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Finding The Best Bad Credit Credit Card

May 7th, 2012
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When you have a bad credit rating getting a credit card with comparable features isn’t always easy to do. These are just some of the drawbacks you will find when you are looking for a bad credit, credit card.

Your interest rates are going to be higher. you won’t find a card with 0 percent interest rate because you are considered a high risk. You’ll need to pay these cards back quickly in order to avoid paying a lot of high interest charges.

When you apply for a bad credit, credit card there will be fees associated with it. This includes both an annual fee and 1 time processing fees. If you have a good credit rating you would never put up with the provider charging you these fees or at least you shouldn’t. with a bad rating though it will be hard to find 1 without an annual fee. try to find a company that charges these fees to the card not in advance.

Most of these cards will have a much lower credit limit. This is actually a good thing. It insures that you will be able to repay the amount you owe on time. that way you can rebuild your credit rating and avoid any further negative additions to your credit rating.

A bad credit, credit card can be just the thing to rebuild bad credit. you will be surprised at just how fast you can raise it by using the card and paying on time. once you set it in motion your credit rating will be 100 percent better in no time.

Make sure the credit provider reports to all the major credit bureaus. This will play a signature role in boosting your credit rating. you don’t want to go through the hassle of paying the extra fees, and higher interest rates for no gain in your credit score.

Make sure to read the fine print on the application. make sure you know what all the fees are so that you don’t have any surprises when you go to pay the bill or use the card. There are cards out there that will give you a $300 limit and charge you $275 in fees. when you go to pay the bill on the payment date the interest has you almost over the limit.

Bad credit, credit cards have many different fees and have a lot of different features. you need to find the best card with the lowest fees and interest rate. that way you will have an excellent method of improving your credit rating and enjoy the benefits of having a credit card.

Finding The Best Bad Credit Credit Card

Mysterious Credit Card Charges: Why You Need to Check Your Bills

May 2nd, 2012
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Do you read your credit card bill? Really look at it? Crooks are counting on that not happening.

Their work usually starts with them buying your card number on the black market and placing a small charge on it that likely wouldn’t jump out at you unless you were really concentrating. After all, if you use your credit card a lot, a $2, $5 or even $10 charge can easily get lost. and considering how often these sorts of scams happen, plenty of people don’t notice.

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Credit card numbers are stolen in huge numbers. some of the big data breaches you’ve heard about involved taking credit card numbers. Values of the card numbers are increased after one of those mystery charges goes through unchallenged, said Yaron Samid, CEO of Billguard, a free service that looks at your credit card use to find questionable charges.

In an attempt to slow the flow of stolen cards, the FBI announced on Thursday that it had shut down 36 sites that were selling them. the sites operated like any traditional eCommerce site, the FBI said, with buyers actually putting stolen credit card numbers into an online shopping cart for purchase. Undercover agents bought card numbers issued by banks including Bank of America, SunTrust, and Capital one, according to the FBI.

“Countless lives are thrown into financial turmoil because of these websites,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “With a few simple clicks, thousands of stolen credit card numbers can be bought or sold to fraudsters anywhere in the world. Today’s seizures are part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt this online market regardless of where it operates.”

To give you an idea of the scope of these crimes and how the crooks can be anywhere, the investigation involved law enforcement in countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Macedonia, Ukraine and Romania.

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Experts say these kinds of scams are successful in part because even when consumers do notice the charges, they sometimes don’t report them. “some people won’t take the time to dispute a $5 charge,” Billguard’s Samid said.

In addition to increasing the value of a stolen credit card on the black market, crooks will also hit a card with a small charge and then wait. If it goes through then they’ll charge more. It’s easy for a crook to run up charges. They don’t have to buy anything — just create the pretense of being a business. “Anyone can open a merchant account today,” Samid said. “the names of the merchants sound legitimate.”

The crooks might hit 50,000 cards at a time with these charges, he said. there are examples of when hundreds of thousands or more received these bogus charges.

These charges can happen at any time and come from any place. In fact, I recently had one myself. a mystery charge showed up on my credit card from www.BE2.ca, a Canadian website with a billing address in Zurich, Switzerland. Fortunately, my bank’s systems caught the fraud. my credit card was then shut down and a new one had to be issued. That’s a happy, if annoying, ending.

Do yourself a favor: Read your bills and check your charges online regularly. Federal law protects you from paying for fraudulent charges, but you got to spot them first because your bank and the FBI aren’t going to get them all.

Mysterious Credit Card Charges: Why You Need to Check Your Bills

After Recovering From Bad Credit, Ditch the Bad Credit Credit Card

Apr 18th, 2012
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Dear Credit Care,

I have a bank issued credit card that has a $14.50 monthly fee. I just paid off the card last week and was thinking of canceling it. However, when I call they give me every reason not to. They tell me that the card is good for my credit score because they report to the credit bureaus four times a month. The card currently has a zero balance. I hear that getting rid of cards can hurt one’s score. I just finished doing an overhaul on my credit. My score was below 600 about a year ago. now my score is 700. The card has a $700 credit line. Should I just cancel it or pay the monthly fee? I just opened a different bank issued credit card with a $1,000 credit line so that I can transfer some balances from other high interest cards. I also just received a $250 credit line increase from another credit card. thanks for your time.  

- Wayne

Dear Wayne,

Congratulations on managing your credit in a positive way and increasing your credit score. Remember that your credit score is calculated based on what is reported to the three major credit bureaus. how you manage your credit accounts is the information that is reported to the bureaus. So, you have improved your credit by making good decisions about how you manage your accounts, which includes making payments on time and as agreed and also paying down existing debt balances.

I recommend that you keep in mind your overall credit usage and goals when deciding what to do about a credit card account that charges a monthly fee. it is true that canceling a credit card account  may temporarily cause a drop in your credit score, particularly if it is one of your oldest credit accounts. However, keeping an account open that charges a monthly fee and that you don’t plan to use may not make sense when it comes to the best way to manage your finances.

Having a good credit score and credit history are important for future borrowing and in other areas of your life, such as renting an apartment, seeking employment or insurance rates you may be charged. But decisions about credit should be based on your overall financial goals, not solely on how your actions might affect your three-digit credit score.

For example, if you decided to keep the credit card account open with the $14.50 monthly fee, it would cost you $174 per year. Over five years, it would cost $870. this is money that you could be using to pay down other debt balances, saving for retirement or using to fund a particular financial goal such as a summer vacation.

Unless you are planning to apply for a mortgage or car loan in the near future where every point in your credit score could make a significant difference in the terms of the loan, a possible temporary drop in your credit score from closing the account should not keep you from doing so. If your credit score does slip a bit, it will bounce back and continue to improve as you continue to successfully manage your credit.

Handle your credit with care!

After Recovering From Bad Credit, Ditch the Bad Credit Credit Card

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