How to Do Away with Credit Card Debts without a Balance Transfer Card

Nearly all US credit card holders have a credit card debt. And sometimes this debt becomes a bad headache for credit consumers. All those interest rates, fees, due dates make it really difficult to pay off your outstanding balance in full. Getting a balance transfer card with favorable terms and 0% intro APR rate is a good way to eliminate your debt faster and easier. That is the most widespread financial experts’ advice when it comes to paying off your credit card debt.But the thing is that all balance transfer cards with good terms are available for customers with good or excellent credit. And what if your credit rating is not high enough to qualify for a balance transfer card? Are there any alternatives for fair or bad credit owners to handle their debts? There definitely is.If you own a house you are eligible to apply for a home equity loan. But you will not have to spend the money you borrowed on home improvement. You can use this money to pay off your credit card debts. It is possible and legal.Let me explain to you why you would want to take another loan when you are drowning in debts and how it can help you. You see, home equity loan is issued at a lower interest rate than credit cards’ APRs. Having taken a home equity loan you will pay it off at a rate of about 7-8%. You will barely find even a low rate card with most favorable terms with 7% APR.So, here is what you can do with your home equity loan. As soon as you have the money on hand, allocate the funds and pay off as much credit card debt as possible. If you want to pay down several credit card balances and you realize that your home equity loan will not cover your total debt, think what plastics you should better pay off in the first place. It is better to get rid of debt on cards with highest APR first.Even if you do not manage to eliminate your overall credit card debt, you can pay off some part of the money borrowed. This way you will reduce not just the actual amount of money you owe, you will also cut down your interest.Besides, with home equity loan you can easily keep your records, get variable interest rate and tax benefits.However, there is a fly in every ointment. Say, you got a home equity loan, spend it on a part of your credit card debts. And what’s then? You need to keep on living, paying new bills, buying food, clothes, etc. But you have no money left from your loan and still have your credit card balances to pay off. If you keep actively using your plastics, even if they are reward credit cards, you are most likely to accrue even a larger debt.So, once you decide to do away with your credit card debs though taking a home equity loan, hold back your credit card spending. Then you will get maximum benefit from this debt elimination trick. After you are through with your plastic balances, you have just your loan to pay off at a more than reasonable interest rate.

Fair Credit: Between Angels and Demons

How does it feel to have fair credit? Is it a premonition of dropping down to demonic bad credit or an anticipation of becoming a rightful owner of angelic good credit? To tell you the truth, I am an experienced possessor of fair credit in the past. And to me it was like riding a rollercoaster. One moment you slowly crawl up and score the cherished points and good credit seems to be within your reach. Then bang! You make a little financial misstep and your credit roller coaster carriage rushes down in a free fall.Actually, it is not even about how it feels to be a fair credit owner. What really matters is whether this type of credit score satisfies you, or you want more.Fair credit is much better than bad credit, that is clear. You can find a fair credit card with pretty favorable terms and tempting options that will be quite competitive and will help you to gradually improve your credit rating. But if you are an aggressive go-getter, boosting your credit score and entering the breeding strain of good credit owners, nothing is impossible. It is all in your hands.I turned out to be the second type and now I qualify for good credit cards with really beneficial features and terms, and I’m happy about that. I will tell you about how I managed to raise my credit, you can try following my advice and see what happens.First of all, let’s specify what exactly bad, fair and good credit is. According to the FICO credit scoring system, bad credit starts with 350 and turns into a fair credit as soon as you reach 620. 40 more points and you can get approved for good credit cards. You see, scoring 40 points is actually much easier than score 270.So, here is what I did in order to make my credit rating go up. Just 3 steps.• First I removed old negative items and errors from my credit report. For that I just wrote letters to the three credit bureaus, provided all the necessary documentation, like credit account numbers, account activation and closing date, and other information. This improved my score by nearly 60 points.• After that I opened two new credit accounts with high credit limits and tried to keep my balances as low as possible. I used something between 10% and 30% of the available credit limit and made all my payments strictly on time. This increased my rating dramatically.• The final step on my way up to good credit was asking my cousin with excellent credit to co-sign me. Attaching perfect payment history to your credit report works just like Viagra for your credit score. This move added another 90 points to my credit rating.So, this is how I raised my fair credit. You can do the same with yours. It is really within your powers. After your first even a small 20 points victory nothing will be able to stop you. I didn’t stop. Now I am working on my good credit to make it excellent. And I have no doubts that I can do it. I managed to overcome my demons. And so can you.

All-Shrinking Nanotechnologies Attack Credit Card Industry

J. Bryant Vincent, CEO of AgiLight, unveiled the details of a new technological breakthrough in credit card industry at the Clean Energy Venture Summit in Austin, Texas. He made a top-line declaration that AgiLight is planning to implement LED (light-emitting diodes) technologies into credit cards.
What would you say if your credit card had a screen and you could store photos and music in your plastic? It can be hard to imagine, however living in the century of nanotechnologies you just stop get astonished at such innovations. But can a credit card with such options be really useful?
Nanotechnologies shrink electronic devices and materials that used to be large or even enormous to unbelievably small sizes. Minifying chips and imparting them a better packaging ability will make it possible to implement those chips into regular credit cards. J.B. Vincent has recently come up with a new idea of inserting light-emitting diodes into really thin films. This technology will allow engineers embed such films with chips into credit cards.
The same chips are planned to be inserted into mirrors or just pieces of glass. This type of gadget will enable its users to read the scrolled news headlines and stock quotes. This was also declared at the Clean Energy Venture Summit. And the company sticks to the “sky is the limit” principle. So they have numerous projects on accommodating their NanoFlex packaging technologies to other types of chips.
A strip of the NanoFlex packaging with lights on, reminds a sheet of paper by flexibility and thickness. If you turn the lights off, you will see a usual piece of correction ribbon.
AgiLight CEO said, they are planning to make this breakthrough in the credit card industry by the end of the year.
So, why would you want to have an LED display in your credit card? Fancy? Up-to-date? A new toy? Not just this. Actually, this innovation can become a new method of credit card fraud protection. This device would be able to flash up an individual dynamic security code, assigned to every single credit card with a nano-chip. Credit card details, such as credit card number, owner’s name and some others will no longer be of any use to credit card scammers. In order to complete any transaction the fraudsters will need the physical card.
The best thing about these new technologies is that they are not going to be positioned as a special privilege for excellent and good credit card holders. People whose credit allows them to qualify for only poor credit card offers will also have a chance to enjoy the technical innovation.

What Can Cause Your Credit Card Fixed Interest Rate Hike

Interest rate is one of the first-to-take-into-consideration credit card features when it comes to choosing a credit card. The two basic types of interest rate you can have on your plastic are fixed rate and variable rate.
A variable rate means that your interest can vary due to the Federal Reserve’s moves, changes on the credit card market or whenever your lender finds it appropriate. Here is how variable rate is calculated. The Fed sets the prime rate, which becomes a basic component of your interest that cannot be changed by a creditor. Then a credit card issuer adds a certain percentage to it, having checked or credit score and credit history. As a result you get, say, the prime rate plus 5%. Currently, the US prime rate is 5%. So, your rate will be 10%. And it can change with fluctuations of the prime rate.
As for fixed rate, it is initially set by a credit card company, irrespective of the prime rate. And you can come across numerous credit card offers that promise fixed rate for life of the account. However, it does not mean that your APR will remain unchanged. The lender reserves the right to change it in their reasonable discretion.
What can cause a sudden jump of your fixed interest?
Say, you have a credit card – no matter if it is a low APR one or a reward credit card – with a fixed rate of about 8%. You make even more than the payment due, and you are never late with your payments. Then, bang! The next time you get your credit card statement, you find out than your interest has dramatically soared to 21% or even higher.
This is how creditors can explain it to you. This might be a result of universal default clause. Credit companies occasionally check your other credit card accounts. If lenders find at least one credit card with delinquent payments, high balances, even if it is from another issuer, they can apply a universal default clause to you. Which means that your interest will be significantly raised, no matter if it is variable or fixed. Federal law does not prohibit credit card companies to change any of a customer’s credit card terms. All they have to do is just send you a 15 days’ notice.
Late payments, credit card balances increase, opening a number of new credit card accounts, going over your credit card limit – all this can trigger universal default.
The best way out of a situation like that is suspending the account with universal default. You will have to stop using the card until the balance is paid off, but you will keep your initial interest rate.
As you see, even a low interest credit card with fixed rate can turn into a bad headache for you, in case a credit provider includes the universal default clause in credit card agreement.
Next time you browse through credit card offers looking for a good one for you, do not rush to grab a card that comes with a fixed rate. You’d better find one that does not include a universal default clause. This, at times, can save you more money than a fixed rate that, in fact, can change any minute.

Biometric Credit Cards: Not Just a Concept Already

Remember that nasty feeling of embarrassment and irritation when you discover that you have left your wallet or purse at home, standing at a cash register with a full cart? Pretty soon this feeling might become a survival of times past. Your fingers will become a payment tool.
Indivos Corp. that develops computer hardware, software, computer programs and services, has been developing an electronic payment system that allows making money transactions through scanning a customer’s fingerprints, for the last 6 years. The system is already being tested by a select group of retailers.
Biometric systems that involve fingerprint identification, facial recognition and retina scans technologies are actively being implemented in the business and retail industry. The credit card market, of course, does not stand apart from the thing. SmartMetric Inc., for instance, is one of the companies that develop biometric security systems. It works on the design of a perfectly safe from fraud credit card. Biometric payment systems are expected to make the check-out process faster, easier and safer.
Every retailer is focused on attracting more customers, enlarging their sales volume and maximizing their profits thus. Under today’s keen completion in the retail industry, it is pretty hard to entice a new customer, as well as keep the old ones loyal. Offering special terms, services or perks – this is the way to win a customer’s attention. Speed, security and convenience that biometric payment systems offer are just the case.
Processing a transaction with the help of a token-less register takes even less time than it takes to swipe a credit card. The concept of such a payment system is really fantastic. Just imagine, you won’t have to take even a wallet with you when you go shopping. You can make purchases naked. You will not need anything but your fingers, eyes and face. You can go to a local grocery store even having left your rewards credit card at home and you will still Save on groceries.
Though the security issue of biometric payment system is still challenged, this method of processing transactions is safer than using a regular plastic. Credit card scammers got so sophisticated in their fraudulent activities that nearly no credit card security system is safe enough to guarantee a cardholder 100% fraud protection. As for token-less payment system, your individual biometric features will protect you from identity theft and other criminal practices performed by crooks.
All required identification and credit information will be stored at a special computer database. And until someone has an access to this sort of information, there is a chance that someone can hack it.
Indivos Corp. is negotiating partnership with Visa and American Express. So, pretty soon credit consumers might enter the new age of payments processing.

Credit after Bankruptcy: Myth or Reality?

The celebrated case of a couple who had filed bankruptcy twice before they again got up to their neck in debt suggests an interesting idea. Bankruptcy is not the end of financial career; on the contrary, it gives the green to credit companies who seek to make revenues at the bankrupt’s need for financing.
At this point you’re expected to come into play and set up your own rules to control and benefit from the credit usage. Be sure, a card company has enough of available credit to finance you during the post-bankruptcy period, and it will. But as each creditor is after its own profit in the first place, be ready to face a number of traps all the same. Want to avoid the mere possibility of being cheated? Follow the tips we’ve suggested considering you filed for bankruptcy a time a go and are in search of a credit line to get back on track.
Do not rush for the first plastic card that might be offered to you in the mail or catch your eye on a special web site. Nobody knows your paying capabilities and responsibility better than you, so take your time to analyze banks’ offers available and your actual readiness to accept any of them.
Credit after bankruptcy is more than real with a secured card. With not just best terms and conditions on the deal, a secured plastic is still a tool of borrowing money which might come in handy when needed. But its greatest advantage is the in-built credit repair tools providing for a quick, easy and, most importantly, safe way of recovering after the bankruptcy damage.
You might be easily temped by the purchase power and flexibility of an unsecured plastic offered to you as an acceptable-risk customer. But ask yourself if you’re ready to risk your poor yet credit by agreeing on higher interest rates and generally smaller limit of an unsecured account.
Such are First PREMIER Bank cards issued for customers with problem credit, including those with bankruptcy records. Without the need to open a security saving account and make cash collateral, these products are harder to qualify for and riskier to manage. If you are in the market for one of them, make sure you follow the strict rules of responsible payment behavior; otherwise you can get into a standard trap of a bank – default APRs, penalty fees and other charges than can make the deal extremely expensive for you but profitable for the issuer.
Credit after bankruptcy is a real thing but how this reality treats you is a matter of your responsibility and determination to restore your credit reputation and financial health.
Lots of people buried under a heap of past due bills are afraid of declaring bankrupts due to new bankruptcy laws and, as they think, inaccessibility to credit in the future. That’s the wrong way of thinking. The only effective method to rebuild or reestablish payment history is realized through a new account on a bad unsecured or secured card.
If bankruptcy is the only way out, let it be. You’ll always b able to erase its bad effect through the responsible use of an appropriate credit offer.