out that April,
the first person I talked with, was more than willing to review my file. She
immediately offered to take off the $30 finance charge. When I explained that
the 23.99% interest rate scared me worse than the finance charge, she offered to
reset my rate based on my payment history and length of time as a card holder.
Needless to say, I was pleased. Wanted to share a good experience with you and
your readers. Maybe Discover is starting to get it."
--Jean Donley
Learn how to "Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt"
How Real People Grow Their Wealth
For most people, wealth does not come in a windfall but
instead gathers gradually as a result of years of hard work and diligence.
Bankrate readers offer their tips for growing wealth.
You'll find no winning lottery numbers or surefire stock recommendations among
them, but all are sensible suggestions for savings.
See story here
You have $10,000 that you want to deposit into a money
market account. You have a choice between two accounts. Both accounts pay 5% APR (Annual Percentage Rate). One account
is compounded daily, meaning that interest is paid daily to the account. The
other is compounded monthly, meaning that interest is paid monthly. After one
year, how much more is earned by depositing the money in the account that is
compounded daily?
Answer this math problem
While some surveys show that 9 out of 10 consumers are
unaware what their credit score is, I'd like to quickly share with you how your
credit score could be costing you a fortune…in more ways than you can imagine.
We all know that a low credit score will make everything in the
world of finance more expensive because of higher interest rates from lenders
due to being considered a greater credit risk (i.e. higher interest rates on
car, homes and credit cards). While this may be considered common knowledge by
some, its truly devastating effects are understood by few.
For example. If you purchase a $200,000 home on a 30-year
fixed mortgage at 8% interest instead of 6% (because of your credit score); that
2% is going to end up costing you a total of $96,934.11 over the term of the
loan. Now, think about how many "extra" years you'll have to work to pay off
$96,934.11 because of an extra 2% in interest?
Finish reading this article
A dozen ways to save after wage cuts or job loss
Money-saving tips after a decrease in income, including
when to 'fess up to creditors and when to keep quiet.
If you lost your job, which expense would you cut first?
Many victims of job loss are too paralyzed to know where and how to cut the fat,
said Sara Croymans, who teaches personal finance classes such as "Getting
Through Tough Times" at the University of Minnesota Extension Service Regional
Center in Morris.
See story here
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