:Article Marketing At Its Best

Credit Cards and Loans sounds like just two things, but in actuality, it is
dozens of things. Due to a combination of user preferences, lifestyles, and marketing ideas, there are dozens of different types of credit cards out there. Because of the wide variety of things people need money for and the wide variety of ways to collateralize a loan, there are dozens and dozens of different types of loans out there.

Because of the huge variety of different types of credit cards and loans, you
need a really big web site to find out about all of them. If you go off in search
of a new credit card, how do you know you’re getting the best deal or even the
best type of card for your lifestyle? Sure, you want a card that offers you some
sort of a reward, but if you are a soccer mom, do you really need airline miles,
or would a card that provides discounts on gas be a better deal for you?

Maybe you are a business owner and your cash flow is getting a little bit tight.
You might have thought your only recourse was to get a lousy rate on yet
another business credit card. Have you considered one of the many types of
factoring that can provide you with quick cash at reasonable rates? What about
venture capital to take your business to the next level?

No matter what sort of money you are looking for, you owe it to yourself to get
educated on the possibilities and the caveats for that particular type of loan or
credit. At http://www.creditcards-and-loans.com, we have all the info and all
the offers you are looking for… and perhaps quite a few you never thought of.

Jeff Pritchard is a successful online entrepreneur with several successful
websites. His most recent site provides tons of information for those in search
of credit cards and loans:
Credit Cards And Loans

Comments Off

If you fly American Airlines, have good credit and are looking to open a new MasterCard account, using the Citi Gold AAdvantage World MasterCard application may fit the bill. It is one of several cards that Citibank offers that is designed for people who fly on American.

For each dollar you spend on the Citi Gold AAdvantage World MasterCard, you earn one mile of travel on American Airlines. You can also use earned miles toward hotel accommodations and rental cars. The maximum amount of miles you can earn in any given year is 60,000, but those miles have no expiration date so long as there is some activity on the account once during a three year time frame.

Citicard offers several AAdvantage cards, so it is important to note that the Citi Gold AAdvantage World MasterCard offers 12,500 bonus miles for the first purchase on the card! Its annual fee of $50 is waived for the first year, as well, and this particular MasterCard has no “pre-set spending limit”. (All that means is that you can exceed your credit limit on occasion, based on your payment history.)

Currently, the APR for the Citi Gold AAdvantage World MasterCard is 17.99%. For cash advances, the variable APR goes up to 22.99%. If you happen to default on the card, the variable APR can be raised to 31.99%. There are, of course, finance charges for any purchases that are not paid for within the first 30 days, and there are charges for other services like cash advances, foreign purchase and balance transfers.

So, if you travel, want to earn much needed bonus miles, and like the flexibility of having no pre-set spending limit, the $50 annual fee shouldn’t affect your decision about applying for this MasterCard. If you pay off your card each month, don’t normally spend more than $60,000 on a card per year (which will be the maximum limit of bonus miles you can earn), and like that there are no black out dates for when you can travel with bonus miles earned, you will definitely appreciate the Citi Gold AAdvantage World MasterCard.

Comments Off

The Citi Upromise Card, issued by Citibank, is intended for use by those who have very good credit and want to take advantage of its built-in college savings reward program. Enrollment in the Upromise program allows cardholders to earn a 10% rebate on select purchases. With over 7,000 grocery and drugstore items, a 2% rebate on gasoline purchased at Exxon and Mobil, and a 1% rebate on other purchases, your account can quickly build up a nice college fund for the future.

The card has an introductory interest rate of 0% that also applies to any balance transfers and has no annual fee. The introductory rate is good for one year, and is followed by a variable rate of 11.99% on purchases, and a minimum of 19.9% on cash advances. Balance transfers requested after the introductory period are subject to a 3% charge with a minimum of $5 and maximum of $75. Other benefits of the Citi Upromise card include travel accident insurance up to $1000,000, auto rental insurance, and other services related to travel and emergency assistance. It also offers student discounts on selected products and services through participating merchants and retailers.

Participants in the rewards program can expect to receive between 1% and 10% in rebates with a maximum annual rebate of $300 on grocery and drug store items. Gasoline purchases are unlimited. Some of the other extra that a cardholder receives with this card include:

• Access to your account online

• Solutions to identity theft

• Protection from fraud

• Automatic payment of your bill

• A year end financial statement if requested

• No cardholder liability for unauthorized transactions

• Your photo on the card (optional)

• Travel and accident insurance up to $1,000,000

• Insurance for car rental

• Emergency assistance and travel services

• Medical and legal referral services

• Assistance with lost baggage

• Replacement of lost cash

• Emergency replacement of your card

• Reporting of lost and stolen cards

• Auto rental discounts

• Student discounts at participating merchants and retailers

With the rewards program connected to this card, the minor disadvantages are but an inconvenience. What better way to save for college than by using your credit card? It’s simple, convenient, and it doesn’t have an annual fee.

Comments Off

You see their ads everywhere — in newspapers, on television and throughout the Internet; and they all say the same thing, they all promise to repair your damaged credit report for a fee. If you know you have bad credit, you may look for services such as these, but beware - these companies cannot deliver on their promises to wipe out your bad credit. After you give them hundreds of dollars, you will find out that nothing has changed, and they will disappear with your money. There are some that are reputable and use legal tactics that are also ethical, but you must be careful.

If the negative information in your credit report is accurate, the only thing that will legally remove that information is time. A consumer-reporting agency can report accurate negative information in your credit report for up to seven years, and a bankruptcy for at least ten years.

If the negative information in your credit report is inaccurate, you may be able to dispute it with the consumer-reporting agency. The law allows you to ask for an investigation of any information in your file. You can do this at no charge to you.

Many states have laws concerning credit repair companies. If you feel that you have been victimized by a credit repair scam, law enforcement officials may be able to help you recover the money you lost. Do not be afraid to contact the consumer affairs office, or your state’s Attorney General’s office. The laws are in place to help you in these situations.

Comments Off

When searching for a 0 apr credit card, one with 0% annual percentage rate (apr) for a trial period, one of the best ways to find a good deal is to compare the credit card rate of several sites. One way to find reliable sites is to start with a bank credit card. Bank of America, Citibank, and many others offer endless resources online for credit card comparisons. You can find out annual fees, interest rates, balance transfer rates, and interest-free periods for each card to get the best credit card rate.

If you want to apply online for a 0 apr credit card, you will find the convenience of Internet shopping a great benefit. No need to wait for offers to arrive in the mail or to call various lenders for their current terms and policies. All the information you need is at your fingertips on the computer. The bank credit card offers should be up to date with current interest rates listed and all the policies and terms available to read online.

With new safety features, a bank credit card website is usually secure enough for your personal information that you must include on an application. But always look for the little gold lock symbol in the lower right hand corner of your computer screen to be sure that a site is secure before you enter anything on a form.

Applying online for the best credit card rate is great for people who don’t have a credit history or who haven’t established a good history. These people may not receive credit card offers in the mail and need a place to look for good deals. Also, you can compare rates until you find that 0 apr credit card you’re looking for. This type of card is great for balance transfers. You wind up with one payment instead of several each month, and you get a grace period of anywhere from six to twelve months during which you do not have to pay any interest on either your transferred balances or your new purchases.

But beware. Many lenders offer a 0 apr credit card as an incentive to get you signed up. Be sure to note when this trial period ends; usually after the rate rises you’re stuck paying much higher interest than with most other cards. Remember that you can find a credit card that has lower interest after your trial period ends, so do not stop making notes about cards you like just because you have found your no interest card. You will need another one in less than a year usually.

Some no interest cards even come with cash back rewards. These cards give you a percentage of your purchase amount back each month. So you not only get no interest, but you earn points with every dollar you spend that you can use toward purchasing name brand merchandise, travel perks, and entertainment.

Overall, when looking for a 0 apr credit card or just trying to find the best credit card rate with your credit history, remember to keep trying until you find one that suits all your needs.

Thomas Ohlum is the owner of www.find-solid-credit.com a website providing information about credit card offers and finance aspects to consider when applying for a credit card.

Comments Off

If the borrower has a satisfactory credit history and the ability to pay timely payments, the borrower may be considered a prime borrower and rated as an “A” borrower. In this case the loan will be closed using standard mortgage documents referred to as “A paper”. If he does not qualify for an “A paper” loan, the borrower may seek financing with companies known as “sub prime lenders”.

The mortgage industry has adopted a credit risk scoring method. Credit scores reflect credit patterns over time. Lenders frequently use a scoring system known as FICO scores. FICO is an acronym for Fair Isaac Company, the company that created the original scoring system.

A credit report is ordered by the lender and the credit reporting agency establishes a score to help a potential lender determine the risk of granting the loan. The scores range from 375 to 900 points, and in general, a score of 650 or above indicates a very good credit history. Average scores fall into the range between 620 and 650. Several factors can have a negative impact on a credit score:

o History of nonpayment
o Adverse Public record information
o Evidence of collection accounts
o Recent delinquent accounts
o Credit cards charged to their limits
o Too many new accounts

A lender will evaluate a credit score based on the following:

Credit
There are three primary categories for considering a credit rating: Mortgage Credit, Consumer Credit, Public Records

The more serious the credit problems, the further the grade decreases. As the grade on the loan decreases, lenders generally assess higher rates and fees.

Debt Ratio
Lenders calculate the debt ratio by dividing the total monthly debts (the housing expenses for the proposed loan plus the borrower’s other monthly credit obligations) by the total monthly income. If a borrower has a low debt ratio, the credit-scoring grade will be higher. Conversely, if a borrower has a high debt ratio, the grade will be lower.

Maximum LTV
Loan-to-Value Ratio, or LTV as it is commonly referred to, is the ratio of loan amount to the appraised value (or the sales price, whichever is less) of a property.

If the credit history, debt ratio, and loan to value ratio are unsatisfactory, the quality of the loan may be downgraded to an A-, B, C or D. “D Paper” loans refer to loans known as hard money loans that are mostly based on the equity in the home and not on the borrower’s credit. A lender who is making an A-, B, C or D paper loan is taking a higher risk since there is an increased likelihood of the loan defaulting. Additionally, these loans are not insured or guaranteed. The lender is compensated for higher risk by charging the borrower a higher interest rate:

If current interest rates were 7%, and the borrower is considered a prime borrower, the loan would be granted by a prime lender at 7%. However, if the borrower is not a prime borrower, he may seek financing elsewhere and be charged a higher rate of interest.

The interest rates quoted for A-, B, C or D paper loans vary among lenders. An example follows:

A-paper could have rates 1% - 1.75% higher than A paper
B paper could have rates 0.25% - 0.75% higher than A- paper
C paper could have rates 0.75% - 1.5% higher than B paper
D paper could have rates 1% - 1.75% higher than C paper

Using the higher end of the scale above for each rating, and starting with a 7% interest rate, the following chart is an example of the interest rate a borrower may pay:

A- 8.75%
B 9.50%
C 11.00%
D 12.75%

Yes, it matters!

Linda Chandler has written several books on mortgage servicing and now works at home writing mortgage training material. She also manages her website at www.mortgageproducts.org and www.my-home-services.com

Comments Off