Credit Card Offers

Ever notice how we live our lives from season to season? Now that “tax” season has come to an end in the USA, we enter a two week lull, then head into “Mother’s Day” season. After that it’s a “graduation” season”, then Father’s Day season, then Independence Day season. Then another quiet period (sometimes it’s vacation season) before “back to school” season. Then Labor Day season, Halloween Season, election season (every other year), Thanksgiving season, Christmas Holiday season, New Year’s, Valentine’s, then back to tax season again. I’m sure there are a few “seasons” I forgot! No wonder people feel like they’re

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If you haven’t sent in your taxes, be sure to file by April 15th and put your refund to work for you. The average income tax refund is a record $3,036, a 10% jump from last year’s average refund. Thanks to tax credits included in last year’s economic stimulus package, many Americans can expect a hefty sum back from Uncle Sam. 7% of Americans said they plan to splurge their refunds on either a vacation or shopping spree, but 30% plan to pay down debt and 28% plan to save or invest, according to a recent poll by Bankrate.com.

Rather than splurging on a big ticket item, or worse, not wisely planning what to do with your refund at all, here’s a few ideas on what to do with the extra money padding your account.

1. Boost your emergency savings fund or start on if you don’t have one. Put it in

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Do you have debt on more than one credit card? If so, and you are truly interested in making progress, you need to think about where to start. Although it can be confusing, if you know where to spend your money you will find yourself making progress in no time at all.

Most people take a close look at all their credit cards and determine where to start based on how much the balance is on each one. That being said, there are two distinct ways of thinking. You can pay off the card with the lowest balance first in order to gain confidence and clear some space.

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Many credit card users will have come across the term “authorization hold”.  This is when there are funds that show as unavailable but the balance is not shown as being exhausted on the card.  This can be quite frustrating as although it can be impossible to use the card the card is not shown as being at its limit.

The authorization hold is when a credit card has been presented to buy a good or a service, but the merchant has not yet had the funds transferred to them.  While the balance is still officially showing that the funds have not been spent, they are still not allowing to funds to be spent so that the credit card account does not go over the limit.

Funds are not transferred immediately to a merchant when the card is swiped.  What the swiping does is to confirm that the card holder is presenting a valid card and that the credit card holder’s account has sufficient funds to buy the item in question.  At this point the credit card processor will put a hold on the funds that the transaction relates to so that the credit card limit is in effect lowered by this amount.  So the hold is activated on authorization of the card.  If the credit card statement was sent out at this point then there would not be any charge for the account.

If this were not done then it would be very easy for a customer to run over their credit limit without realizing it.

If there are problems with the transaction, for example the good is returned quickly or the transaction is fraudulent then the authorization hold can be cancelled without the funds being released to the merchant.

There are also issues when the card is authorized before a purchase.   This is often done when buying gas at the pump when a card is swiped before the pump is being used.  So for example a hold of $100 may be placed on the account and it is cleared for the lesser amount of the transaction.

There is another problem in that some merchants will get the funds at a far later time than the transaction.  This means that there are less funds available than balance on the card.

Authorization holds are rarer with chip and pin cards, which are gradually being introduced throughout the US.

A crucial aspect in maintaining a high credit status is in point of fact the contents of your credit report. The credit report is very much the history of your monetary life, contained in a comprehensive document.

The credit report details the credit score, which is a numeric grade commonly between 300 and 850. Several lenders use the credit score to aid them make their mind up whether or not you are worthy of credit. Furthermore, the score is also used to conclude your ability of repaying a loan. The credit report is important and cleaning or holding on to a good credit report is crucial to your financial well-being.

Inside a Typical Credit Report:

In a credit report, the first item is generally your personal data. Read full post…

Broke college students, rejoice—the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students is the best thing to happen to the college-aged crowd since instant noodles.

Designed for young consumers looking to build their financial future, this card makes establishing good credit and learning financial responsibility easy as well as rewarding.

With last year’s CARD Act adding restrictions to young cardholders, this card generously provides benefits and terms beyond the basics for college students. Her

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