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Major League Baseball Credit Cards are a Hit!

Friday, December 5th, 2008
College Credit Builder asked:

Major League Baseball, through issuer Bank of America, has cast its giant footprint on the credit card industry.  Like many schools, airlines, and retail stores have done for decades, baseball teams are now being featured on consumer credit cards.  These credit cards, picturing the major league baseball team of choice on their face, are rapidly growing in popularity and proving to be a hit with baseball fans across the country.

The Major League Baseball™ Extra Bases™ Credit Card from Bank of America boasts no annual fee and a 0% introductory Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on balance transfers and cash advance checks for the first 12 billing cycles.   As incentives to gain customer share in the extraordinarily competitive credit card market, the baseball credit card also offers an official MLB™ licensed jersey after the first qualifying transaction using the card.  In addition to the no annual fee and 0% introductory APR, the card offers a point based incentive system whereby card holders earn 1 point for every net retail dollar spent redeemable for MLB™ autographed memorabilia, coveted MLB™ life experiences, travel and cash rewards.

A review of the internet landscape makes clear that every major league baseball team can be represented on a credit card.  For example, www.mlbcreditcardoffers.com highlights the card, its features and allows consumers to apply.  Other websites like www.metscreditcard.com and numerous others in which you simple insert the [team name] followed by creditcard.com, like www.redsoxcreditcard.com for example, offer the same Major League Baseball™ Extra Bases™ Credit online application.

Historically, baseball has given the public something to believe in and something to hope for, particularly in tough economic times.  With this credit card, consumers can be reminded of their favorite team every time they open their wallets.

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Technorati Tags: 0 introductory apr, consumer credit cards, credit card consumers, internet landscape, major league baseball, major league baseball team

Credit Cards For Teens

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

There are times when parents forget the importance of teaching their teenagers how to manage their money. If they have bad spending habits of their own, the children are going to pick them up and are going to make the same mistakes.

There are things that parents can do to teach teenagers to make the right choices, even if the they are not the best at money management. Some think credit cards for teens are a bad idea, but they can work great if you know how to do it and what you should use.

You obviously don’t want to get credit cards for teens that allow them to spend what they want with no limit, or to give them one that has a balance that can easily get out of control.

This is not the way to teach them about money, and in fact, can teach them that money is easy and expendable. As a first step, a teen should have a job before you allow them to have any type of credit card. Secondly, they should know how to save money before they have a card too.

You don’t want to go through the traditional steps to get credit cards for teens. You don’t want the traditional type anyway. What you want to do is to find the prepaid types of credit cards.

These only allow the teens to spend what they have put into the card. If they have their own job, and have put money aside, they can use that money on their cards. Or, they can put what they have left on their credit cards for teens after they have saved some of their check. The second option is usually the best for teaching good money habits.

After you have done all of this, your work with credit cards for teens is not over. If you can, get a print out of what they have spent each month and go over it with them. If they are running out of money very fast, they do not have the control that they should be learning. Talk with them about what they got and why they got it.

Over a period of a few months, using credit cards for teens should show them how to spend wisely. They can then take these lessons on with them through life. The lessons don’t always stick, but in many cases, that is exactly what they will do.

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Technorati Tags: money habits, right choices, spending habits, traditional steps, types of credit cards, using credit cards

Best Credit Card Offers

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

There comes a time in everyone’s life that capital is slim and you need to make certain you have enough money to pay the bills. Yeah, more than likely you’ve been there once or twice.

It happens to the best of us. While there’s nothing you can really do to make oodles of cash magically appear, you can always whip out the plastic. Sometimes those nifty little credit cards come in handy. This way if you don’t currently have the cash, you can always charge it.

However, this doesn’t mean that you want to apply for just any credit card. What you’re after is the best credit card offers currently available from MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express.

Where would you go to find the best credit card offers and what is a good APR to consider? These are great questions and virtually anyone can get this right.

First of all, if you truly want to find a variety of the best credit card offers at your disposal, you need to direct your attention to the Internet. Online you can easily search for the best deals on credit cards, regardless of whether it involves Visa, Discover, MasterCard or American Express.

Whatever you do, don’t simply settle for any credit card offer that comes with any annual percentage rate. Okay, here’s some food for thought; APRs such as 18.9 and 16.8 are awful.

Most likely when you read the fine print, you’ll see that these APRs apply to all purchases. But if you think about this for a moment, that means that you’ll be paying an awful percentage rate on every dollar you spend using that credit card. It’s doubtful that you want this. In other words if you owe 5000 dollars on your card, every month you will be forking out 16-19 percent of that in just interest fees. Yikes! That’s utterly dreadful.

Be sure to do your homework when searching high and low for the best credit card offers currently out there.

Try their official websites first. This means you should go to MasterCard.com or Visa.com. See what’s offered right off the bat. Naturally you can acquire a better rate and higher credit line dependent upon your income. There are numerous cards offers to select from.

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Technorati Tags: annual percentage rate, aprs, best deals on credit cards, credit card offer, mastercard visa

What Is A Good Credit Card Deal?

Friday, November 7th, 2008

You must have heard people say – ‘I got a good credit card deal’. So if you happen to be looking for a credit card at that moment, do you just go with what your friend has told you as a good credit card deal?

Let’s check what one can term as a good credit card deal. A credit card deal is good if it works for you. So, if the credit card fits into your lifestyle in a way that rakes in maximum benefits for you, that is a good credit card deal.

The most important thing to realize here is the word ‘your’ as in ‘your lifestyle’. So logically speaking there is nothing like a good credit card deal. What it is – is good credit card deal for ‘you’ i.e. the individual who is going to use that credit card.

This is because the lifestyle and the needs differ from person to person (and that is precisely the reason why every credit card supplier offers so many different kinds of credit cards). It might be true in some cases (where the lifestyle of two individuals/friends is similar) that the credit card deal which is good for one be good for the other too, however, this is just in a few cases.

You can always check with your friend who has recently got a credit card deal, since that might cut down the time needed for researching/hunting-for a good credit card deal.

However, it’s really a matter of evaluating your own needs. If you travel a lot and to far off places by air, a card that offers you good rewards/rebates/benefits on travel would comprise a good credit card deal. Sometimes the airlines themselves have their own credit card issuing/supplying company from where you can get a good credit card deal.

For people shopping at a particular retail store or a shop, a good credit card deal would be a card that offers discounts, rebates and rewards on shopping. Again, the retail stores themselves might have credit cards on offer that could be beneficial to you.

Then there are credit card deals that are linked to gasoline stores or big grocery chains. If you don’t have any specific needs, you might use a general purpose credit card that gives reward points on every purchase you make on your credit card. These points can then be redeemed for cash/rewards. Hence, this card could become a good credit card deal for you.

Good, for credit card deals, is really a relative term and there is no credit card deal which is equally good for all.

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Technorati Tags: credit card deals, grocery chains, maximum benefits, person to person, rakes, retail store

Chase Credit Cards

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Credit cards have become almost a necessity in today’s world. There are hordes of credit card suppliers who issue thousands of credits cards every day. Chase (of the JPMorgan group) are a well known credit card supplier. Chase credit cards are pretty popular among the masses.

Chase credit cards come with various different benefits and accordingly chase credit cards are classified into various categories. There are general purpose chase credit cards which promise great rates and excellent service. Then there are chase credit cards for people who shop regularly with some retailers. These are termed as rebate cards since they offer rebates on shopping when you shop with certain retailers. These also offer cash rewards. There are entertainment credit cards for people who wish to get VIP access to some concerts, events etc.

Another category of chase credit cards is the travel cards where the credit card holders get travel related discounts and rewards. This category of chase credit cards is very suitable for people who travel a lot. Yet another set of chase credit cards is grouped as auto and gas cards which offer rebates and rewards on everyday purchases.

Retail cards are another kind of chase credit cards where you receive points on purchases made using this chase credit card. These points can then be redeemed for shopping certificates, entertainment etc.

For students, there is a separate breed of chase credit cards which is called student cards. These student cards help the students in building a (good) credit history and also offer some special benefits for students. Similarly there are college & university alumni cards for supporting your alma mater. There is another set of chase credit cards that operate on similar lines. These chase credit cards are called ‘cards to support organizations’.

The organization can be something like a charity or any other organization that you want to support. Then there are military cards that are meant for the members of military (both past and present). You can support your favourite teams or sporting organizations by getting a sports card. Finally, there are business cards which can be used by businesses for organizing their expenses, availing low interest rates and getting other benefits related to business.

Thus chase offers a lot of different credit cards which cater to the different needs of various people. By comparing the features of these chase credit cards and by understanding the main objective behind them, one can easily zero-in on the chase credit card that is best suited to ones needs.

Note: The information given in this article was correct at the time it was written. However, the author does not guarantee the correctness and completeness of this information at any time.

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Technorati Tags: cash rewards, chase credit card, chase credit cards, credits cards, rebate cards, retail cards

Is There Credit After Bankruptcy?

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

If you are in the position where you are considering whether or not to file bankruptcy, you are probably thinking about your future credit options. Bankruptcy should be your last option when you are in debt, as you will find that your credit takes an even bigger hit when you file.

However, this does not mean that you won’t get the chance to start over again once you file and get everything squared away. Always find professional help to hear all of your options, but if bankruptcy is all that you can do, you should know your financial world is not completely dead to you in the future. There is credit after bankruptcy.

There are some companies that will extend you credit after bankruptcy for the simple reason that they know you need it, and they also know there is an extended time between filing and when you might be able to file again.

That means early on they know they have a better chance of getting their money out of you because you will not be able to turn around and file again if you default. They know you are a risk, however, and that means any credit after bankruptcy that you get will have a higher interest rate and higher penalties on late or missing payments.

You may even find that some of the companies that just lost out to you will try to offer your credit after bankruptcy. This happens when your debt is discharged and you are no longer in their system. Some companies are so large that they don’t keep track of these old debts that have been written off, and you could be anyone to them.

The same rules will apply with this credit after bankruptcy. You will pay more for the privilege of having credit through them, even if they don’t remember that you have already been a customer.

When you are looking for credit after bankruptcy, remember that you have to use your head. You filed bankruptcy because your credit was bad, and you had no way to reasonably pay off all of your debts.

If you have filed, you may not be in a better position, and getting credit directly after bankruptcy could put you back in the hole sooner than you think. It doesn’t make any sense to file and then put yourself right back where you started.

Think about things before you do them, and make sure you know you are in a better financial position before you attempt any type of credit situation. If you need to, get help with budget, spending habits, and how to save your money for the future. Consumer credit counseling is always a smart idea in these cases.

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Technorati Tags: better chance, credit after bankruptcy, credit options, debts, last option

 
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